TANKS! FOR THE TANKS!

Jared's big birthday gift this year was a "Climb On" tour of the Tank Museum.  His friend William and he got to geek out with the museum docent (and owners son) on and in eight different tanks for two hours.  The rest of us tagged along or took side trips throughout their tour.  Lance was enamored with the old cars, Titus with the mini tank battle going on and everything else we explored.

(In Jared's Words)

Upon arriving at the AAF Tank Museum, we checked in at the front and the lady working there told us to pick out our 8 tanks before our docent arrived. We had actually arrived so early, in addition to picking out tanks to tour, we got to watch an RC Tank Battle in the museum's arena, and tour the uniform part of the museum. Once the time came, we met up with our docent, Mr. Daniel, and the tour began!

The first tank we toured was the German Panzer Mark IV. After receiving the do's and don'ts of entering a tank, William entered the turret hatch (commander's seat) and I entered the driver's hatch, located on the hull.

In the movies, they make entering a tank look as easy as entering a car...it's not. You need some serious arm strength to get in and out of those hatches, especially tanks where there's a long way down in the turret.

I sat down on what I thought was the seat. "You're actually sitting on the ammo rack," Mr. Daniel called down to me from the turret hatch, "The seat is further down." It was then I understood how CRAMPED a tank was! Your legs were squeezed in-between the sides of the tank, with the 2 levers (for driving the tank, one controlled each track) in-between your legs, and Mr. Daniel showed me that the automatic transmission was right next to me! If I had used that as an armrest when the tank was operating, I would've gotten burnt! And as for visibility...there is ZERO visibility. The only thing to look through was a little slit not much bigger than 2 pencils stacked on-top of one-another.

William and I switched spots, and I lowered myself into the commander's seat. To my left was the gunner's seat, to my right was the loader's. One thing I was always curious about WW2 tanks was whether or not there was a wall in-between the driver and the turret. There is not. "During WW2 the crews didn't have fancy headsets to communicate with each other," Mr. Daniel informed us, "As the commander, you had to yell orders to everyone in the tank. And the other 4 people in the tank had to do whatever he said immediately. If 1 person fails to do there job for a moment...everyone's dead." He also answered my question regarding if it was true that German tank doctrine said you weren't allowed to leave your tank unless it was on fire. "That was true for almost all armies. You never leave your tank. You don't even leave if you have to use the restroom. If you had to go in a possible combat situation, you held it, or you went. It doesn't even matter if your friend is dying next to your tank, you never leave. It's sad and it stinks, but like I said, you have to do your job. If you don't, you've just killed 4 other men." I exited the tank with one of the hatches located on the sides of the turret, and we moved on to our next tank.

The second tank we toured was the M60A2 Patton, one of only a few left! This tank was much taller than the Mk. IV, and much heavier as well (57 tons to the Mk. IV's 27 tons). Climbing into the turret (and later the driver's seat) was once again a challenge, but at least there were real seats on the inside! One of the coolest features of this tank was how to move the turret. The gunner had what looked like a video game controller that he used to operate the turret. Turn the controller to turn the turret, and tilt the controller to move the gun up and down. The commander also had his own set, and he could override the gunner's control of the turret with the flip of a switch. The M60A2 also had a second, smaller turret on top. This housed a 20mm machine gun, and the mini-turret could be operated independently from the main turret. The driver's hatch was very cramped (there was no assistant driver in the M60s). The hatch was positioned in a way that prevented it from opening if the turret was pointed forwards. Mr. Daniel told us if the tank was hit when the turret was in that position, the driver couldn't get out the hatch! Thankfully, some tanks have an escape portal on the floor of the driver's compartment.

The third tank we toured was the M247 Sergeant York Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun. This tank was another one of the Pentagon's billion dollar failures. The idea was to take the hull of an M48 Patton, and slap a turret with 2 40mm AA Guns on top. This design was reminiscent of the WW2 German Flakpanzer. The problem was...it was terrible at hitting aircraft. On top of that, The M247 was so slow, a plane it tried to attack could immediately circle around and eliminate the Sergeant York. The example we toured was one of the tallest tanks at the museum. The inside was very open, except for the 2 seats, some optics, and A LOT of wires! At this point we were starting to feel the heat inside of these armored vehicles, Mr. Daniel said they could get between 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit easy in a combat situation. Not exactly a joy ride😂!

