Cousins' Day of Fun!

When my cousin Brecquelyn moved here several years ago we lived in the same area for the first time in 24 years so we started a tradition called Cousins' Day of Fun. We would choose a day, plan an activity and spend the day together doing something fun. Even if it was just running errands, watching a movie on the couch or have drinks we've always enjoyed ourselves and each other's company. So, when Lilly was born it seemed natural to just include her in our special days. Our plans have had to change slightly since we started including her, but we still have a great time together. Instead of happy hour drinks we do milkshakes at DQ, instead of trips to the mall we do playdates at the park, and instead of watching movies on the couch we have tea parties. But, yesterday we finally did something that Brecq and I have wanted to do for a long, long time. We took a mini road trip to Centerpoint Indiana to visit the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.
The EFRC is a sanctuary for exotic cats that were owned illegally by individuals, unlicensed zoos or have been taken from their homes for a variety of reasons. It spans one hundred wooded acres and provides a proper home for over 200 exotic cats. Lilly loves kitties so this seemed like an obvious choice for yesterday's day of fun.
All three of us had a great time and loved seeing the 'kitties', but I didn't get many pictures and only one of Lilly because Brecq and I were both a nervous wreck keeping Lilly away from the fences. The EFRC is not a zoo, it is a place for neglected, abused or homeless cats to live out their lives and be taken care of. They offer tours as a way to help support the care of the cats, not to humor the public. Because of this, the most important thing is large natural enclosures for the cats, not wide paved walking paths for the people. The paths are about six or seven feet wide and there are fences with cats on both sides. The plant life makes it possible for a 500 lb tiger to lay right up against the fence and still be hidden so we had to be on guard 100% of the time to keep Lilly away from the fences because there is no safe space between people fences and kitties. Not to mention most of the cats were raised by humans so they aren't afraid or even shy of their human caretakers. And the way the big cats eye her was a little unnerving...they all looked at our Lilly like a cat in the wild would look at a wounded gazelle. The tour guide said they always show a lot of interest in little kids.
So, not a lot of pictures, but there are a few good ones of the kitties. We were standing right in the middle of this large African Lion (above), a tiger named Raja (below) and two other enclosures that included a total of five adult tigers when all of a sudden all of the cats stood up, ran towards the fence and started pacing, generally making everyone in the tour group a little uncomfortable. It was then that we mere humans heard the RTV, or food truck. So we got to watch while the keepers tossed parts of a horse into each of the enclosures.
The only picture of people. This was next to a pen with five enormous tigers so we thought it would just be best if Brecq held Lilly for a while.

Lilly's favorite. She insisted that this leopard was a baby jaguar...possibly Diego's baby jaguar.

All three of us had a great time and Lilly loved seeing the lions, tigers and cougars. But, the highlight of the day, at least for Lilly, was when we got back to Brecquelyn's house and Lilly was able to come in and pet one of her domestic cats.