I had no idea what to call this post. Everything I came up with sounded cheesy or weird. Fun with Firearms? Nope. Playing With Guns? That sounds terrible. ;) But I had this plan to surprise Craig with a little "date" that we'd go and do something that interested him. You know... cause I'm a nice wife like that.
Craig has always been interested in guns. It's not a hunting thing. He has no interest in killing anything. It's just one of those things where he developed a fascination with something and wants to know everything about it. (That kind of happens A LOT for him... with a lot of things. And for Will too. They just like to learn.) I hear about guns on and off in large bursts, increasing whenever we see a movie where someone had a neat looking gun or when he gets a new issue of Rifleman from his dad. Craig has a whole list of guns he would like to own one day and he's very specific about the details of each. I tease him because he prematurely bought an enormous gun safe for his future gun collection... which currently resides in our bedroom closet... housing his lone gun from his grandpa... as well as all our important fire safe documents. And ever since our dinner date for Casey's birthday - when Craig met the husband of one of Casey's teacher friends (who happens to be a police officer in BG) and Craig pulled a "Tom Riedeman": picking Kris's brain for his opinion on all things gun-related - I've been thinking of how I could set up a time where Craig and I could look at, handle and shoot different sorts of guns.
So a few weeks ago, I contacted Casey's friend Kelly (we're all practically related with as much as we know of each other's families via blogging - LOL) and asked if Kris had any suggestions for where I might take Craig to do this gun thing. He gave me the name of an establishment but also offered to take us to the PD shooting range and show us a bunch of his own equipment - stuff he's personally built and customized, both rifles and hand guns. I was totally psyched for this! Considering how clueless I am, I figured it would make the most sense to have a friend explaining everything in a much more casual atmosphere. So we set it up!
Craig was completely oblivious to our plans right up until about a mile from Kelly & Kris's house. Then he half-guessed and I told him the rest. We got to see the adorable Garman kids and chat briefly and then we followed Kris to the range. I think Craig was sort of nervous, but we ended up having such a great time!! Kris was awesome. He knows so much about guns and is so excited and interested in them and he and Craig talked and talked and talked. We were probably there for three-ish hours.
These first few pics were in the morning prior to leaving. It was the day after Will's party and I was making a pancake breakfast as usual... Only this time, I was Bumblebee from Transformers and I had my sidekick Optimus Prime to assist me. :)
As I think I've mentioned, Transformers were the overwhelming theme of gifts this year. These masks were from the Pearson family and the Optimus mask talks when you press a button. Bumblebee doesn't talk because... duh... Bumblebee couldn't talk in the movie either. ;)
My mom watched the kids for us while Craig and I went on our "date". She took them to church and I snapped these pictures when she picked them up. Thanks a million, Nana! And so glad you had some one-on-one with Will. He loves the gifts from you and Papa too!
Okay, so here are the pictures from our day. I won't pretend to remember the names of all these guns (though I'm sure Craig does) but I so appreciate this opportunity and it was actually really fun to practice shooting... even though guns are still scary as hell to me. ;)
Our targets - LOL!!! The "perps" we were aiming for. :)
Ear plugs
Walking up to check his accuracy.
My turn!
Yep. I'm pretty bad ass.
This was awesome and I'm so excited that I caught it! We shot at gallon jugs of water and both of us hit them! I'm actually not too bad of a shot, for a beginner! This was Craig's shot though:
I was actually laughing before shooting this gun.
Aaaand... I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to close your eyes when firing. Haha!
This poor chick would have been totally obliterated by the time we were done. One of my first shots, I hit her right in the crotch (I was actually aiming for her head) and both Craig and Kris joked that no woman better ever mess with my man. Haha!
Trying a couple different positions.
We tried a few times where we just fired about ten rounds off without worrying about aim and just tried to keep them in a cluster on the target.
More gun talk.
Craig looks a bit "Hotel Rwanda" here. But you do have to love his shirt, right? I got it for him years ago. :)
Towards the end, we were doing a "drill" (we're practically cops now) where we were walking toward our target and firing about ten times while walking. I couldn't believe it but I actually got like eight out of ten shots ON the target! I think the boys were jealous. Actually, Kris was making fun of my shoe choice, which made it a bit difficult to walk smoothly without jiggling the gun. I guess sandals probably weren't smart. But hey! If I got eight shots on with sandals... imagine what kind of damage I could have done wearing Pumas! Just sayin'...
I think this was the gun with the major kickback. I didn't even try to fire it because I was too scared. I think Craig had a little bruising on his shoulder later!
And that was our "fun with firearms" experience! It was so hot out and I got pretty burnt on my shoulders. By the end, I was feeling lightheaded with hunger, so we went to Fricker's in Perrysburg - my treat. Craig was clearly very appreciative of all my plans and I think I earned big wife points this day.
Thank you so much to Kris for making this happen and to Kelly for sacrificing your husband for several hours on a Sunday afternoon! We had a great time!
