I don’t know about you guys, but Easter morning in my house was the best! Scouring the inside and outside of the house for Easter eggs before your brother or sister got to them, looking through an Easter basket, and eating those eggs you worked so hard dyeing! So, this morning the first thing the chimps got to do was have an Easter egg hunt! A lot of work goes into our parties for the chimps. We at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are lucky enough to have so many amazing volunteers. They are SO awesome that, as some of you might have seen on Facebook, one of our volunteers made the chimps’ Easter baskets by hand!
Our volunteers are a major reason why parties go so smoothly. They help prep days before and the day of, and help us clean the day after.
Volunteer Miranda hiding Easter eggs out on Young’s Hill:
Volunteer Alan planting carrots in the ground for the Easter forage:
Before the festivities could start we needed to give out some routine things like vitamins, smoothie, and meds. Volunteer Lizz also got to serve a tasty surprise for the chimps. The chimps got to have hard boiled eggs! The eggs came from staff caregiver Anna’s happy pet chickens . They don’t get them that often, but when they do, they love them!
It was really hard to decide what photos to choose for the blog today. There were so many good ones, I hope you all enjoy our Easter party!
Annie:
Burrito:
Foxie and her doll:
Missy:
Negra:
Jamie:
Searching for eggs:
But Jody really won this Easter egg hunt. She made out with a lot of loot and I never saw Jody without one of those baskets in her hands either!
Looks like all of you had major fun! What cute baskets–and I especially love the “almost buried” carrots. They are sure loving those!!! Thanks for all the wonderful fun photos!
Great photos! Love the baskets.
Yay for Easter egg hunt!
Yay for awesome volunteers!
Well, you don’t call her “Farmer Jo” for nothing! The look of joy on her face says it all.
Were Foxie and Neggie able to find baskets, too?
Did any of the chimps figure out that they could use the basket to carry things?
(PS, you can post the rest of those awesome photos tomorrow. We won’t mind if they’re a day old! :P)
It looks like a beautiful Easter at the Sanctuary. What a lovely party and Easter Egg Hunt. I would love to see the Chimps hunting for eggs and carrots. They look so content and happy in the pictures. Those Easter baskets are amazing. All of the staff there and the volunteers are so kind to do that for the Chimps. Happy and Blessed Easter to everyone!!!
How perfect and love the baskets (being a needleworker I can appreciate them). Love and hugs to you all…
You have the most amazing and outrageously creative volunteers. The baskets are wonderful, they make the day along with those hand planted carrots. You guys are too much! Thanks for all the photos Kelsi, I especially got a kick out of Missy caught on one leg and Jody mouth open and on the move. Hope Neggie found some easter goodies. Your celebrations are the very best, I can feel the chimps joy through the photos.
Please show the rest of the pictures. These were a treat for us!!!
I agree with Linda–show the other pix tomorrow and even more the next day. What wonderful pictures. The first picture takes the prize. As a fellow crafter, those baskets are just beautiful –I wonder how long they lasted, they look so fragile. And Linda wonders too as do I if the Chimps figured out how to use the baskets to collect more goodies??????
The lady who made the baskets must be thrilled to see her hard work being so enjoyed not just by the chimps but all of us followers of CSNW
What an absolutely joyous post. I am weeping with joy as I look at these photographs of my dear friends. “Ego veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habaent”: Thus, I am so grateful for the founders of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest who rescued Negra, Annie, Jody, Missy, Foxie, Jamie and Burrito, for you have brought them out of death and into life. Thank you so much Steve LaChappelle, and Diana, J.B. Elizabeth, Anna, Elise, Katelyn, Kari, Becca, Don and Karen Young, and all other caregivers and volunteers past and present, and for Dr. Missy’s diligent intern, Dr. Erin. I am grateful also for the presence of Betsey, Honey, Meredith, Nutmeg, Abby, Wilson, Ellie, the office cats, and the eagle who flies above Young’s Hill.
It is so obvious that the human caregivers of this sanctuary care so much for those who reside there; who can deny the power of Love? Or, as Dante penned for the last line of his travelogue which concluded many years on this day, what radiates in the photographs posted above is evidence of “The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.” Happy Easter and, today, happy Earth Day.
I apologize, but I meant to mention Kelsi and Burrito’s good-tug-of-war partner, Lizz.