Girls Goin' Downtown

9.1.16

Downtown Disney

Brie:  Stepping into Disney -well, ok, Downtown Disney- was so sweet.  We went through security which made it pretty real (one lady asked a checker guy how he was doing, and he replied in the most sincere, expressionless, hilarious way- "I'm magical.").   

As I watched people strolling by, saw the gates to Disney Land, and heard the monorail rumbling overhead, it felt like the time in a movie where the character just entered into some mystical land and spins around in awe.  Being that character is fun.

 

Brie:  This delightful little white bird behind us is Baby.  He adores his human, and it was so cute to watch Mr. Jonathan pet Baby, and Baby snuggle him back.  They are with Rainforest Cafe. (Hence the exotic bird!)  Mr. Jonathan told us that in the wild when a cockatoo finds a mate, they are paired for life.  Those two birds will be together until they die.  When one of them does die, the other now lone bird will start fading away until very soon after the first mate passed, the other one will follow.  Talk about love birds!  How romantic!  

I think they can live for 60 years which is why their devotion is so sweet, and having them as house pets is not.  In captivity, they will chose one human to be the one they love, and will practically hate/tolerate everyone else.  That's why Baby is handled by lots of different people, even though Jonathan is his best buddy, so if Jonathan wants to move on with his life, Baby won't die grieving. 

It was interesting having this death crusher behind our heads!

Ellie: This bird is Elmo. Elmo is a girl. When they (the Rainforest Cafe bird program thing people) first got Elmo from the breeder, the breeder said she was a boy.  But when they brought Elmo to the vet, the vet said Elmo was a girl!  Hence, a girl named Elmo.  Elmo only tolerates Mr. Jonathan and then again maybe only because he has treats.  ;0P  Actually if Mr. Jonathan doesn't give Elmo treats "fast enough" Elmo will start growling! Seriously.  It was funny.

Mr. Jonathan was super nice and told us some awesome facts about blue and gold macaws. You know, blue and gold macaws don't look like they have camouflage of any kind. Ah! But they do! Imagine you are a jaguar, you're hungry, you look up at the trees hoping to spot some lunch, but all you see is the bright yellow sun. Now you're a hawk, flying over the top of the trees, you look down, you see a big blue puddle of water. That's what predators see when they look at a blue and gold macaw.   If the predator does notice the macaw, the macaw can fly away. If the macaw is in an openish space they can fly out and try to get away. Usually birds of prey are faster then the macaw but she has another trick up her sleeve. See that long tail? That helps her make really sharp turns in hope of getting the bird "off her tail". ;0P  If that does not work, then the macaw can fly in to some dense branches.  Macaws are really good at climbing. Take a look at her beak. That beak can apply 200lbs of pressure per square inch. It can also act as a third foot, helping them climb really well. But how, you may ask, do they use their beaks to climb if they could easily snap the branch (much less your finger)? They know that if they snap the branch while there is nothing under their feet they will fall. And they do not want to do that.

Elmo was a very fascinating and beautiful bird. But Baby was my favorite.    

Builda: On Downtown Disney day, we got to go to MY favorite place on earth, the gimungus 

(gi-mung-gus) Build-A-Bear store in Downtown Disney! I got to shop around and ended up getting this really awesome Rey (from Star Wars) costume (thank you Gramama!)!

 And,no, I did not get this little BB8. Cute though.   

 

Brie:  Isn't the Hulk's purple hair bow so nice?

Jen: The boys joined us downtown after their diggin' day.

Hmm, tall girl this is.  Hold on much longer I can not.

Ellie in heaven... cotton candy AND Build-a-Bear!