First Shots

The boys and I had a good day today. We slept in, watched some Saturday morning cartoons and played a little football in the front yard.

Around 11:00, we hopped in the car and headed down to the best archery store on the island, appropriately named Island Archer. I say they are the best because they were so helpful to me getting my bow set up for the very first time. There I met Danelle Pulawa who, even though I had not purchased my bow from their store, got my bow fitted and tuned for me and even replaced some of the smaller stock parts with better ones, free of charge. She spent a good 30 minutes with me, explaining my bow and helping me put on all the other little pieces that I didn't know where to put! She never gave me the "annoying rookie" look and even helped my boys find starter bows for them. I can't say enough about them and I really appreciated their help!

From there we headed (with unimportant detours) to the Central Oahu District Park archery range. I couldn't believe that on a Saturday afternoon there was no one there! I was relieved because I didn't have the pressure of trying not to look like a rookie, when in fact I was one. We got the gear all set up, went over the posted range rules, and taped a sheet of paper to the built in carpet bales on site.

I took pictures of each of our first shots (Bryan's was videoed so won't appear here) and then after supervising the boys a few rounds we all just started enjoying ourselves. My first shot wasn't stellar, but I steadily got better, with tighter groups and even tighter muscles after a while.

I found the sport and the location very serene and peaceful. Just the stillness and quietness as we focused in on nothing other than putting the arrow on the sheet of paper. It was refreshing. We shot for about an hour and a half! Only at the very end did a nice couple come up to join us as we were winding down. We really had a good time, and I'm glad that Bradley and I have an activity we can do together too. (He doesn't get to play ham radio yet, but he has begun to express an interest!)

From there we headed home to meet up again with Em, with promises of returning very soon.

Thanks Mom and Dad for making this possible. Thanks Danelle for the great assistance.

Peace, Love and Bullseyes,

Rich