An Afternoon with the Monkeys

Today we decided to head over to a monkey sanctuary that is just 1 hour away.  This is a great reserve where abused or pre-owned monkeys are rescued and brought up in a wild-life type setting.  We got to walk all throughout a forest along high rise paths and bridges while a guide pointed out several different types of monkey breeds.  Those monkeys that had once been someone's pets even came up to us to interact.  On monkey jumped up on to the hand rail of the walkway and started playing with my hair.  Our favorite, though, was a spider monkey named Sarah who insisted that we pet her.  She would grab my hand, tucked it under her arm, and pulled me close so that I would hug her.  After she freed my hand, she would wait a minute and then do it all over again.

The girls also loved seeing the monkeys.  They liked petting the ones that had once been pets, and Kaelia even built up the courage to hold one of their hands.  By the end of the visit, when a monkey would pass us by on the walkway, Kaelia would reach down to pet it on her own.  She was really excited about that.  Taelyn liked to just stand close to the monkeys, but was hesitant to really interact.

After our visit, we went to a local microbrewery next door and enjoyed a couple of brews and dinner.  The girls played on the playground and the trees surrounding the restaurant and pretended to be monkeys!