Not many people post on this forum anymore!!
But your story was 50% good 50% bad. The good was awesome and great for the kiddo's. I'll bet there still smiling and enjoying the time in the woods!! Congratulations!!

As far as the bad??? Maybe to blame is excitement maybe not??. In my opinion depending on load you could never need to worry about shooting out to 200 yards without your rangefinder. I used to do it all the time, with my load was three inches high at 100 yards. I then remember it was three inches low at 200 yards. So even 225 was no problem. Just something to try if you want to make hunting a little easier.