Today is my little brother’s 16th birthday. He has gone from being the little blonde baby that ran after us trying to keep up, to the hilarious and fun young man who now towers over me. This past weekend a group of us went to Sgt. Splatters in Toronto to play some paintball for his birthday, and mayhem ensued.
The siblings all geared up before heading out into the field.
The boys had already been playing for an hour before the girls all arrived (we were at a craft show. very conflicting day), and we arrived in time to see my brother and one of his best friends coming running off the field covered in paint residue. The walls inside were covered with paint, and you couldn’t even lean on them without getting some on you. Needless to say, the washing machine was working overtime that night.
I’m smiling now, but in about 5 minutes I’m going to be terrified as I’m hiding behind a gutted out building trying to hide from ricocheting shots. At one point I was teamed up with about 20 big tough ghetto guys hiding behind some barrels. I was just ahead of them peeking around the corner to see the other team heading over our way, when one of the guys yelled at me, “Yo, Blondie! What do you see?” Am I seriously the lookout on this operation? So I adjust my mask and yell back “They’ve got us surrounded like the OK Corral”. Silence. No one got the Wyatt Earp reference.
My dear Dad came along with us, and used old coveralls from work. Can you say Giant Smurf?
Love the paint on your face, Dad. It really compliments your complexion.
The smiley babe on the right is my sister’s dear friend from the US. This lady has lived all over North and South America, and is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. And don’t even get me started on how awesome her parents and little brother are. I could write about a million posts about that family.
And despite her hesitation about going to paintball (and I was right with her on that), she kept on going with the rest of us, even when she got paint in her eye and was literally shot in the back. What a trooper.
And of course the best part about playing paintball is going home afterwards and comparing your wounds. Sis had a pout so big a bird could perch on it, when she showed me this little bump on her shoulder…
Yikes!! Looks like you have some battle wounds – but at least you all had fun!!
~WM