The fourth tank was technically not a tank. It was the M55 Self-Propelled Howitzer. This behemoth was mounted with an 8in Howitzer. The Cold-War Era M55 was used to shell targets once off-shore batteries like destroyers and battleships were out of range. In today's warfare, the job of Self-Propelled Guns has been mostly taken over by planes and drones. There were, in fact, 2 M55s on display at the museum, one the Army version, the other the Marine configuration. The only major difference between the two is the Army M55 has a cabin, while the Marine one is open-topped. This was by far the most roomy tank we toured, but it was not without its share of fun quirks and features. One being how to load the 8in gun. In order to load it, the gun would have to be level (pointing forward) before the shell was loaded. The shell and the power were loaded separately, with how many powder cases depending on how far away the target was. Once the gun was loaded, the gun would be raised, usually well over 45 degrees. Once the order was given, the gun would fire, and the barrel would be lowered again before loading the second round. One question we had for Mr. Daniel was whether or not the M55 could be used in an anti-tank roll. The answer was a resounding NO! Mr. Daniel said the gun was so inaccurate at short range, that it probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, much less a moving tank! He also said this vehicle would never be deployed anywhere near the front lines, as the 8in Howitzer could fire over 12 miles, it should never see the enemy on the battlefield.

The fifth tank we toured was the Soviet T34/85. This tank was arguable the best tank of WW2, though the one we toured was produced after the war in Czechoslovakia (modern-day Czech Republic). Even though the T34 had the most rust of any tank we toured, the tank was still drivable! Although, it would spew oil and smoke everywhere when it started. We asked Mr. Daniel if that was because it was old. "Nope," he said, "That's just Soviet tanks. If it doesn't make a big mess, there's something wrong with it." After entering the tank, William sat in the driver's seat and I stood where the commander's seat would've been (the seat was missing). Mr. Daniel then directed our attention to the many wires and different parts around the turret, and we noticed that each one was a different color. "Imagine who would be operating this tank," Mr. Daniel explained, "It's going to be farmers and factory workers who are illiterate [can't read or write]. So instruction manuals were useless. The Russian solution to the problem was to color code the tank. Green is broken, Red needs to be replaced, Brown is non-operational. It made it easy for any civilian to jump into a tank and be able to operate and fix everything with little to no training." Things you never think about! A funny moment did occur when touring this tank. I banged my head for the (surprisingly) only time when touring the museum! And this was one of the more roomy tanks😂.

The sixth tank we explored was the US M1917 Light Tank. This tank was a carbon copy of the WWI French FT-17, with only some miner changes. The tank we toured was used in multiple movies, including the Gary Cooper film For Whom the Bell Tolls. The M1917 is one of the rarest American tanks in history, so it was extremely special when we were allowed to tour it! I didn't think I was going to fit inside of that tank, due to its very small size. Surprisingly, the M1917 was the easiest tank to get into! One of the special things about touring this tank was it only had 2 crew members, so when William and I were both in the tank it felt like we could actually operate it! The thing that stood out the most to us was how advanced it was, from the suspension, to how to drive it, to the shape of the tank itself, we had to keep reminding  ourselves this tank was designed in the 1910s. This was William's favorite tank at the museum.

The seventh tank was, like the M55, technically not classed as a tank. It was the M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer. This vehicle was the most successful American Tank Destroyer of WWII, with an impressive 2.4-to-1 kill-to-loss ratio. It had one major drawback though. "The armor has a maximum thickness of half an inch," said Mr. Daniel. "The designers traded armor for blistering speed. Meaning, while it could go 55mph on a road, it would be destroyed by any non-small-arms weapon shot at it." This M18 was hit in the turret by a 20mm anti-aircraft gun. While it didn't disable the tank, it did sadly kill the gunner (who still haunts the M18 to this day...or so we've heard). Speaking of the turret, it was open topped. While that did mean the commander, gunner, and loader were all exposed to bullets, grenades, and shell fragments, it did have 1 major advantage. American Tankers in the Hellcat could see everything! They didn't have to look through small slits to find their targets, meaning M18s had a better chance of spotting, and firing at an enemy tank before said tank could see them. This, along with it's great speed, was crucial to the M18's success. One feature worth noting was the .50cal machine gun mount. The .50cal was mounted on a circular rail that the commander would stand in. If the rail wasn't locked (like it was at the museum) the machine gun could traverse 360 degrees, allowing the commander to fire the deadliest machine gun offered to American ground units in any direction. The M18 Hellcat is by far one of my favorite "tanks."

