Country Living

Darren likes guns. A lot. In fact, I think it's safe to say that Darren loves guns. He has a bunch of them. He keeps them locked up in my basement. I don't share Darren's love of guns with him. And yet I have one of my own. He bought me one. A handgun. For self-defense. Locked up in a safe downstairs. That I don't know the code to. Which defeats the purpose of me defending myself with a gun.
Which is really beside the point because I also don't know how to use the gun. Haven't really even seen it. Except maybe once. Have never shot it. Wouldn't know what kind of bullet to put in it. Or where the bullet goes. The list goes on.
What I'm trying to say is that Darren loves guns. And he really wants some back-up in case of an emergency.

Enter Abby.



Yep, that's Abby behind that barrel. And that's me on the other end of it (please don't fret, I may not know how to work a gun but I'm no dummy - the gun wasn't loaded:) Anyway, we headed out to the country to see some friends who are real cowboys. And we got the real cowboy experience.




Shooting pop bottles was just one of the cowboy things we did. The kids are checking out their accuracy here. See what I mean about real cowboys - he's there with my girls.

He also taught my girls how to lasso. I was all for my kids learning the cowboy ropes (my family roots are cowboyan after all) until I realized where the aim was. Nobody else was fazed that our kids's lassos became nooses.(That's right. Aim for the head, hope it bypasses the neck, and pull tight at the shoulders. It works in theory. ) I suppose that's the cowboy way so I bucked up and acted like I wasn't bothered by it either. (It helped that no one's aim was very good - except for that little cowboy up in the picture above. I just asked him not to pull tight.)

Needless to say I breathed easier when that teaching session was over and everyone headed outside. Until I caught wind of what they were doing. Cutting down a tree. With an axe. A real one. I asked just to be sure.
Brooklyn wasn't allowed to try out the axe. Abby made sure of that. She was just being safe. Brooklyn is too little for that kind of stuff. Of course.




Brooklyn doing what Brooklyn does best - posing.

See, Darren is smart. He not only got his 5 and 7 year old girls a gun, he made sure he got pink. Abby was so excited she even gave him a hug.



All of the excitement put Colby to sleep. And Jace was around too. He rode the 4-wheelers, shot the pink gun, and entertained the babies. He really loves being a big brother. I'd have to say our cowboy weekend was a huge success (if not a little nerve-wracking)!