Saturday was my son’s fourth birthday, so we rewarded him with his first safari – an all expenses paid full bag outing to the Albuquerque Zoo! The weather was perfect, the animals were plentiful, and the hunting company was excellent.

We met my parents and brother with his family for this exciting adventure. My nephew is nearly four as well, so he and Erik are peas in a pod. My 6-year old daughter was along to keep the boys in line. Here they are posing in the thick of the manicured gardens:



As they continued still hunting through the gardens, they navigated their way through a maze of oversized vegetables, where they tracked down and conquered this massive arthropod.



As the safari wore on, we continued our search for a trophy bobcat or lion (Erik’s animals of interest this week). We searched high and low to no avail. He did take a couple pot shots at some prairie dogs on display with his finger pistol. He claimed to have gotten two, though I saw no evidence. Eventually he tired of our wandering and was forced to employ Grandpa as a porter to continue the journey (and get him high enough to see the sea lions feed).



Finally, as the sun started to sink low and the safari was coming to an unfortunate end (it was almost closing time at the zoo ), our perseverance paid off with a sighting of mighty Simba. The king of the jungle made quite a spectacle of himself, standing and roaring with much aplomb before resuming his nap.



Throughout the display my son was on high alert, but the great cat never presented a shot opportunity and we were deprived of our chance at an awesome trophy. Naysayers be damned, this canned lion hunting is harder than it looks. We trudged back to the safari car and made our way to our temporary camp (Pizza Hut), where Erik did manage to bag a pizza and some lasagna. After our hard-earned meal, we relaxed around a blazing campfire (okay, it was really four birthday candles ).



We reflected back on what a grand safari it had been, and marveled at the wonders of nature we had seen. We all had a great time and look forward to our next excursion. With luck, we’ll be able to carry guns on that one!


Thanks for humoring me. If this is too far off topic, feel free to kill it. There is a picture of a lion though...

Congratulations on a grand adventure!!!!

Wish the young hunter Happy Birthday from me.

Wonderful hunt story, it's worth a $1,000,000 Zim bucks.

Happy Birthday to the future hunter. JC

Enjoy!

At that age they still think Dad is a hero! In 10-15 years spending time with Mom and Dad will be considered torture.

I get along great with my boys, but nowadays they're too busy with their own lives to spend much time shooting with their father.

There's a popular song out now "You're gonna miss this." Listen to it and heed every word.

Sounds like a wonderful day. You are building memories that will last you both a lifetime.

WOW.....

What are you feeding the little man Troy????

He is growing like crazy.

Thanks for the report it sure looks like he enjoyed his birthday a lot.

Troy,

Great posting. Just grand! Enjoying quality family time with kids is one of the great pleasures in life. Far to soon you will be in "Grandpa-mode", but then you will learn what real enjoyment with kids is! But between then and now, enjoy their growing up and your guiding them to be fine outdoors types!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

DesertRam-

Great post!! Reminds me that it's been way too long since I've taken my little ones on "safari"

Must do so soon!

Regards,
Vanderhoef