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I know some of you out there will be horrified by this picture, and thats partly why I am putting it up. For my own amusement- it makes me laugh that little mary is holding a giant gun with one tooth missing. FYI- all of our girls have been around hunting since they were little and really love it like all the Ransleben/Oliver women before them. I wasn't raised hunting, but was around it enough to not be freaked out by it. They are well versed in gun safety and have seen the damage a gun can do first hand to animals.

Every year chuck's extended family goes to west Texas and hunts deer (amongst other things). This past year we rented a travel trailer and headed out west to the middle of nowhere- it was a week full of bonfires, camouflage, homemade Mexican food, cards, whiskey and general tomfoolery. Chuck's family (and extended family) is a giant kick in the pants- they all huddle together in a tiny trailer, dressed from head to toe in camo, and yell at each other with kids running all over the place and dinner being cooked. For a girl from a family that really doesn't do a lot of conversing, and definitely no conversing in trailers with 5o people, 20 under the age of 10- it's a breath of fresh air.

Although I don't hunt myself (i've been- no can do) I don't discourage my girls. All of the women in Chuck's family are very independent and I think things like hunting keep girls aware of the fact that they can do just as much as boys and not to ever feel inferior. Plus it's a lot of fun if you can get past the whole ending something's life thing, which I cannot. Of course I eat it all so I'm not really helping anyone out.

This was home for a week- next to us is omi and pappadock's "kennel" at an rv park in Houston. We had 4 bunks and a queen and it was SO MUCH FUN. Nevermind that the suburban could barely pull it and we were swerving all over the place. IT WAS FUN DANGIT!

The rest of the pictures from this trip are in flickr so go check them out!