I know you know this, but I love Christmas. It bears repeating. One of the challenges we happily take on every year is the Treasure Hunt for the kids that they go on after they dump out their stockings (the first clue is in one of the stockings). It has to have a treasure at the end that is worthwhile, unique and amazing, and at the same time not completely over the top. We have a lot more years left of treasure hunting and we need to pace ourselves. I’ve also found myself leaning more towards giving my kids experiences rather than stuff…in no small part because none of them are super stuff oriented. Two years ago was indoor mini-golf and lunch at Panda express. This past year was paintball. Garyn had been wanting to go for a while and we figured the girls are all old enough. So we waited for some nice weather and a free weekend and we went out to Black River Paintball.

We did one match all together. Turns out, getting hit with a paintball hurts. I know. Shocking, right? After that first match and taking a solid hit to the thigh, Corra decided she wanted to hone her skills at the target range. She informed me that she was a wounded super hero who was going to fight bad guys while allowing her injury to recover. I’m grateful they understood that sometimes super heroes need a different kind of paintball experience. The rest of our crew had fun playing matches on several different courses. I think all of my girls enjoyed it, not sure when or if they would want to go again. But Garyn loved it so much. So much so, that we are planning on an guys day out with his friends, a few of their dads, and some men he’s worked with at church to celebrate his 16th birthday in July. It will be epic I tell you…epic.