Monday, April 18, 2011

Paintball and Green Mountains

We were invited to go out to a paintball game this past weekend, so we joined up with friends and headed out. There’s a club called The Mountain Breeze north of Amman (about 30-45 minutes) and besides paintball, they have a lovely facility, archery, a restaurant and camping. Here’s the website: http://www.jordanadventure.com/ The area was lovely, and I can see us going back to visit again.

This weekend was for paintball. Brad has a co-worker who enjoys the sport and he invited us to go with. Unfortunately, the staff determined that Brian could not play. I understand the need for safety, but he was disappointed. He is big enough to wear the safety equipment… and the facility provides all the gear: Clothes, full face helmets, neck guards, etc. … but Brian didn’t get to play. They did provide helmets and neck guards for us ‘observers’ and ‘photo journalists’ though, so we could wander around the field without getting hurt. I gave Honor our camera and I used our friend’s camera. Brian just wandered around and played in the woods. Brad suited up and joined the battle.

The guy in charge... (Great idea for a day out! Thanks for inviting us!!)



The disappointed, and not so disappointed (me), observers in safety masks.

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Brad, heading off to play…

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Honor caught some good shots. Most of these are hers. She zoomed in for close-ups and to catch action at a distance while staying safely out of the way behind cover (most of the time… she got one photo where she was practically in the line of fire behind one player as he faced off against another, it was a great angle, but she was lucky she didn’t get hit). Anyway, the kids managed to not get tagged while out there, and while they did get distracted here and there, I think they (mostly) understood the need to stay out of the way, to give up the good cover positions if they saw players coming, to run or duck when I told them to, etc.

 Honor was impressed with our friend’s gear.

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No matter where he was on the field, Honor managed to catch a bunch of photos of her daddy.

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She also took some shots of the wild flowers, the course, and the surrounding area.

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The course is actually very interesting. Plenty of natural and man-made cover, trees, brush, slopes, etc. They did a good job setting it up.

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A tagged played heading back to base…

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The view from the course, across the surrounding hillsides, was lovely too.

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There’s my brave photographer! Can you tell we had a hot day for this? Honor only had to deal with the full face mask and neck guard. The players were really sweating after two hours play in full gear!

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Honor took a break from the camera and let me take a few during the second game, while she ran around and played with her brother.

There were flowers everywhere!

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Brad and a teammate run up the hill at the start of round 2. The course had an uphill and a downhill base. The facility staff provided assistance with game play, and helped with gear and refills ‘on the run’ too.

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Every once in awhile I caught sight of Brian. He had to be a bit more careful out there. He had hoped to play, and so was not wearing bright colors… he had to take cover once when mistaken for a player!

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Brad with the flag for his team!

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Cooling off at break time.

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There was no getting around the guy in the tower.

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Look who forgot to duck.

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Brian enjoys a break time and a break from the helmet. I wouldn’t want to be on the course without one of those full face guards (no way!), but it was humid in there.


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How hot was it? So hot that even the sheep looked like they were melting.
(It’s cute lamb season btw!)

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Honor had the camera when we got back in the truck to go home and she caught some great shots on the way back. We’ve had a cool spring and a lot (a LOT) of rain. The hills are so green now! Too bad the day was so hot… the air was a lot more hazy than it’s been. Had we been up there a few days prior, we might have had deep blue skies to go with all this pretty green.

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Rows of stone walls….

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Rows of olive trees too.

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Fruit on the roadside.

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Returning to Amman.

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Pretty good for moving car shots. I definitely enjoyed the drive. It was a fun day out anyway, watching the players at paintball, but I would have gone just for the road trip.

10 comments:

Jill said...

Beautiful scenery - looks like a GREAT day for paintball!! And Honor's pictures are fab.

Connie said...

Hi Jill! It was a great day for paintball and a great day to be outside. I'm going to owe Honor her own camera soon! I didn't post some of her best photos because they were close-ups of friends... she zoomed in and got some great action shots! .. but I figure this is a blog for our family and our friends can share their own photos how they wish :)

Forgetfulone said...

Great photos! I have never played, and our field won't let you past the wire fence, but my son has played three times. I only have pictures of them playing on the one field you can see from outside the fence. My son loves it. It can get expensive around here, though. Glad you had a good time.

Letitia/Flying Bean said...

Great photos Connie! I really enjoyed them. Tell Honor good job!
Letitia
Flying Bean

Connie said...

Hi Letitia! Glad you liked the photos, we had fun taking them. I will pass on your comment to Honor :)

Limningedge said...

Happy Easter .... I have been very slack for too long; but feel it may be a little longer still ...

Expat Mom said...

Your daughter is turning into quite the photographer! Looks like you guys ahd a lot of fun. :D

Connie said...

Hi Genesis! Honor does like to use the camera, and because she is careful and takes it serious, I have no problem handing it over to her.

Unknown said...

Paintballing really can take place anywhere – these photos prove it! Looks like an awesome paintball day out, the paintball maps are brilliant, great use of the scenery. Is the sport expensive over there as it is in US/Europe?

Connie said...

Hello Alisa, I am not sure what the costs were as the kids and I were observers/photographers only. They were under 12yo and not allowed to participate! We've been overseas for a long time though, so I wouldn't know how to compare it to the US or UK prices. We were pleased to find that there was a nice course near Amman, and we had a great day out.