I'm going on record here as saying that Cablela's? Totally overrated. And totally overpriced. The tent was back-ordered online but in stock at their closest store (a short two hour drive) so we packed up the car and went, gas prices be damned.

It's one of those ginormous megastores that companies are so fond of building these days - as if a taxidermied zebra and a fish tank full of sluggish salmon has any bearing at all on my need to purchase waterproof matches and a nice cast iron dutch oven.

We did get our portable summer home tent though - and it was priced fairly reasonably. It's big, REALLY big. So big, in fact, that my husband, who okayed the purchase, is now not wanting to open the box. Maybe he think's it'll explode like those snake in can/peanut brittle jars...

The boy and I also picked up a little something for ourselves.

Slingshots. With paintball ammunition.

Which, apparently, the paintballs are okay but the slingshots? Illegal in Massachusetts. As opposed to CO2 powered air/paintball rifles and air powered BB guns - which are are perfectly fine and owned by many of the boys around here.

Sorry, scofflaw here. We're totally using them today after school. I'm planning on sneaking around to shoot at police cruisers and senior citizens. Oh wait, that's right...I'm not. We've got paper targets and tin cans, though, and eye protectors too. Because while I may be a scofflaw, I don't want to be a BLIND scofflaw.

I was totally on the fence about buying them, not because I thought they were illegal (I didn't know), but because I thought it was something my son could build himself with a strong branch and some surgical tubing. I didn't want to circumvent the DIY process, y'know, but after I put one in our cart, for myself, he totally wasn't sold on the idea. It wasn't until we were about to leave the store that he took a good long look at the package and the paintballs and decided that it was something he couldn't live without.

If you see a paint splattered squirrel run by...we might not be far behind.