{"id":3996,"date":"2014-12-08T13:23:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T20:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3996"},"modified":"2014-12-08T13:23:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T20:23:36","slug":"paintball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3996","title":{"rendered":"Paintball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Hubby and I went paintballing when we were newlyweds \u2013 so something along the lines of 22+ years ago, when the sport of paintball was nascent.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">(Whoop, whoop!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Word Wealth in the house!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">By show of hands, who had to take Word Wealth with Mrs. Crane freshman year in highschool?!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I see you, L\u2019il Sis.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Anyone else??<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Anyone ever accidentally call Mrs. Crane \u201cSister\u201d because they were fresh off of 8 years of Catholic Grade School where they were taught by nuns?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Awkward, especially since Mrs. Crane was Jewish.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Now I don\u2019t see ANY hands raised, so we\u2019ll move on.)<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">What I mostly remember about this olde tyme paintball were the hematomas and the ticks.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">But that was at the height of summer in Central Pennsylvania.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">So THIS time around?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">December in Colorado??<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Hey, it was a Groupon so SHUT IT!<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">This time around I expected fewer ticks\u2026and surely fewer hematomas.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And I was right!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Well\u2026partially.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">No ticks at all.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">But with advances in paintball and gun technology, you can now get even MORE hematomas, all at the speed of sound, via rapid fire.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">You can get hit in all your limbs simultaneously and the bruises will already be bloomin\u2019 before you even HEAR that you got hit.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Once you hear about it though, you alert everyone to the fact by throwing your hands up and shouting \u201cI\u2019m out!\u201d all while sucking in big whoops of air like you just racked yourself on a boy\u2019s ten speed bike.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And while <\/span><em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"> never actually cried, (I wanted to, so desperately, especially after Sissy snipered me in the knee at close range \u2013 that sonnofagun HURT! \u2013 see pic of damage) I did see Sissy with super glittery eyes at one point.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The particular round in question was over and she was standing there bravely, looking like an egg had gotten cracked into her hair part.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I think that stoicism on her part bumped her up about a dozen notches in the eyes of the random paintball dudes we were playing. <a href=\"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?attachment_id=3998\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3998\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3998\" title=\"knees\" src=\"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/knees-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/knees-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/knees.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">[As a side note, these dudes were NICE!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Just really nice guys with high-tech air rifles willing to share the field with a bunch of paintball novices.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And when I say \u201cnovice\u201d I mean we were\u00a0completely awful.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">No strategy, but a lot of yelling and running and immediately getting \u201cout.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And while I\u2019m glad we spent the time with these guys, for some reason, when I pictured who we would be fighting against\/with on the plains of Colorado, I envisioned more Russian paratroopers and highschool kids yelling, \u201cWolverines!\u201d] <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Then Sissy got raised even more notches when she and Sonny got into a standoff.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Sonny has been waiting his ENTIRE life to say the words, \u201cSurrender or die,\u201d to someone, so he was all ears during Surrender Protocol review at\u00a0\u201cbootcamp training.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">He was about 5 feet from Sissy, they were on opposite sides of a bunker, and he yells out, \u201cSurrender or DIE!\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Up pops Sissy and beans him point-blank in the chest.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Uhhhhh\u2026I guess that\u2019s a \u201cnone of the above\u201d on the surrender or die question, but thanks for asking.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">There may have been tears at that point.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Not Sissy, Sonny.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Yes, tears because he was hurt, but also because his one moment of glory so quickly evaporated in such a surprising way.<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And for SURE there was a hematoma.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">When we asked him afterwards if he still wanted to have his birthday party there, he said, \u201cNo.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Can you imagine what a really bad party that would be?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">With a whole bunch of kids crying all over the place?!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Good point.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">That IS a bad party.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Paintball would be so much more fun without the crying\u2026and the hematomas.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I\u2019ll wait another 20 years before I go back.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Maybe they\u2019ll have improved it by then.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hubby and I went paintballing when we were newlyweds \u2013 so something along the lines of 22+ years ago, when the sport of paintball was nascent.\u00a0 (Whoop, whoop!\u00a0 Word Wealth in the house!\u00a0 By show of hands, who had to take Word Wealth with Mrs. Crane freshman year in highschool?!\u00a0 I see you, L\u2019il Sis.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3996"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}