Well here comes another picture intensive blog post. Allison and I went to Maine. It was high time to visit the family and for both us to get away from it all. As for me, I just wanted to get away from my bosses and the unit, just for a moment. Al and I spent two weeks in Maine and it was not enough. Our trip started with a flight on Friday, the 28th of May. Following this introduction is a 'carefully' selected bunch of pictures. Involved in all of our escapades in Maine were all the regular trouble makers: Papa, Mom, Ben, Amber, Meredith, Allyson (A1), Allison (A2), myself, Owen, Aspen, and Paytyn aka Princess PayPay. There were also some friends added into the mix. There were many highs, no lows, some torrential downpours, some great days of sunshine, and only one trip to the emergency room. At least this time, I was not the one in the ER. Pay attention and you will find out who got to be the lucky contestant.
We started photos on Saturday. Yes, we are pasty white, no need for skin cancer.
Ben and I start planning our schedule.
Allison will not let me get a gaming system. Any guesses why? Its cuz I might get into the game and get real competitive. Owen got me into it. I blame him. Although, I did have to say "Owen, SIT! You are in front of the screen, I can't see where I am going." He did this while we BOTH played together. He got into it just as much as me. We played Legos Indiana Jones 2.
This is Princess Pay Pay. At first, she was kinda shy around Auntie A2, but it soon became apparent that Allison was her absolute favorite and Paytyn always went to Allison.
Below is Ben. Now this was our .... 3rd time going to the range, which was Wednesday. We all wanted to do a little clay pigeon target shooting. As for the chosen 'piece', that is Allison's brand new 20 gauge. She picked it out. She bought it. I am so proud of her. Although she is a Dyer already, ..... she REALLY is one now.
Amber wanted to get in on the fun. So she did shoot some pigeons too. Note: Ben is using a hand thrower to throw the clay pigeons. More on this later.
Amber in your typical 'glory' shot. Yep, you can tell she is part of the Dyer clan.
I got to go for a bit as well. Being man enough to say it, Allison is better at clay pigeons than I am. Granted, this was my first time shooting clay pigeons, but humbling.
Here is my beautiful and talented wife. Posing with her lovely new shotty. Please pay attention that she did not have any marks on her face yet.
Now she has marks on her face. This is approximately 15 minutes after Amber 'tossed' a clay pigeon into Allison's face. It all started when Allison and Amber wanted to shoot some more clays. So Ben and I went over to shoot some rifles about 45 feet away. I hear this "Jon, help!" Ben and I look over at the same and say, "What??" There is Amber holding A2 up. We couldn't see A2's face and we both started running over. Long story short, A2 got clipped in the face by a clay pigeon. No gun shot wounds, thank goodness. Bleeding from her nose, she was going to need some stitches. Her knees gave out from the 'blood'. I carried her to the Explorer and we set off for the hospital that was 1 mile away. Convenient, eh?
A2 held up a kleenex to staunch the bloodflow. She didn't know that I took this picture while we were driving.
This is the preliminary cleanup at Miles Memorial Hospital. 3 Stitches. Way to go! Thankfully, the cut was not too deep. No broken bones and no bruising either! We are grateful that it was not more serious considering where we were, but A2 was completely safe and we are all proud of her for keeping her composure.
Allison let me use her rifle. I like it. Nice and light. She picked this one out too. Aww... true love. No, not me and the rifle. Me and Al. Duh!
This is Papa. And his 'little one'. The Dyers like to target shoot. Even Allison shot on Friday, two days after her incident. She was not going to stop because of one little scratch. Sidenote: stitches came out five days later, and she has a barely noticeable scare on the bridge of her nose. Anyways, back to Papa above. this was the last day we went shooting. So we had to get more pictures.
A1, aka Allyson Dyer is using Papa's toy. A little more technique and she would be good to go, but she did just fine. Lightweight.
Auntie A2 did some benchrest with Papa's little Ruger 10/22 rifle. Owen was excited to be with all of us, so he of course got some trigger time. He likes to shoot quickly. Aim comes later. He is six. Better watch out in a couple years, he will eat you for lunch and have leftovers for dinner and breakfast.
Here is Jason, longtime family friend. And yes, he is holding my 'baby'. Such a nice piece. Look at that smile, he was gonna take my baby away from me.
For some reason, when we have more than 3-4 people at the range, I shoot less. More off to the side, helping and instructing. Next time, I go to the range in the morning with Ben and we just nail targets and chew through ammo.
Allyson striking a pose. Camera friendly.
Owen with Papa getting down to business.
Owen again. Fast trigger puller but needed something lighter than my rifle, so we went with A2's. He liked it.
These are the creations of Allyson's. 1 came from scratch, the huge lemon tart on the left. 1 came from Moody's dinner, a 4-Berry pie.
PayPay cheesing it up for the cam.
Aspen displaying her lovely cover art.
Amber was the talented chef, constantly feeding everyone. We were most appreciative, I assure you. I know I was, I ate all the leftovers. Well not all of them, I had some help. Thanks Owen. Allyson below did quite a bit of cooking as well. She was more of the pastry/dessert chef. And she poses for the camera, can't ya tell?
Thats part 1. More to come, stay tuned.
A beautiful day in Maine's Mid-Coast. Lovely boats sitting in the harbor. We enjoyed the nice sunshine. Luckily the rain started after we were driving home.
Another harbor shot.
A1 in her element in front of Camden's library. Pretty awesome building.
The sunglasses were a necessity because I was supposed to cover up my stitches
Moose!! Watch out. 
