Tynan's Crusade: April 2012

When Make-a-Wish granted us a wish, of course Disney was an option. Knowing that we would need medical facilities, we decided that it would be SAFER to go to Disney. However; when we arrived at Give Kids the World and Tynan made his first wish at the wishing well, it was.....I wish that we could all go hunting together. Just then, my heart sank into my stomach.

When I shared that story at clinic, I never expected that he would have another wish granted; but he did, and it was amazing!!!! We have so many people to thank for making this weekend possible starting with our social worker; Bonnie, John, Rex, Donny, Bruce for his extreme generosity and last but not least, to the two guys who got stuck with us for three days...Mike Gilmore and Ty Angel. We couldn't have had two better guides/hosts. You guys were awesome!!!!!

Tynan had a GREAT time!!! And weven though we had to go to the hospital for platelets today(Saturday 21st) Tynan's spirits are still soaring high!!!
Feeling the presence of God will warm your soul!!!.......True story..........In the middle of a "no service" area; trying to conduct business and coordinating this hunt.....The ONLY calls that would connect were those needed to make this hunt possible.....GOD IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cold Creek Ranch

Just arrived, and following Mike for the quick tour to pick a room.

First things first!!! He was so impressed with the shower that he wanted ALL

of us to shower together, even Grandpa (the innocence of a child...too funny).

Sykora checking out the bunkbeds......

The kids picked the bunkbed room upstairs!!!!
What is it about bunkbeds???

Tynan taking in the scenery after picking our room.

And this is what he saw...........

BarBQ Pit and Sitting Area

Fire Pit

and one of three ponds on the property.

Then he ran to the other end of the room;

opened up the balcony doors and saw.....

This was our favorite fishing pond; and didn't even know it yet.

Once we set our stuff down we headed back downstairs

to see what the day would hold. The lodge was amazing!!!

Everyone asks, "was it beautiful".......It was GORGEOUS!!!!

part of kitchen

gameroom

This is the bar in the gameroom, Sykora spent lots of time sitting here;

but NOT for the liquor...........

.......for the big screen TV that sits about the bar.

She loves TV......lol

dining and living areas

We all gathered on the back porch to load up

on drinks and head out for a tour of the ranch.....

and Sykora found a resting spot......

We saw blackbuck, addax, oryx, elk, whitetail,

hogs, bald eagle, axis, osprey(in action), fallow,

snakes, tilapia, bass, bluegill, and........

.......we saw these cute little guys.

These addax will just about pose for the camera!!!

After riding around and seeing the animals we made an

attempt to sight in Tynan's rifle; found some issues with

his gun so we had to borrow one. But target practice was fun.

Mr. Bruce helping Tynan find the target in the scope.

A little 4 wheeler fun!!!

Sykora, Mike Gilmore, and Tynan

Headed to the front pond to do some fishing.

We didn't have any live bait, so Mr. Ty headed to town to get some minnows.

And just for kicks, Mr. Mike went back to the house, rinsed off some

shrimp we had for lunch; and brought it back to the boathouse for bait.

They had a blast catching large perch and bass with the shrimp and then the minnows arrived.

Tynan, Ty, and Sykora

This is actually Sykora's catch. However she did not want

to put her thumb in it's mouth. Didn't mind touching it, though.

Sykora's catches and Tynan throws 'em back!!!

Team Work!!!!

She did finally come around to holding her own fish, and is very

proud to say that she got, "bass thumb"

This was one of their double catches.

Tynan, Mike, Sykora, and Ty

He was probably saying, "oh my gosh, I can't hold it anymore!!!"

It was finally time to head to the blinds. Sykora decided she was

not going to hunt the first evening. So Ty, Tynan, Harry and Myself headed for the blind.

Sitting in the blind.

A few minutes after getting in the blind, I get a text.....

"we're hunting"

My little city girl, had decided to go hunting!!!!!

Tynan shot at some hogs, but didn't seem to have killed anything.

We got out of the stand and headed to check

if there were signs of a hit under the feeder.

This is Tynan walking to the ranger.

Looking under the feeder; hoping to find some blood.

First evening hunt was not a huge success, but we did find a hog

the next day that would most likely have been Tynan's kill.

(I will try to post video soon of Tynan's hog shot)

The Ending to a Good Night.

Tynan and Mike sitting at the fire pit.

The next morning we split up. Dad went with Tynan and

Mom went with Sykora. As we headed to the blind we saw....

Sorry for the quality; but I think you can make it out.

Sykora getting in the stand.

Day 2

Getting ready to shoot her first hog.

Harvest!!!!

The look of going 2 for 2!!!

Just call her Annie.

In the meantime, Tynan was having no luck. We went back to the lodge for a late breakfast.

Later we decided to go hunting safari style, looking for a particular blackbuck. However;

we could never get close enough to take a shot. So we went driving around the property,

taking in the scenery; when all of a sudden we see another blackbuck and Tynan was finally able to

take his shot. He didn't drop him, but he'd hit him and the blackbuck couldn't even run away.

It was then that the hunt began.....on foot. We searched for the buck for about an hour, and still

no luck finding him. We decided to take a break for some lunch and little more fishing,

before heading back out to look for Tynan's blackbuck. We searched again for what seemed like hours, and still no luck. Finally we went back to the house to get ready for dinner....