The Taber Family Blog

Wyatt with muzzle flash

I’m lagging on updates these days, but there really isn’t much of a change day to day lately. I’m feeling better all the time, can eat pretty much what I want (gently though) and am back to work 3 days a week now. I still have a bit of the facial rash left and acne seems to crop up from time to time, but I really can’t complain after some of the other things I’ve been through.

Anyway, I forgot to blog about this last weekend, but the kids and I had a great time over at the local shooting range here in Vacaville. The idea came from Wyatt and I thought it would be fun to go shoot at some targets once again too. However this time when we talked about it, the girls became very excited about coming along and doing some shooting too. The reality of shooting a real pistol is quite a bit different than video games and TV, so I thought about it for a bit and decided that after a right gun safety review with all the kids once again, they would be well prepared for some target practice.

Grant with muzzle flash

After the gun safety class put on by yours truly, we headed over to the shooting range and we were almost there, when Elizabeth decided after some deep thought that this wasn’t really something we wanted to do, so she and Denise elected to go shopping instead. Lauren was a rock and said she would stay the course. Once at the shooting range, we rented our ear and eye protection and and were assigned a lane in the range. At this point you can clearly hear the loud explosions coming from deep inside the range and I could see Lauren was starting to get nervous, but still determined to join in.

I always forget how loud guns are when they are fired in close proximity. It never fails to remind me how silly TV and movies are that show people firing guns and not grimacing from the ear pain. Even with ear protection the loud blasts will always get your attention. So we set up our targets and took turns with my little .40 cal Glock pistol. The boys did great and drilled their targets very well.

Lauren is ready!

When it came time for Lauren’s turn, she decided she wasn’t quite ready and urged us to keep going. However after a few turns went by, I assured Lauren that I would be right behind her and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. Hearing this, she decided she would try shooting, as long as I was right behind her and even holding/bracing her hands. Easy enough. Lauren stepped up and fired off two rounds right into the target. I was so proud and I could tell she was proud of herself too for overcoming her fears.