Operation Nerf

Noah's birthday party was yesterday. He finally decided on having it at his karate school again. The fact that Mr. K agreed to end the party with a big Nerf battle helped that decision a little bit. Mr. K is Karl Kanthak of Kanthak Karate and he is the one that ran the party. They warmed up, learned about their safety zone, were chased by Mr. K wielding a bamboo sword and jumped over and wiped out the pads. Happy birthday was sung, presents opened, cupcakes eaten and juice drank but none of that compared to the Nerf battle. I lost official count but I think there were about 14 boys, 2 instructors and 1 dad all fighting it out. I heard later that even Gammy was taking a few sneak attack shots from the sidelines!

Getting warmed up...there were 6 more that joined the group shortly. Oliver didn't get to stay long but Mr. K let him go through the warm ups. This is Oliver showing us his horse stance prayer pose. The other kids from left to right are Jackson, Jacob, Besim and Cole.

Trevor jumping over the pads. Each kid got a chance then they would add another pad to the top of the pile and try again. Once the stack got too tall they got to run and wipe out on the pads anyway that they wanted.

One way to demand attention...stand at the front of class with a bamboo sword!

Noah G. being chased by Mr. K. He would have the kids run from him, duck, jump, etc. and smack the pad or pole as they ran by. Loud and scary - they loved it!!

Oh yeah, now we're getting to the good stuff. About half the kids on this side of the room, all geared up and getting instructions.

Here is the other half, Noah, Jack, Noah G. and Cade are all hiding behind the chair barricade.

Battle is on! Fire, fire, fire, run out and retrieve ammunition, reload while retreating and start again!

Mr. K getting in on the action.

At one point, Noah was put on the wall, all of the party goers then lined up, Nerf equipment fully loaded and when given the command, they ALL fired on Noah.

Had to put this photo in to prove that Joel was in on the battle too! Joel realized today that during combat he was essentially running lines. Up and back to retrieve the ammunition, go, go, go!

Just in case you wondering if the Nerf chaos has calmed since the party...