dear boys-
i am so excited to tell you about the great adventure we had a few weeks ago. your daddy,myself, the three of you and big daddy all went to fossil rim wildlife center for the weekend. we had a blast! big daddy drove his truck so we were able to sit in the bed of the truck while he drove through the park. the animals were so curious and would come right up to us to see if we had any food for them. nicholas, you were very brave, sticking your hand out for the animals to eat right out of it. there was no fear. liam, you really wanted to feed the animals from your hand but once they got close you would throw the food instead. quinn, you took the ‘sit back and watch’ approach. you loved looking at all the animals but had no interest in them getting anywhere near you. you would often jump to the other side of the truck to get away from them. i, of course, was the one taking the photos and would often find myself and my camera in strange angels to get a shot. your daddy was a trooper, i has asked him to feed the zebra so i could get a picture of it. i think he fed him a little too slowly as the zebra thought his finger was a treat. in the picture below you can see the zebra biting on his hand.
there were several types of deer at the park, they were one of the most curious and friendliest animals. nicholas, you would reach your hand out and they would walk right up to the back of the truck and nibble the food right out of your hand. they were absolutely beautiful. the bucks all had velvet on their antlers, they were stunning. i think your daddy had trouble keeping his seat with all the deer running around and at such close range.
my favorite animal at the park was the giraffes. these were two of the babies that were there, it is hard to believe they are babies when they are as tall as some of the trees. we tried everything we could think of to get them to come up to us, each of you letting out your ‘giraffe’ call – they were curious but in the end decided to stay and eat their hay.
some of the bigger animals would walk right up and eat the food right off the truck, which of course became a game to you boys. to see how fast you could get the food on the edge of the truck for the animal to eat it. liam, by the end of the day your desire to pet the animals won over your fear of them biting you. you would reach out and pet just about anything that came up to the truck. it made me proud to see you conquer your fears.
quinn, i wish i could say the same for you. you loved all the animals – but you preferred to look at them from a distance. the binoculars became your best friend by the end of our journey.
wild turkeys were not part of the tour, they are native to the area. we were lucky enough to come across a flock of them and saw this male turkey showing off for the ladies. he puffed himself up to 3 times his size, displaying all his feathers and strutting around. you boys, including daddy and big daddy, got a kick out of gobbling to him. he even gobbled back a few times. i have to add, even as big and handsome (for a turkey) as he made himself – the female turkeys paid no attention to him. it made me giggle.
we ended our day at the lodge at fossil rim. we were able to watch some of the animals moving around getting ready for the night as the sun went down. we spent the night on the property- you boys loved being able to look out the window and see deer waking past, or a sandhill crane flying overhead. we woke up the next morning to this amazing site – such a beautiful way to end such an amazing adventure.
thank you boys for the amazing memories we created. i love you!
mommy
be sure to following along the blog circle and read andrea murry’s letter to her son.
