The chimps have had a great party today! The weather has been awesome– right now, it’s 70 degrees and it’s completely wind-less (a rarity these days!). This morning, we set up a huge forage on Young’s Hill- plums, grapes, peanuts, and chow, and the highlight– frozen grapefruit bowls. Last week, I had the idea to cut grapefruit in half and freeze juice and berries inside the peel, and a few days later, volunteers Seana, Lisa and Denice went to work and made it happen! They looked so delicious! Thanks so much for pulling that one off, ladies! The chimps loved them!
Foxie:
Missy:
Jamie collected the majority, of course:
and was very dedicated to the cause:
Annie collected an enormous mouthful of chow!
Last week, we asked our blog readers what they thought we should do for the 4th of July party. We received some great ideas! One was from Sara, who suggested “Firecracker Poppers” (toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper, filled with peanuts, and the ends tied with ribbon. Volunteer CJ and I made these yesterday and they turned out so cute! But I unfortunately wasn’t able to get any photos. So, volunteer Julie is here now and is going to make the chimps’ evening nightbags out of them. Thanks for the cute idea, Sara!
Elizabeth was inspired by blog commenter Annie N’s suggestion to make popsicles, so she froze juice inside Dixie Cups with little popsicle sticks. Again, the chimps were thrilled! Thanks for the idea, Annie!
Missy:
Negra was the most excited about these. While everyone else was exploring for goodies on the hill, she stayed in the greenhouse to have a party of her own– a 4th fit for a Queen!
Field Roast hot dogs have become a CSNW 4th of July tradition. Volunteer Patti brought Field Roast Frankfurters, ketchup, and mustard so we could serve them for lunch. The chimps love Field Roast! They truly savored each and every bite.
Jamie:
Negra ate the bread first
before enjoying the hot dog:
Even Burrito took the tiniest little bites of his hot dog to make it last longer! You don’t see that every day!
Along with making the Firecracker Popper Nightbags mentioned above, Volunteer Julie has also been hard at work making another frozen treat for dinner- limes cut in half and filled with red gatorade (to look like watermelon)! The “seeds” are sunflower seeds!
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
So much fun! I’m glad they had an awesome day!
Brilliant! And brilliant photos!
What a day for them–such clever ideas. Thanks for the lovely photos, Jackie. I had to laugh at Annie’s mouth full of chow, smile at Negra enjoying the ice pops and field roast, and Burrito eating little bites–it makes my day.
Wow. I need to step-it-up on my volunteer days. What boring meals I make! This all looks fantastic. Love the creativity and looks like the chimps had a super 4th. Thanks for sharing the great pics.
Carrie…don’t stress. The caregivers usually have great guidance so don’t feel you have to “plan” meals.
….wait…..I meant to say that the caregivers ALWAYS have great guidance!!!
What a wonderful day for the CE7!!! It’s completely obvious there’s an enormous amount of love put into these celebrations for the chimps.
Thanks to all of you that made all of this possible!!!
Well, it’s only obvious as to why Negra was so excited about the ice pops; she couldn’t wait to get down to the popsickle stick. Every Queen must file her nails!! Wasn’t it Negra that was filing her nails with a popsickle stick in one of the archived blog video’s?
Notice how she’s eye balling the stick in that last photo of her? I know what she was thinking, “I just broke a nail yesterday, and I’m so glad they made us these ice pops today.”
Great job everyone! Thank you so much for showing the chimps another great 4th of July, and for sharing their special day with us.
wonderful to see Negra enjoying herself. The look on her face is so sweet and hope she gets out to enjoy the sun over the next few days.