Bang, bang, bang.........

Well, our Appleseed event (the 3rd one to be held in ND) is now over-with. What a great time of learning; fellowshipping; and noise it was!

I have a very picture-heavy post ready to share with you, but first I'd just like to say a big thank you to the 4 instructors who donated their time; materials and gas money to make this event possible!!! Thanks, too, to the participants who came and shot alongside of us--making these last few days very memorable ones indeed!

Now, onto the pictures~

The Bartlett brothers arrived around 4:00 Friday afternoon. After going out to the shooting range to look things over, the young men headed downstairs for a few games of Air-Hockey and Foosball...

I think they had an enjoyable time?!?

At about 5:00, the instructors (Alex from Iowa and Kyle from Minnesota) showed up. After they checked out the range too, the guys tried out our swing-set!

Everyone helped (or watched) during chores and then visited for a while afterwards until Ben & Amanda showed up, at which time, we shared a meal and got to know each other better. The instructors spent the night in my grandpa's pop-up camper and the Dagley young people camped out with us in the house.

The next morning found most of us up bright and early to get the milking done before 8:30--when everyone was supposed to register and then head out to the range. Several people car-pooled out to the shooting spot, as there was a lot of mud to go through and not everyone had a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Eventually, the instructors and the students made it to the range; everyone got their blankets spread out; and the Appleseed event began...

This picture was taken during one of the history lessons...

Here Peter Bartlett is giving some advice to Ben D....

Steve S. (that's him on the left) came on Saturday. As you can maybe tell by the way people are dressed, it was a bit cold that day. It kept on sprinkling throughout the morning and a bit in the afternoon, but we made it through. Sunday was a much nicer day, and we're praising God for the relatively nice weather He did give us, as today and the rest of this week (according to the weatherman) is really wet and chilly! Thanks for praying!!!

Here, Alex (from Iowa) is teaching the next part in the history lesson--

--while the audience is taking shelter behind the stack of straw bales!

These fellas mustn't have been too cold. :)

Left to right is: my brother, Andrew; my brother, Jacob; and Instructor-in-Training, Jonathan.

In this picture, most of the group was preparing to head back to the farm after one days work was over.

We had 12 shooters on the line on Saturday--the 5 of us; Ben & Amanda; Steve S.; Cory from Valley City; Mr. Knight and his son from Dickinson; and Jeremy from Minot. The next day, the Knights and Steve weren't able to join us, so we were down to 9 participants.

Ben, Amanda & I stayed out a little longer, as Amanda wanted to site in her gun and Ben had to clean his, (and I wanted to take pictures.)

Back in the warm house once again, my parents, Steve, and Ben visited, while Alex & Kyle drove to a small town to fill their car with gas and my brothers; the Bartlett boys; Amanda and I went downstairs and had fun playing several 6-person Foosball games.

After supper, our living room was filled with music...

Then everyone slept well until chores time once again.

The next day was spent in practicing what we were taught the day before. We shot a lot of AQTs, which is the target you shoot at and then add up your score afterwards and see how much you've (hopefully) improved. There are 4 possible ranks you can be in:

1. Rifleman (highest)
2. Sharpshooter
3. Marksman
4. Unqualified!

I'll tell you how my family and I scored later. :)

The two guys below (in the red hats) are the instructors:

Here is Jonathan with his orange hat--meaning he's an Instructor-in-Training. He and Peter will need to help with teaching 2 more Appleseeds and pass a test before they get their red hats... Here Peter is helping Cory get his sling on correctly...

In this picture, you can also see Jacob (in the red) who made Marksman and my dad (in the blue) who made Sharpshooter!

Jeremy shooting his high-powered, noisy rifle... Nobody wanted to park their blanket too near to him!

Mother is looking pleased with her score--and well she should be, as she made the rank of Sharpshooter!!! She was surprised, as it's been many years since she's shot, although she used to be quite good.

Ah, here you can see me--in the red riding hood. :) I made Marksman, or rather, Markswoman...

Andrew shooting his new gun...

Jonathan timing him...

This is what the far end of our range looked like...

Peter--looking happy...

Instructors again--Kyle on the left and Alex on the right...

Amanda and I had fun "Shooting" in another way too... (She and Ben both made Sharpshooter and said they were glad they came, as they learned a lot of helpful information.)

Peter--pretending he's shooting at Andrew's target...

Amanda again...

Scoring...

Dad and Jacob shooting in the standing position with Peter looking on...

Andrew was determined to make Rifleman--

--and he did! Here he's getting his patch to sew onto, well, whatever he wants to put it on. :)

You can visit Jonathan's blog (http://jonathanjbartlett.blogspot.com/) for even more pictures if you like!

Once again, thank you to everyone who made this Appleseed Shoot a wonderful experience! Especially, I'd like to thank Jonathan (and Andrew Bartlett, as it was his gun) for the use of the much better rifle, as it was so nice to be able to hit the target a little more frequently than I did the day before! :)