Longest Day

I think today is one of the longest days for Melur and Arman, and it all started with being a little late to watch a movie. But before that, let me describe the preceding events.

Sunday is Arman’s gymnastics day. He’s been going for a few weeks now, with only a couple of weeks to go. I thought I’d take some pictures, since he seems to have so much fun here. Arman has gymnastics from 11:15 am till 12 pm.

Anyway, after lunch, I thought I’d take the kids out to see the new Madagascar Escape 2 Africa movie that came out recently. Mommy is very busy today with schoolwork, and I’m sure she can use a little alone time. There’s a show at 3 pm, which I thought we would be able to catch.

But as usual, despite our best intentions, we managed to just miss the bus we intended to take, and had to wait another 15 minutes for the next #99 bus to Metrotown. We had a Booster Juice smoothie while we waited.

And then it was onward to Metrotown. We arrived at the Silvercity movie theatre about 15 minutes before the movie started. But by the time we got to the counter to buy tickets, we were told there weren’t that many seats left, and that we’d have to sit upfront. I wasn’t very enthused with the prospect of having a giant movie screen just a few feet from my face, so we opted for the next showing at 4:45 pm. The first thing the kids wanted to do with the extra time was to get some food. They are always hungry, especially when the weather gets cold. I know I do. And so it was off to the food court for some Souvlaki. Yummy…

After that, we decided to do a little shopping. The kids need some new clothes, and so we headed to Zellers, which as you’d know by now, is our favourite place for kids stuff. It’s quite inexpensive. They look so mature walking together to Zellers.

We thought we’d stop by Toys R Us to get a present for Aidan (Arman is invited to Aidan's birthday party next weekend), but again we were falling behind schedule. And so we had to rush back to the movie cinema. The movie itself was awesome. Animated movies these days have a little something for everyone. It’s entertaining for kids, but also has some mature themes that keep the parents interested as well. It was after the movie that the real craziness began.

I didn’t know that the mall closes early on Sunday, at about 6 pm. When we left the cinema around 6:15 pm, which was inside the mall, the mall was officially closed, and was in the process of closing up. And as we were about to leave the mall, Arman had to go to the restroom. Aw, man! Kids can’t hold their pee very well. And I frantically searched the mall for a restroom. The ones close by were already closed off. We finally found an open toilet way back near the food court. Believe me, it’s a ways away from the cinema and the main entrance to the mall.

And when we got out of the rest room, the main concourse of the mall was already partitioned off. Which means, we can’t go out the way we came in. I had to just find an exit, and hope that we can find our way back to the train station from the outside. The empty corridors leading outside were a little scary, but I kept my cool. I think the kids found it more interesting than anything else. Mommy would’ve probably freaked out (Sorry Mommy!).

So we made it out to a parking garage, walked around Zellers, then along a main road, toward the train station. It was dark and cold. The kids were kind of tired (I was too). And so I offered to drop by our favourite Hime Sushi for dinner tonight. That kept them going. And on the bus trip home, the #99 we were on was involved in a collision with another vehicle. How strange is that? Nobody got hurt, but the car that the bus nudged hit a poll by the roadside and was totalled. The kids were more curious than anything else. But the accident caused a traffic jam, which only meant that our trip home would be delayed even further.

We managed to get on the next #99. People were abuzz with the accident. But we just waited for our stop. And when we got off at Point Grey for Hime Sushi, we discovered that the restaurant was closed. They close early on Sundays too. And so we had to walked down a block and settled for some other sushi restaurant. Not as good though, as we later found out. But I didn’t have time to cook anyway.

So that’s was our longest day ever, which started with missing our bus, catching the later movie, needing to go to the bathroom while in a mall that was closing, and then having to find another way our of the mall, getting on a bus that was involved in an accident, and settling for another sushi restaurant after discovering our favourite place was closed. What an experience. So how was your day, Mommy?