Upon Arrival

The train trip. After receiving an invitation from darling friend Lissa to bring the family up for a visit, we eagerly accepted. Besides the thrill of a train-trip, there was promise of belly aching laughter, good eats, and excessive paintball-shooting ... so pretty much everyone was excited. In fact, so exciting, I basically forgot to take photos the entire time. Good thing we were headed to Lissa's, 'cause she's a far superior shot anyways. All photos to her credit!

After the obligatory giggles, screams, and jumping up and down after our arrival (the boys just rolled their eyes), we headed straight to a lovely farmer's market. The kids were less interested in the vibrant produce and more in the balloon man.

A white and brown pegasus and a silver sword later, we were ready to head to the land of fun: Tom and Lissa's house.

Grown-ups, as they tend to do, kept on chatting, whilst the young'uns tapped their foots for the paintball bonanza to commence.

Peter was most excited as this was his first experience at it all and had spent the last year jealous of Lucette's prior adventure. I think it was all he hoped it would be.

Not to miss out, little Jane got a lesson too. She was shockingly good. Or should I say disturbingly good? It's an odd thing to hear your frilly four year-old chortle with manly satisfaction after firing off a round.

The masks were worn not only for shooting, but for snake and frog hunting, and for popcorn eating as well. Why would you want to take them off? Seriously, Mom.

Speaking of Mom, yes she gave it a whirl as well. This was my first try at handling any sort of firearm, as I'm not typically a fan. I think it was evident in my skill level, but I did manage to snag a few shots at camo-ed Pops.

We kept him prancing, I tell you. Of course, he was quite a show off with his tuck and rolls, cartwheels, and taunting bum-wagging. At one point, I heard someone had literally knocked his shoes off. Perhaps because excellent marksmanship ... or perhaps because he dove through the air while wearing Mr. Tom's size 16's. (Yes, 16's!)

The day of smiles and reunion continued, but one can't take pictures the whole time, can one? The rest of our adventure smiles happily in our memories. Generous and dear friends make that such an easy accomplishment.