The italicized is my nephew Landon’s perspective and the regular print is my thoughts.
It’s Sunday morning and we are getting ready to take our nephew to Out of Africa for a safari ride. It will be Landon’s first time ever going to a zoo-like place so I can’t wait to see how he is going to respond when we get there. After grabbing a few blue-berry muffins, all of us load up into the jeep and head out to the freeway.
Ahh…finally awake. I’m not quite sure where I’m at, but I see my mom and dad and some people I have been told are my auntie and uncle, so I guess I don’t need to freak out yet. I don’t know what we are doing today, but eww…doggy!!! There is this brown dog that keeps licking my face and a smaller dog that wags its tail in front of me. Okay puppies that’s enough. I can’t handle too much. I do get overwhelmed. So mom comes in the room and gets me into jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Then I get my DC shoes on which I think are totally rad and we head out into the kitchen where I get a muffin! I don’t know what it’s made out of but it’s delicious! Umm…yum..yum…yum. I get picked up and then we head out to the car…bummer…I hate being in that carseat…it’s so uncomfortable.
It’s been an hour and a half in the car already and I am getting so anxious to get there. I drank an energy drink that Landon asked so politely to try, but I couldn’t give him any even though he did ask please. It’s so hard to say no to that face especially when he’s so polite. We have about a half hour left to go and I’m actually already feeling sleepy, so I think I might just take a quick power nap.
Holy cow…where are we going? Where ever it is, it better be ridiculously awesome because my butt is starting to go numb and all I want to do is get out of this seat. Auntie Nynn just got a purplish drink and all I want is a tiny sip from it, but she won’t give me any. I even asked “peeeese..” with my best face I could give her and she still said no. I just want a drop…just a drop. I’m looking at her with my big brown eyes, trying to convince her to give some to me just because I’m so cute, but she looks like she is about to pass out. She looks even more tired than I do and I am the king of sleepiness. Maybe if I go to sleep too, she’ll give me some when we wake up.
I feel the car jerk. I look out the window and see the sign with an arrow on it pointing towards the parking lot for Out of Africa. Finally, we have arrived. The car parks and I hear Justin and my brother, Bryce, making fun of Landon and me because we were sleeping for so long, but I don’t really mind the criticism because at least I feel more awake now. I look over at Landon and his eyes are wide-eyed, trying to look around his car seat to see where we are. He begins spouting out gibberish in excitement and asks to be picked up out of the car seat so he can get out and run around.
Woah…my head bangs against the side of my car seat. Shoot. I hate it when that happens but I see a lion on a sign that we are just about to drive by and forget all about my head hurting. “Roar! I hope I get to see one up close!” I say out load but by the look on my Aunt’s face, I don’t think she understood what I just said. I know she’ll understand “up” so I yell it out hoping she’ll pick me up out of my seat. All I want to do is take a look around, look at where they’ve all taken me, and see what the big deal is about.
We get out of the jeep, grab our packs, and try to keep up with Landon as he runs towards the entrance of the park. We call out to him to slow down, but he seems to be in a hurry, and we rush to catch up. We walk up to the Admissions’ booth to buy our tickets and decide to upgrade our package to the more private tour in which we get up close and personal to a giraffe and could possibly even touch one. That would be so exciting and I bet Landon would love it! So once we get our tickets, we head to the tram, which takes up the hill to where we load onto the next truck for our safari ride.
Freedom!!! OoO…look at those posts with animals on them! They are so cool! I need to get closer! I look back at my family as if to notify them of my thoughts and then take off in the direction of the wooden animals. I hear my aunt’s footsteps following closely behind and soon I am swooped up into her arms. Haha…I love that feeling in my tummy when I am flown into the air. She then continues to carry me towards this glass window in which some lady behind the glass starts talking about random stuff. Sounds like gibberish to me; however, I do hear a few familiar words like “giraffe” and “zebra” and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next. All of sudden I am then whisked away and we get on this motor thing that takes up a dirt hill to another big yellow truck! “Vroom Vroom!” I love big trucks!
We’re on the safari ride for only a few minutes and then we get to the area where the giraffe is located. I watch as Landon’s eyes light up and he yells in excitement. He is such a cutie, pointing at every animal he sees and then giggling. I’m so happy he loves where we are at. The vehicle stops next to the giraffe and we were given cookies at the beginning of the trip so that we could feed the giraffe, so we get Landon ready with cookie in hand, hoping to get the giraffe enticed enough to lick his whole hand. But as the giraffe gets closer, Landon’s lit face begins to fade into a more frightened look, and he turns into his mom as the giraffe sticks its head into the opening in the vehicle. His shyness unfortunately took over and he can’t help but be afraid of the giant animal slowly getting closer to him. I don’t blame him for being frightened, but it’s too bad he’ll miss his chance at being kissed by a giraffe.
Woohoo!!! This is awesome! Bounce, bounce, bounce. This car is so bumpy, but it’s so much fun. I look around me…all my family looks like they are having a great time. They just keep looking at me and smiling so I know they are having as much fun as I am. All of a sudden the truck stops near this tall spotted animal. It’s so big! It looks so soft, but why does it keep getting closer? I reach for my mom’s sweater where I find a little bit of comfort, but then the big thing gets even closer. Auntie Nynn keeps saying, “Giraffe, giraffe” but I don’t know what that has to do with this thing coming closer. O gosh, it’s head is right in my face. It’s in my bubble! Too close! Too close! I turn my head into my mom. She’ll make it go away. She always protects me. Plus if she can’t get the thing to move away, dad is close too so he can handle it if it gets too out of control. I turn my head again and this time the thing is further away. Thank God. I can finally breathe again and wow! Look at the striped horses! They’re so pretty!
Landon finally looks back out once the giraffe starts to walk away. All of sudden he catches a glimpse at the zebras standing to side of the truck and that excited grin begins to quickly reform across his face. What a cutie.
No comments:
Post a Comment