What a weekend! Everything was great. Yesterday finished with the littlest one being the last man standing for the Orange team in the Paintball Championships. The trophy was as big as he is and was coveted by the group from California who were playing against each other for the grand prize. The oldest one and his team (Blue) actually won but it was the littlest one who had the entire group cheering. They play in this designated area of ranch land that has rocks, trees, sage brush and must be 3 or 4 football fields big. Each player dons camouflage clothing, gloves, masks that cover the face and most of the head and then have these CO2 charged paint ball guns that shoot 300 feet per second. (which is really powerful and fast) Anyhow at the end of the second round, our youngest is crouching in the sage brush and he’s so small the guy from the other team runs right by him trying to get the flag. After a few minutes when it looks as though all is lost, he pops up and goes running through the sage and shoots the player from the other team preventing them from winning. There’s three players left on the other team, including his brother, who are dumbfounded as from the edge of the field there’s about 20 people screaming with joy cheering our youngest on by name. He only was shot once (twice and you’re out) but ran out of compressed air. He would have won the game by himself but didn’t understand that he was supposed to grab the other teams flag. He said he saw it in the bush but didn’t know he was supposed to grab it! It was quite a team building moment for all the people from this company and our littlest and oldest solidified the entire event. They were both getting hi fives for the rest of the evening and then again this morning. We hit the hay pretty early last night as it was a full day.
This morning we awoke are 6:15 to the sound of the rushing water outside. The misses and I arranged for a bit more difficult trail ride out into the wilderness and took along the photographer who was there from Maryland shooting a brochure for the ranch. The boys will for sure be all over this as she was taking their pictures left and right. Cheryl, the professional photographer is sending us a ton of photos from the weekend. We all had to sign a waiver to let them be used when we arrived. Anyhow Cheryl travels the world (goes to Nicaragua next week for 3 weeks) and she was just working the whole time so the misses and I asked her if she wanted to come along to which she gladly accepted. We rode up through the sage to about 11,000 feet high through the 200 acre parcel where there are about 20 wild buffalo. It was really nice as it was early in the morning and the views were incredible. The boys stayed with head wrangler Jake and one of the intern wranglers named Amanda and they rode Rio and Boogie in the outdoor pen, roped some cows, roped each other and played some games. We knew Jake from last year and the boys had both ridden both of these horses before. Speaking of horses, I was on Shasta yesterday, a spirited horse that you had to keep in line and today on one of my favorites from last year, an incredible cutting horse named JJ. This horse could turn on a dime and I know it sounds strange but I think he remembered me! Horses can sense and smell fear so why wouldn’t they be able to remember a particular rider. The misses was on Bart today who was sure footed (which we needed on the steep switchbacks coming down) and looked like she’d been riding her whole life. Anyhow it was a truly great time and our hosts, who we spent some time with last night when they flew in and again this morning at breakfast, are really nice and generous to us. Both boys went up and thanked Mr. and Mrs. White personally and shook their hands. Everyone all weekend, from the staff, some who knew them and some who were new, to all the guests and the Whites, commented repeatedly what great kids they are. We of course were very proud of their behavior as should all of you be too.
We left about 11am and headed across the Colorado state line and drove up to my Dad’s old homestead cabin to scrounge for a piece of wood for my Mom to use as a sign for the pond in her pasture at the house. After a quick lunch in Walden with some friends who work for Silver Spur Ranches (John Malone’s place, owner of Starz and Cinemax cable channels) we headed out to home. We arrived here about 5pm and everything is just fine. The boys dozed off for the last 20 minutes and are now across the street at the going away party for our neighbors who go to Guatemala this Thursday for 2 months. We need to run over now and say hi and bye and then will be home to rest our backsides which are sore from so much riding. (actually I’m fine but the misses is hurting)
Sorry we’re late today and yesterday, but it was worth it. No TV, phones, newspapers, videos games, nothing, except the old west in all its glory. I wish everyone could experience this!
Until tomorrow, God Bless,