Cle Elum 7

How do you celebrate food-loving Burrito’s birthday? A day in which the entire focus is on FOOD, of course! This morning we set up a huge forage in the playroom – coconuts, blackberries, pineapple chunks, nuts and seeds, and a pool of snow with blueberry juice drizzled over the top of it. The coconut elicited some of the loudest food squeaks I’ve ever heard and the chimps are still munching on the snow, taking breaks only for the occasional brain freeze. Volunteer Stephanie outdid herself yet again and brought several food-shaped pinatas and tons of decorations, both for the party and for the humans (naturally, we humans have been wearing glittery “happy birthday” hats, sunglasses and tiaras all day). I’m not so sure the chimps are too impressed with the human decor, but they were definitely impressed with the pinatas!

True to form, Jamie was first to go after them:

Annie used her foot to keep her ice cream cone-shaped pinata balanced:

Dick and Robbi Brown brought some pretty epic new enrichment, which definitely added to the excitement! Foxie loved a new troll doll:

Naturally, Burrito checked all the bags for food
some interest in a ukulele a while back and actually played it for a while, so Dick and Robbi (and several other folks) are always on the lookout for another one when they shop at Goodwill or other thrift stores. She was the first to pull the new one out of a gift bag and strummed it a couple of times. But I guess playing a ukulele is more of a thing you do in your spare time because after a few “notes” she went right back to the forage. Missy didn’t play it, but she was curious to see if we maybe hid some food inside (does it seem like everything had to do with food today??).

And speaking of food- the coconuts were definitely the focus this morning! And Burrito couldn’t have been happier!

And the party didn’t end there. Aside from the usual meals, we’ve been serving surprise snacks periodically throughout the day. About 30 minutes ago, we handed out a small handful of blueberries and Elizabeth is now serving gum. Thanks so much to Dick, Robbi, Stephanie, and to everyone that made Mr. B’s day so special! Way to go Team Burrito!!