Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Summer 2013: Backyard Archery Party

Our second day at the Buckskin Lodge (aka Grandma & Grandpa's house) was packed with action. In the morninge went to the most amazing park in the history of the world.



Brooklyn's Playground was recently built to be accessible to children with wheelchairs or other special needs. It is huge and it is fabulous, and my parents donated to the cause -- they have their names on a cobblestone out front.



The playground has all the stuff you would normally expect at a playground, but it is centered around a series of decks and ramps that are much more accessible than normal. There are a few little areas for younger ages in the back, and in the front there are special swings that allow children with upper-body challenges to have fun swinging.



We left the playground to eat at the Pizza Pie Cafe (formerly known as Craigo's), which is becoming a big family favourite. For a reasonable price (ie: a fistful of dollars) you can eat from their pizza & salad buffet, and they can provide you a gluten-free pizza to order for only a few dollars more.



Grandma joined us for a movie (Crood's) and then we went back to the house to eat dinner and shoot arrows. Once again, Scott was SUPER EXCITED to shoot arrows. He used to have a plastic bow with suction-cup arrows, so he figured he was already a bit of a modern-day Robin Hood. If he was a medieval prince of theives, then Katie was a princess. She didn't have a princess dress to wear, but one of Grandma's sparkly shirts worked quite well.



It took some coaching to help him get things right, but Scott made quick progress with the arrows. Plenty of the first arrows ended up in the dirt, but pretty soon he was putting nearly half of them into the foam antelope.



Grandpa pays out at a rate of one quarter for every arrow in the target. Scott cleared about 2 bucks on the evening, at which point he bumped up against the house limit (Grandpa ran out of quarters).



Every day of this vacation we try something new, and every time we finish Scott immediately asks to go back and repeat that activity the next day. This day was no different: another great day. A high-five sort of day.



Here's a quote from our conversation after the shooting was over--
S: Why did you give me the heaviest bow?
D: Because I thought you were the strongest one
S: I'm not as strong as you.
D: But aren't you the strongest and best and smartest for everything?
S: No, just smartest.

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