My Dad - The Bowhunter

Long day at work but I finally made it home so I thought I would pop on here before going to class.

This past Sunday, my dad shot in an archery tournement in Grand Island, NE while we were there visiting for my sister-in-law's birthday party. We decided we would tag along for a while and cheer him on. My dad has been shooting a bow in leagues and tournements as long as I can remember. Every fall you can find him in a tree stand hunting deer. In the winter and summer he is shooting in leagues and occassionally tournements. I remember having shelves of trophies in the living room (that sucked dusting) that he had won through the years. He's a little older now but he still enjoys it and wins quite often in his division (something about senior free style something or other). This particular Sunday was an outdoor tournement with three rounds; we were around for the field and hunter rounds. He shot with Jim Jepson (a competitor for many years) and Ericka Anschutz (who is a professional archer who has a goal of trying out for the 2010 Olympics http://www.alpenoutdoor.com/upload_2.shtml). It was so much fun watching the three of them and I know they were enjoying themselves which is the most important part! Ericka had no problem cleaning house in her division (she shot a 279 out of 280). Neither one of the guys even attempted to compete with her. Between the two of them, however, there was a friendly little competition going...

Here are some photos from the day:


Dad pulling back to shoot.


The target looks so far away...


Just like he is hunting without all the snow...

Of course you know I had to shoot some video to document the actual process.

In this video, you will watch Dad shoot a couple of shots:



In this video, you can see the three archers shoot at an animal target. They were allowed to shoot one shot - it's either hit the animal or not. Most every target, they hit the animal:



We didn't stick around for the final round so I really can't tell you at this point how Dad did. Not that it matters, he enjoyed himself and we got to spend time with him while he did it!

I love you Dad!

Okay, I have to get to my homework now...

C'ya!

Bubbles!

Sitting out on the deck at my brother's house on this past Saturday, my niece, Ella, tried her hand at blowing bubbles! She had a GIANT bottle of bubbles (which may have been part of the trouble) but she certainly was giving it the ol' college try. Listen carefully in the end, she tells you how to do it:


I also caught her on video making a little mess out of things. In the end, the bubbles were all over the deck and her.







Such a little doll she is!!

Alright, I'm working on loading Windows XP on a new machine so I better get back at it.

C'ya!

Surprise!

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days - we were at my brother Eric's house in Grand Island this past weekend and I didn't have much time to do any postings.

This year my sister-in-law Jeri's celebrated her 30th birthday. Eric decided about a month ago that he wanted to surprise her and throw a big party. The event was planned to be held at their house in Grand Island on Friday evening. Now, how exactly to you plan a party for someone at thier own house? He and one of his friends had set up a movie night where a few (4 or 5) of their friends would come over to the house, they would have a big cookout, and then they would watch a couple of movies. Eric and Jeri spent the few days leading up to the party cleaning up the house and preparing salads for the meal. (Nothing like preparing for your own surprise party that you have no idea about). Their friends were all scheduled to show up at 6:00 while everyone else was to begin showing up around 7:00. Eric's original plan was to just have everyone come into the house and she would eventually figure out that something was going on. However, people started showing up just before 7 and hanging out in the garage. So the goal was to try and keep it a complete surprise as everyone waited for the big moment when she would come out. The cake (which was scheduled to show up at 7:00) finally made it at about 7:15 (the guy making it forgot about the party - luckily it was already made and he lives very close!). By this time, there are 30 people standing in their garage waiting for them to bring out the birthday girl. I have no idea how he pulled it off, but she had no clue there was anyone (other than Eric and his friend) out in the garage. Needless to say, when she walked out, she was surprised! It was fun to see the look on her face - especially since she didn't know. We hung out for the rest of the evening eating, playing games, and sitting by the fire. A good time was had by all.

I have some photos from the weekend (surprisingly enough, none from the party itself):

Daddy and Ella outside just before naptime on Saturday.

Mommy and Ella eating dinner Saturday evening; leftovers from the party.

Grandma and Ella looking out the glass doors. She wanted to come outside but it was getting a little to cold.

Dad and I being silly!

Aunt Jen and Ella looking out at Uncle Mike.

We just got home a while ago and I still want to get some photos uploaded so I will continue this story tomorrow night and have some videos to share!

C'ya!