Day 26 - Today's word is "RELAX."

Day 26.

Just Valerie and I today! We went to wake Lions first, as usual. They looked so sleepy! Probably from the heat- everyone is more sluggish. Tau kept blinking slowly and he and Natasha yawned so big! Natasha is so pretty. :) Keeno was rubbing up against the door as if he was rubbing up against us, and Sarabi was just ready to go out! She's always ready for anything! She cocked her head to the side when I talked to her. hehe.I spread vanilla extract in Tau & Sarabi's yard for enrichment; Valerie spread something in the other yard for Keeno & Natasha. I also had to check that the hotwire was working with a little tester. Then we let them out, and headed to let the Brown Bears out. When we were in the hut to wake them, Oso was spooning again! HAHA! What a cutie! After throwing out their breakfast enrichments, I went in the hut alone to release the boys. Valerie wanted the girls left in so that she could train each of them. I got to watch. They are such good girls! (and they love dried cherries!) I was left to clean the hut alone while Valerie made all of the meals for the day. I am now such an expert at cleaning the Brown Bear hut. haha.

When I finished (in record time!) I met up with Valerie to give GIANT Fruitsicles to the Black Bears! That's always fun. Ricky (the biggest guy) went straight over and started scratching at it with his big claws. They all scratch and lick the ice. I tossed out 2 for Little Boy and Little Girl, but they came out later to eat them after we'd left. Valerie gave 2 to Takoda & Chochmo, who both ran over to start licking and scratching and pushing and breaking; and a frozen pinapple for Donna. We also gave frozen treats to the Brown Bears- frozen cantaloupe! I rolled one down the hill to Oso, and tossed one up a hill for Claire; Valerie gave the rest out to Victor, Mak, and Russel.

Our chores were done so fast and efficiently that we got an hour and a half for lunch! So relaxing. :) I got to relax some more after that by filling in at Lion Tower while the volunteer took her lunch break. After that I did some more relaxing by meeting with Valerie at the Lion hut and taking our time to post some signs and color-code the guillotine handles. We also went out near the yards to watch Sarabi who was about 5 feet from us, lying in the shade of a tree. I wanted to join her- like pals relaxing at the park. :)

It was early enough to take the Black Bears' dinners to them, so we did that next. THEN, it was time for a HUGE Lion 101 encounter with 44 people! It was a camp or something with maybe 8 adults and they split the kids into 4 groups. The Cheetah people came to help us out (since it was just Valerie & I). She & I did the training and distraction (my job!) of Tau & Sarabi, while the Cheetah people had half of the kids over near Keeno and talked about him & Natasha. We switched the groups of kids halfway through so they all got to see everything. One cute girl asked me about the target stick and what it was for, then wanted to see it used. I told her Valerie was the trainer, so she went over to her and asked if she could show her how the Lion used it. We had pretty much finished, but Sarabi was very excited to cooperate for more treats! :) She jumped right up and hit the target stick with her nose when asked. That went very well!

To end the day, I went alone to set up the Brown Bear hut with their dinners in BOXES! It makes it more fun for them. :) I had to wash the dishes next (the buckets I'd used to transport the dinners). This must also have been finished in record time, cuz Valerie & I had another break to relax a bit before we were able to go put the Lions to bed and then the Brown Bears to bed.

All in all, very nice day with moments of relaxation! :)

Bye for now...

P.S. Silly camera - not working well, so not many pics today! Sorry!