Shoot the Clay Pigeons...they don't even eat flies

Because I like to try new things, and it seemed like a great way to get a taste without having to spend a lot of money, I signed up for a Women in the Outdoors event. The brochure said you'd get to try shotgun, handgun, horseback riding, canoeing, canning, dutch oven cooking, wine making, fishing...all kinds of stuff. My mom is brilliant at shooting things on the wii, (and also rubber band fights) and I thought she'd love the chance to try a real gun too. So I invited her down this weekend and we both went.

Oh my God, you guys! My mom is AWESOME.

When we did shotgun she hit 5 out of 9 clay pigeons. When we did handgun she hit a bullseye with her first shot. When we did archery she hit 5 balloons with 6 arrows. Whenever we went to a new event we would tell our instructor how she has so much fun on the wii, and they would laugh indulgently. By the end of the session they were all going "I need to get a wii! What game did you play again?!?"

( I on the other hand, could probably use some more practice. )

I had a ball, Mom had a ball, and if there's a branch of Women in the Outdoors in your area, I'd highly suggest it. Really fun day. Apparently there's one going on in the winter not too far from me where they do skiing and bobsledding and dogsledding! All kinds of fun.

Addendum to Clay Pigeon Shooting

You'd think I'd have remembered to mention this when I was going into Mom's awesome marksmanship, but I totally forgot to tell you all that I mentioned the whole 'practicing on the wii / coming down from Michigan' thing to a local reporter. I thought 'The story is too good!'

I was so right.

So here's mom and me in the Wapakoneta Daily News. We're the second story down. We even made the front page. Unfortunately the online version is missing the picture of mom actually firing the shotgun. But the article is still very cute. ....I wish the reporter hadn't felt the need to emphasize how much I suck compared to my mom, but there you are...it makes the story even better.