Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Party

A Gentleman’s Tea Party

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Today I brought in some new “garden tool” themed enrichment for the chimpanzees so we decided to throw an impromptu garden tea party in the greenhouse this morning.  JB and Diana contributed beautiful roses from their garden which the chimps love to smell and eat, and we brewed some berry tea to put out in teacups.  And in perfect serendipity, Zibby Wilder, a former board member for the sanctuary (featured in this video of when the chimps first arrived almost five years ago!), came for a visit and just happened to bring fresh grapevines which the chimps were very excited about!  Being the only fella at the garden tea party, Burrito had no problem problem joining in to enjoy the treats and he was the perfect gentleman.

web burrito cute look at camera GH (dm) IMG_9019

web burrito hand grab tea cup rose GH (dm) IMG_9015

web burrito sip tea hide cute GH (dm) IMG_9018

Easter egg hunt

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(Be sure to check out the earlier post with pictures of the party set-up).

Happy Easter! Today we had a big Easter egg hunt on the hill for the chimps. They seemed to really enjoy it. We kept the fun going and had another forage in the playroom, too! When you’re done looking at all the photos, watch the video at the end to see the chimps getting some Easter goodies.

Burrito with an Easter egg basket:

web burrito easter egg basket party forage enrichment YH IMG_5068

Negra drinking some water out of a watering can (while sitting in her cabin)

web negra cabin easter party enrichment watering can YH IMG_5064

Jamie also liked this watering can, and Jody is here peering on:

web jody jamie peer watering can cabin easter egg enrichment forage YH IMG_5143

Annie really liked a different watering can:

web annie drink watering can enrichment easter YH IMG_5113

Foxie and Annie:

web foxie annie dora easter egg enrichment party forage YH IMG_5193

Foxie walking with Negra:

web foxie negra dora easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5094

Jamie in the cabin:

web jamie easter egg enrichment forage cabin YH IMG_5128

Jamie found all our good hiding spots!

web jamie easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5076

Missy with an Easter egg in her mouth:

web missy bouncy bridge easter egg forage party YH IMG_5059

Negra, looking very happy with her Easter egg:

web negra content face easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5088

 

Merry Christmas!

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The chimps were so excited for the Christmas party this morning. We hung the tree (still decorated with beads, trolls, and cowboy boot ornaments) and placed all the presents underneath. Many thanks to Jayne Roepke, Jeff and Lori Anderson, Lori Kiers, Dick and Robbi Brown, and Patti Simms for supplying the amazing gifts and decorations.

web christmas tree presents PR IMG_1411

On the menu this morning was Field Roast with bean gravy, baked yams, cranberry sauce, and pomegranates. We also put out some of Denice’s beautiful cranberry-stuffed mini-pumpkins and cups of sparkling cider.

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web cranberry stuffed pumpkin PR IMG_1440

Burrito and Jody loved the pumpkins.

web Burrito eat pumpkin christmas IMG_1483

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As soon as they finished all the food, it was time to open presents. The gifts had started the day under the tree but by the end of the morning, the entire pile had moved ten feet as Jamie went through each and every bag.

web Jamie hold garland christmas missy hold pencil presents PR_MG_0757

Annie’s not much for toys, but there’s always a chance that we might have hidden a few snacks in with the gifts.

web annie open presents christmas PR IMG_1492

And we all could have guessed who would end up with the Christmas pinata, right?

web jamie christmas pinata PR IMG_1515

Foxie got a bunch of new trolls this morning but her favorite, which she has been sharing with us throughout the day, is also the most appropriate for today.

web Christmas Foxie's favorite new troll IMG_1542

Pictures don’t do justice to the excitement of the party, so here’s a short video. Our thanks again to all of you that helped make today special, and to those who helped support us throughout 2012. We’d also like to thank our dedicated team of volunteers. There are no days off here at the chimp house, and we couldn’t make it through the holiday season (or any time of year) without your help.

Thanksgiving 2012, Pt. 2

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A few more photos from Thanksgiving day at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest…

Jody enjoyed the sweet potatoes:

Burrito tried to get every last bite of cranberries out of his cup and ended up coloring his face red:

Negra ate her Field Roast Grain Meat in the comfort of a nest:

Speaking of nests, the chimps made some nice ones after their big meal:

Annie was the big winner of the day. She was the only one who noticed that there were nuts and seeds in the decorations, so she quietly gathered them all before anyone else caught on. She also got the Thanksgiving pinata.

You know how can you tell when Foxie is happy with her food? She rubs her toes together.