The eighth and final tank William and I toured was the Soviet T72A/M1. This tank was one of the largest we toured today, measuring over 22 feet long! It was also the most modern. That said, it was the HARDEST to get into! When we first lowered ourselves into the turret, I nearly moved my shoulder in a way that it wasn't supposed to go, I also scraped (no blood) my leg when I lowered myself down. If you have claustrophobia, DON'T GO INTO THIS TANK! William and I were very cramped in the forest of wires, dials, levers, buttons, and electronic equipment.

The T72 was the only tank we toured with an auto-loader. Unlike other tanks (including the US M1A3 Abrams tank), you don't have to reload shells after each round is fired, the tank does it for you. We asked why more modern tanks aren't equipped with this feature. "Despite the increased speed in loading, there were many problems with the auto-loader," Mr. Daniel related. "The auto-loader would sometimes malfunction, and in many cases, cause the round to explode prematurely inside the tank." Makes sense why most main battle tanks don't have an auto-loader!

Outside the tank, Mr. Daniel directed our attention to a V-shaped strip of metal on the frontal armor. "Sloped armor is by far one of the best shapes for armoring a tank," Mr. Daniel explained. "But it does have one drawback. In between the turret and the hull is a small gap, which is very weak. If a round hits that lip, the tank is destroyed. Tank designers realized that sometimes, instead of a round deflecting off the sloped armor, it would slide up the slope right into the gap. The solution was this V-shaped strip of metal, which guided the round away from the turret! There was even a smaller version of this on the T34." WOW! So simple, yet so effective!

The final fun feature of this tank was in the driver's hatch. If you shined a light at the gauges, they glow in the dark! Very helpful in the dark, cramped environment.

With that, our tour of the AAF Tank Museum came to an end. After thanking Mr. Daniel, we picked up some COBI sets from the gift shop and headed out, not expecting one final adventure. We were driving down NC-540 when it started to rain, no big deal, right? The rain soon turned into a downpour, and we saw many brake lights ahead underneath an overpass. Thinking it was just people who couldn't drive in the rain (a VERY common occurrence in North Carolina) we didn't think much of it...until there was a loud "CLANG!" on the roof. In a split second, we went from a downpour, to zero visibility thunderstorm with marble-sized hail! Lance, who was driving, quickly slowed down and went onto the shoulder, with his cautions on. We crept under the overpass where many other drivers were already sheltered. William, who had been sleeping, woke up. "I'm awake now!" He said with a smile, which gave the rest of the car a needed laugh. We waited a few minutes for the storm to pass and we headed home.

The trip ended with us watching MIDWAY and William and I playing Memoir '44. We all had a great time at the museum, and I can't wait to go back!

(Back to Mom)

In fact, most of his birthday week involved war movies, Memoir challenges and lots of pizza; much to Jared's extreme pleasure. We finished it all off in traditional style with an ambush and Spice Cake!

A Time for Everything

There was a sense throughout vacation that this would be our last "family vacation", not in a morbid sense (we'll go on vacation again) but in the real sense that the clock keeps ticking forward no matter how hard we try to stop it, that after this vacation things would be different.  For you see,  the day after our vacation marked Lance's graduation from high school.

Chris and I have done all we can to train him intellectually, culturally, morally, emotionally and spiritually to be a better person in every way than us.  I feel that should be the goal of every parent, to impart on society people who are better than those who came before them and I believe with Lance we have done just that.  Though we will always be here to counsel him, from now on its his life.  We pray with all our hearts it will be a life that exceeds his wildest dreams full of great joy and successes.

Selfishly, I'm really glad he didn't want any kind of party or celebration, he just wants to head out on his new journey, because I would have been a bawling mess and I really don't look good when I do that.  When Pastor prayed over him and the other graduates this Sunday I barely kept it together.  Jared did make him a really neat diploma with a majestic water mark and seal, which I used on his impressive transcript. Those are the official marks of him completing high school but the story is so much more.  So I will keep this post short, to follow behind 19 years of posts outlining his wonderful childhood and journey into manhood.

His new journey as a young man involves; baseball, getting an automotive degree from Wake Tech and working for Hendrick motors.  Only God knows where each of these paths will lead or how long he'll be on them but I have faith that he will keep God close and I know God will never forsake him along any of the many paths his life will lead him.  We could not be more proud of the man he has become, there just aren't words to express our love and pride in our wonderful young man.

