Stretching the Umbilical Cord

This darn cold forces me to retire early, so of course Mr. Sha does not trust Math Man on his own and send him with me, leaving Mr. Sha all alone at Epcot.  I know he will be fine.  He will do better on his own than the Joid, I think (at least in terms of navigating his way back).  Still, the fact he so grown up, and the fact the Joid is so grown up that he is going on a trip to present a poster at a conference all on his own...well, that umbilical cord is sure stretching.

In spite of the fact my lungs are filled with gunk, we had fun.  We had a great cast member, Iliana, who was from Puerto Rico, guide us through the aviary today.  She pointed out every bird and explained that if the males and females looked exactly alike, they would band the males on one leg, and the females on the other.  She also told us about a bird who accidentally broke her first eggs, so they gave her another species of egg to hatch, and that bird still hangs out with the mother, even though the two species don't typically get along.  Another interesting tidbit is that the birds generally don't need to be acclimated to the new group, but once in a while they do get overly aggressive birds (for some reason more often from Asia) and then these birds have to be sent to another partner institution.  Math Man got lots of great bird pictures.

Mr. Sha and I posed like the ancients.

We saw Festival of the Lion King.  Joid will be very sad to know he missed another musical.

The early evening (before I wimped out) was spent eating our way around the World Showcase in Epcot. We sampled food from Morroco (Kefta Pocket, Harissa Chicken Roll, Baklava), Japan (Pork Kakuni - very tasty), Singapore (Shrimp Cake on a Sugarcane Skewer with Singapore Noodles, Tiger Beer), Italy (Ravioli di formaggio all'Emiliana), South Africa (Seared Filet of Beef with Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Braai Sause, Bunny Chow-- vegetable curry in a bread bowl), and Norway (Rice Cream).  Delicious!

Now Math Man and I are back resting and Mr. Sha is out in the freezing cold, all by himself, with me worrying.  He's probably having the best time ever!

Some memorable photos from the day: