Fall Firearms Festival

Back on November 17th I had the opportunity to attend the annual Fall Firearms Festival which is hosted by Todd Burke of Tactical Specialties. My brother Mike and nephew Jonathan came up from Tulsa and accompanied me to the event. We had a full day of training and shooting and we had a whole lot of fun.

One of the highlights of the day was shooting Todd's H&K MP5 fully automatic 9mm assault weapon. This photo shows me and Jonathan with our loaded magazines waiting for our turn to shoot it.

We went through 5 different training events and many of them we got to do more than once. Here is a breakdown of what we did:

EVENT 1 will be a static shooting line emphasizing marksmanship skills and familiarity with your pistol. This is not a scenario and everyone will begin at this event.

EVENTS 2, 3, and 4 are scenarios that simulate real-world self defense applications in your home or in a public place.

EVENT 5 will be a scenario that simulates personal defense with a shotgun.

Jonathan wants to go into law enforcement so he really enjoyed the day and he is also pretty good with his gun.

Todd had a whole group of instructors there to teach us in all the events and each one of them gave us some new insight on how to be a better shooter. I was glad to be able to attend and I'm looking forward to joining Todd for more training in the future.

Jonathan On Ice

This is a video my nephew Jonathan sent me.  This is what he was doing during a recent snow day from school.  At least he was in a vacant parking lot and not out on the street somewhere.

Busch Gardens

Today Janice and I got to go to Busch Gardens in Tampa for a few hours with Bonnie, Eliana and Mikayla.  We had a great time, and the most fun was just being with the kids and watching their reactions to the different experiences they had. This picture is Janice and Mikayla visiting with the dragons that walk around the park.  These were people on stilts with these long dragon necks and heads that they could bend down with to get at the level of the kids.  They were a little scary for the kids. 

Bonnie and I got to ride the roller coaster Montu, which was a lot of fun.  It was a floor-less coaster with 7 different loops.  Top speed was 65 miles per hour and up to 3.85 g's.  What a rush.  

The weather down here was perfect for visiting an amusement park.  As you can imagine, being the Saturday after Christmas, it was very busy.

Our time down here is almost over.  We have one more full day left before we head back to Columbia.  I will post some photos later from the trip.

Christmas In Florida

Janice and I are in Florida for the Christmas holiday.  We're staying with Janice's sister Bonnie and her family which includes two of the coolest niece's (as I do have other cool niece's) in the whole world, Eliana and Mikayla. Eliana is 4 and Mikayla is 2, and for some reason they love their Uncle Tom.  Yesterday I got to show Eliana how to act like a monkey which was something that was enjoyed by all.  I'm working hard at not showing them anything that will get them in trouble, which for those of you that know me, is kind of hard to do.  

We're here until Monday which is when we have a VERY early flight out of Tampa.  I think we have to leave for the airport at 4 am!  

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas holiday.  Hopefully everyone is remembering why we celebrate Christmas.  It's a great time to visit family, give and receive gifts, and eat lots of good food, but Christ is really why we're able to celebrate.  Have a great weekend and I will write more later.