Let the adventure begin!

HH Spring 2022

So good to be back to our second home, we really needed the break and family time.

As always, walking was the main source of entertainment for Chris and I.  We like walking the beach looking for animals and shells; sometimes with the kids, sometimes alone.

For Titus and Lance fishing is the main focus.  Lance is a bit more focused on that task than Titus.  Titus has a tendency to go off on his skim board for a bit but that's perfectly fine too, having fun however you want to is the always the order of the day.

Fishing was a little scarce this week.  Titus caught a stingray the first night, then never again....well that was until Lance got him the cast net.

Lance caught his largest Bonnethead shark, Saltwater catfish, and Whiting yet, all in the first 24hours, then nothing the rest of vacation.  His only solace was that no other fisherman were catching anything on the beach either.  Thankfully, fishing is very peaceful and calming even if you're not catching anything.

The temperature was a bit cool this time, so the kids didn't play too much in the water.  That was no big deal though, they just played a lot more lawn/beach bowling and fort building. 

We of course enjoyed our usual food fare and were welcomed back by our local merchants we visit everytime.

Last but not least, we went Putt-Putting one day, back at our favorite place.

It was the relaxing time we all needed, already looking forward to our next trip.

Spring Highlights 2022

Spring puts people in the mood for beauty, I decided a family art project was in order.  I'd like to say everyone enjoyed the exercise, but one person got really annoyed with having to use color not mentioning any names.....Lance

"The Wall That Heals" is a traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial.  It was in our area the first week of April and we had the honor of attending a docent led tour with our friends.  It was truly informative and emotional experience.  Our docent was amazing, he presented the timeline of the war and the history of the memorial an incredibly engaging way.  We stood among many Vietnam Veterans as we experienced the memorial, it was interesting to hear their add-on chatter as our docent told the story and one even told the story of how 40+ names ended up on the wall rather quickly one day as the troop transports next to his helicopter tragically fell.  Needless to say the my kids minds went back to Uncle Ryan as we saw survivors trace the names of their fallen comrades.  It was sobering, but so important that history not be forgotten.  My house at least will remember and share true history with their own.

We went from serious on Friday to fanciful on Saturday as the boys attended their first Cars and Coffee Car Event.  It was "Ferrari Day".  Lance loves Ferraris and he was so excited that one of the guys actually let him sit inside his car.  My boys and girl all love ICE Vroom, though since it was a bit chilly Amber and I did choose to stay home for some girl time.

This Winter I finally went ahead and bought a grain mill and bread maker.   I was determined I could make bread that we could eat; that didn't taste like junk.  I was right about quickly being able to make something edible but it took till now to truly perfect the process.  We are all so thankful to be eating real bread again.

Lance is very happy to announce "I'm a Daddy!"..... a shrimp daddy that is.  He hopes to breed enough to eventually sell them, for now he's just enjoying them.

For the past eight years we have tried to get grass to grow in our backyard, we've done seed, sod and even just tried getting clover to grow but eventually it all just washes away.  The kids are all too big now to really use the yard as a play area so we decided we'd try and slowly just turn it into a shade garden.  Then Titus came up with another idea, he decided we should put a dry river bed in with a pond, along the path of the drainage.  He and Amber got right to work and you can see in our Annual Easter Egg Hunt photos the early progress.

Friends came to watch Titus' baseball game today, which was really nice since Lance and Daddy couldn't be there because of Lance's game.  Titus of course did a great job in the field and at bat.

Little Miss continues to improve as an equestrian.  She started learning her two-point and "jumping" cross ties.

Thanks to a friend not needing some things Amber's room got a mini-remodel too.

The crazy carts had been garaged for a while but they are back out in force again.  The kids build these elaborate tracks around the court and spend the afternoons racing single and in teams.

Kids have been helping out the grandparents when they can lately.  We brought over a variety of our Canna the other day to fill in a spot between them and a neighbor.  While we were there, Frank asked Titus if he could help him with a building project.  About a week later he and Frank had a great time building a chicken coop together.  Frank said he was so impressed with Titus that he has a bunch of other projects for them to do together.  It's a win-win them working together; Titus gets to learn many tricks-of-the-trade and Frank gets things done on his to-do list. Amber is over frequently to visit the new chicks and help Mary around the kitchen.  Jared helps with the yard and Lance recently helped fix an oil leak on his truck (The shop put the wrong oil filter in).

When not working on other peoples cars, Lance has been working on Homer.  Earlier in the year he replaced all the break pads and recently he did an engine clean, replaced the spark plugs (what a huge difference) and smoothed out some old dents. I really think he's going to enjoy learning more about cars over the summer and a Wake Tech next year.

The STORM is over...

 

After being together for four years with most and six years with some, tonight the seniors of the NLC Storm Baseball team turned in their jerseys for the very last time.

Lots of tears tonight, from parents, friends, players and coaches.  I'd never seen Coach Posey tear-up like he did giving Lance the Leadership and Offensive player of the year awards tonight.  It's been such a fun run, everyone had a hard time leaving tonight after the awards, people lingered for a long time.

For Lance, their last game tonight could not have ended more perfectly, not only did they win but first Luke hit a homerun and then Lance too hit a homerun at his last at bat of his high school career.  His friend Matt waited on 3rd, refusing to score on passed ball, knowing Lance would hit him home and wanting to be that last RBI.  The stands went absolutely wild as did the players.  Its hard to see in the video below but the ball hit high in the trees in left field, and Lances' biggest fan couldn't have been more excited if he'd hit it himself.  (Click here to watch Video)

The season certainly had its ups and downs but they really brought it together at the end.  Earlier in the season they participated in an invitational tournament at Grace Sanford.  Lance's team placed third, Lance hit the walk-off run and was a given the the MVP award  That was all awesome but the best part was the players from the other teams (like Grace whom they didn't end up playing, they just watched) coming up to congratulate Lance after the game.

Then last week at the North Carolina Homeschool World Series, the team made their highest placing ever in STORM history coming in 2nd.  It was a tough tournament personally for Lance he had to overcome some serious physical and emotional challenges, but Lance did.  He's always the professional and God really showed him that it was all worth it.  With each team he played that weekend, when he got on first, the player from the other team randomly felt the need to tell him how much their whole team respected Lance.  Then the coaches from the other teams showed further respect by coming over to shake his hand or give a hug and wish him well in the future.  Even two of the umpires inquired about his future and one even offered help.  All those random acts of kindness had an incredible healing power.  Titus had a blast being one of the bat boys all weekend with his friend Matthew.

It has been quite a journey with these wonderful families and so thankful for all their love and support over the years, it will be a gap in our life without them. 

A Little Bit Older

 

How did another manage to pass?  Denial isn't just a river in Africa.  March is a super busy time of the year in Ottoland with both Lance and Titus playing baseball, Amber riding, Jared Archery, that a big celebration was hard to arrange and frankly Lance just wanted to chill with family.  However, we did still manage a few surprises.  First, Jared arranged for his friend Sakell to make a surprise visit.  Then when we were out running errands I spontaneously stopped at the Baseball Store and told him we had decided a new 1st Baseman mitt was our gift to him.  He was so thankful.  The guy in the shop even threw a couple balls for him so he could choose between two different mitts.  He said the new mitt is a huge difference, as the throws were getting harder his old mitt just didn't have the padding it needed anymore.

I still find it ironic how much Lance has come to love dancing.  He and Jared meet up a couple times a month with friends to dance the old English country dances.  When they're babies you have no idea what they'll be like and when their young adults you just pray they get to be all they want to be.

Archery Indoor Nationals 2022

(Written by Jared)

USA Archery Indoor Nationals was back in Virginia this year. Last year (due to you-know-what) the Indoor Championships were shot at the State tournaments. Dad and I drove up early Friday morning, and arrived at the hotel around 2 hours before we had to report to the shooting range.

The first shoot was for the JOAD Championships, which consisted of 2 rounds (60 arrows). I ended up shooting a 536 out of a possible 600 and ranking 76th in the nation!

Saturday and Sunday were both apart of the 53rd USA Archery Indoor National Championships, consisting of 4 rounds (120 arrows) across the 2 days. I was beginning to grow tired, and scored a 1049 out of a possible 1200 and ranking 96th in the nation. Although, that score did mean I ranked 4th in USA Sectionals! My highest ranking in this class (U18 aka Cadet, which consists of 14-17 year old archers).

Apart from the Archery, Dad and I had some fun times when we were at the hotel. It is a tradition that we bring my favorite game, Memoir '44, with us when we travel to the shoot. I won all 3 games we played (Dad's excuse was the dice were rigged). What was new this year was Dad brought his computer so we could watch 2 war movies we'd wanted to see for a while. The first one was Midway, the true story of the Battle of Midway. This was by far the best movie I had ever watched! Dad and I can't wait to watch it on a bigger screen. The second movie we watched was Pentagon Wars, based on the true story of the development of the M3 Bradly Fighting Vehicle. The movie was written as a sick comedy, since all the stupidity of the members of the Pentagon actually happened. It was another movie worth watching!