It’s not hard to tell when Missy is having fun:

Missy’s birthday

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Today is Missy’s birthday, and we decided to set up a whole frozen fruit forage in the greenhouse this morning. Volunteer Patti brought some awesome ’80s-style headbands, leg warmers, and socks in honor of Missy’s goofy and kooky athleticism. After decking ourselves out in the gear (and of course putting most of it in with the party enrichment for the chimps) we let the chimps into the party area and listened as they food squeaked with excitement over the whole frozen fruit. I have been around chimps for 7 years, and this group for nearly the whole time they’ve been at CSNW, and I have never heard so many food squeaks at once. They loved it, and it is just what we needed after the last week and a half of recovering from the Taylor Bridge wildfire. All of the staff were present as well as volunteers Patti and Jennifer. Watching the chimps happily enjoy their forage was definitely just what the doctor ordered—both for staff and for the chimps, too! They have certainly been through a lot in their lives, and getting to see them enjoying their time here so much brought such a huge smile to my face. All I could think about was that we are all so fortunate to be here with them.

Enough of that sappy stuff — here’s some pictures from the party!

Negra enjoying some fun forage boxes (that look like Rubix cubes) made by Patti, and filled with pieces of chow:

Foxie:

Annie:

Jamie, looking very regal as the boss should:

Jody, taking a huge mouthful of watermelon:

Burrito, mid-food squeak:

The birthday girl herself, Missy:

And lastly, some of the ’80s gear on us humans (Diana was taking the picture, but she was also decked out, and somehow J.B. stayed out of the photo even though he was wearing an awesome pink headband)

From left to right: Jackie, volunteers Jennifer and Patti, Elizabeth, Sarah, and myself (Debbie)

Thank you so much to Robbi & Dick Brown and Patti for the fun enrichment, to all that have been so supportive and donated the amazing amounts of produce we were able to freeze for the party, and everyone that has been so willing to offer their help as we cope with the effects of the fire. And of course, to all of Missy’s pals!

Cinco Mil de Mayo Party

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In celebration of reaching our goal of 5,000 “likes” (fans) on the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Facebook page (an increase of over 300 since yesterday!), we threw a Cinco Mil de Mayo party for brunch this morning.

On the menu was guacamole in lettuce with tomatoes and a side of watermelon, accompanied by sparkling seltzer water with lime wedges:

guacamole boat

 

And what’s Cinco de Mayo without a pinata?

cake pinata

 

Negra loves both avocados and lettuce, so she was very pleased with the party menu:

negra guac face

negre lettuce face

 

Missy also really enjoyed the lettuce guacamole wraps. She had a technique of licking the guacamole off first, then eating the lettuce:

missy lettuce face

missy with lettuce

 

Jamie enjoyed the refreshing sparkling water, served in plastic shot glasses:

jamie drink from shot glass

 

Burrito‘s strategy was to gather as many pieces of primate chow as quickly as he could:

fast burrito with chow

 

Annie also enjoyed the chow, though in a slower fashion:

annie with chow

 

Guess who got the pinata? Yes, indeed – the leader of the group, Jamie, claimed it as her own:

jamie with pinata in legs

jamie opening pinata

jamie eat nut from pinata

 

She must have left some nuts inside, though, because Negra was eating a walnut later in the party:

negra eat walnut

 

It was a pretty windy day, but Foxie took some time to explore on Young’s Hill with Dora:

foxie explore with dora

 

Negra decided the party was not complete without fresh grass from the hill, so she went out and helped herself:

negra huge mouthful of grass

 

For dinner, J.B. served the chimps baked sweet potatoes, corn, and celery. Here he is serving celery to Jody:

jb serves celery to jody

 

Of course, dinner was capped off with the traditional Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest night bag of seeds, popcorn, nuts and dried fruit. Jody lied down to eat hers:

jody lying down eating night bag

 

Thanks and happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone who liked the FB page for the first time yesterday and for those friends who recruited new fans of the Cle Elum Seven! Please explore the blog and the rest of the website to learn more about your new friends! And if you’re local, join us on May 20th in Ellensburg for Race for the Apes – our first 5K run / walk fundraiser.

 

Hoppy Easter!

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Today was a full day of mini-parties! First, we had a juice forage in the Playroom (something all the chimps love), then we set up a lunch forage in the greenhouse, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt on Young’s Hill! On the menu for lunch was Easter baskets of cut up fruits and veggies in a bed of lettuce, courtesy of volunteers Stephanie and Katelyn. The chimps were so excited!

Missy:

Foxie got a couple of new trolls, thanks to Katelyn and to Dick and Robbi Brown, who donated tons of new toys for the party:

Jody with her head in the game

Burrito always has his head in the game!

Jamie and her loot:

Negra and Jody enjoying their lunch together

Negra was so happy!

After lunch, the chimps went out on Young’s Hill for an Easter Egg Hunt! We were so excited to be able to see them search 2-acres for plastic Easter eggs filled with peanuts and berries. There were also carrots stuck in the ground, allowing them to “harvest” their own carrots! What a fun day!