Even the drive up and back are enjoyable...mostly because I get to play MY music (*cough* Sabaton *cough*). The entire trip was a great time! I am very thankful to Coach John and Coach Lesley for all their help in preparing me for this competition, and I can't wait to go back!

NFAA State and Sectionals were at the range again this year, so Amber and Titus came to this tournament. Unfortionately, NFAA decided to schedule this 3 day tournament only 1 week after USA Nationals! Due to the fact I was still exhausted from Nationals, I didn't perform very well, posting some less-then-admirable scores.

BUT! Titus and Amber did amazing in their first ever tournament! Titus ended up winning State Champion and Amber got 2nd in their respective classes! I'm glad they had great success at their first competition.

Ready, Aim, FIRE!

We have made it a regular habit to hang out weekly with the M-Clan ever since Amber started her riding lessons around the corner. 

Amber rides while Vanessa and I talk and boys stay at their house to play with their boys.  It's a very therapeutic time for everyone.  This week there was the extra bonus of it being Alexander's birthday and he decided he wanted an airsoft party.  It had been so long since the boys had a good old fashion full day of fighting, everyone was so excited.  Amber and I stuck around a bit to help with the making of cupcakes inside of oranges to be cooked in the bonfire (so incredibly unique), then we left the boys to come home much, much later.

Needless to say they had a blast....and maybe a little too much ginger beer (LOL)!

Happy Birthday to....

 

Today we celebrated the birthday of our surrogate/"adopted" daughter Holly.  Holly is technically our next-door neighbor but over the last few years she has become very integrated into our family.  She vacations with our family and has even lived here from time to time.  She balances off our family dynamics well, getting along with everyone.  We pray this year is her best ever!

USA Archery State Championships

     It was the time of year where my Mom and I go up to Winston-Salem for me to compete in The NC State USA Archery Championship.

    This year we got to go up in our new 2022 Honda Odyssey, which took away all the stress of getting there. Compared to last year in our old 2002 GMC Yukon XL, where we had to draft behind a semi-truck to get there safely...

    Once we got there, a friend of mine from First Flight Archery (my archery range) parked next to us, and we were able to walk in together. At the door though, we were met with the Water Bottle Nazis! They told us I had to dump out my full water bottle (they didn't know it had BodyArmor energy drinks inside) and refill it with either the gross water fountains or their WAAAYYY overpriced bottled water. My mom "went along" and "brought them back to the car," but I knew they would "just so happen" to find their way in. I mean, it's not the first time my Mom has dealt with this type of persons😉.

    That said, the Water Bottle Nazis were much appreciated over Mask Nazis, which even though the location said you had to wear one, nobody there cared if you did or not. So we were able to take them off for the whole day!

    After bow inspections, I found my bale and we got situated. Then we waited for the previous line to end. Once it ended, I hung my target. A nice surprise was the two other people on my bale were from First Flight, so I knew scoring would go seamlessly (except for when the computer cleared all our scores for the first 30 arrows so we had to type them in again...but no big deal).

    The shoot itself went by as usual, I had a lot of fun talking with other shooters! A funny point was the stand holding our round bale was very crooked. It was so crooked that while it didn't harm our shooting, I was worried it would tip over and knock down the other 18 bales next to it😬. Thankfully a judge had power tools on hand and was able to fix it.

    At the end of the day, my score for Round 1 was 263, and Round 2 was 241, for a total of 504.  Not the best day score wise (though I still put up a respectable score with 3 misses in Round 2), it was the highest I ever placed in States, 6th overall! I also was 2nd in States in my team, just under 20 points behind the highest score from First Flight. And other than the misses and a few bad shots, I was staying all in the yellow...It's just when I missed, I missed BAD😜! But I did improve in some small areas, which will help in future competitions.

    After the tournament, we ate at the BEST Italian restaurant ever! I had my first Calzone, and it was HUGE!!! Mom and I were able to talk about a lot of topics over dinner and on the drive home, which is always enjoyable.

    No medal for the family this time...but getting closer every single time. And we had fun, which is the the whole point of doing anything...right?😉

-Jared Otto