Prelude to Tomorrow

So tomorrow will be filled with many activities. Mommy will be running the Fall Classic. After gymnastics, Arman will be attending Aidan’s birthday party. And tomorrow is also Daddy’s birthday. And in preparation for tomorrow, we have a whole bunch of things to do today. We start with a trip to Toys R Us. Since we didn’t manage to get a gift for Aidan last weekend, we had to make a quick stop today. Arman managed to pick something quickly, and after that we were on our way to the Running Room.

We walked about 5 blocks west to Running Room. It’s getting cold with winter just around the corner. Mommy needs a light running jacket for tomorrow’s race. Arman and Melur had a blast running around the store.

The trip to the running room was quite short too. Right after, we decided to have a little –pre-birthday dinner at Hime Sushi, to celebrate Daddy’s birthday. But seeing as we arrived quite early for dinner, we decided to drop by the public library just next door. We sat down and looked through a few books.

Arman loves the Otto books by Todd Parr, as you see in the video above. We’ve borrowed quite a few of his books in the past. He’s even thought about writing to him. Soon, it was time to dinner. I love this place, as I know the kids do. We ordered a LOT of food. It’s my birthday, after all. You can see for yourself.

After dinner, we felt like desert. But unfortunately, Hime Sushi doesn’t have a desert menu, at all. So we dropped by McDonald’s on the way home, for a fudge sundae.

When we got home, Daddy opened his presents a day early. Well, in my defence, it’s only a couple of hours early in Vancouver. It’s already by birthday in Malaysia, if you really think about it. Mommy got Daddy a new net book – the Acer Aspire One. I love it… And like always, Melur made me a special present for my, all by herself – her very own special brand of artwork made with tender loving car. Thank you Melur.

Now that the prelude is done, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

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?

Dentist Time

Okay, so it’s been a little over 7 months since Melur and Arman went to see a dentist. The last time we saw Dr Moy was some time in March. During the last check-up, Melur was cavity-free, and Arman needed some fillings. This time around though, Arman is cavity-free. Melur however, has some cavities on her newly erupted molars. Apparently, there are some deformities, or dents, on her new teeth, that make it easy for food to collect.

Anyway… we came straight from swimming classes, and we forgot to bring the camera. So we have to make do with pictures from Daddy’s camera phone (which needs to be upgraded BTW). Since Melur’s cavities are on her newly erupted molars, the dentists won’t be able to perform any work on it, until it matures a little more. Melur will have to come back in a month to check on the progress of the tooth. In the mean time, she’ll have to live with the cavity and brush well, so that it doesn’t spread too much further.

That’s pretty much the dental update from Melur and Arman.

Halloween 2008

The good thing about having a Blog, especially after doing it for a few years, is that you start to build a library of memories of past events. We’ve been in Vancouver for over 2 years now, and today marks our third Halloween here. If you want to see Last Years Halloween, or Halloween from the year before, all you have to do is click through. How cool is that?

Anyway, I think this year’s Halloween was pretty cool. As part of an agreement with my department co-workers, I had to dress up as one of The Village People. My little get-up received quite the reaction. Here I am with the kids (picture above), ready to go Trick or Treating. Can you guess who I am?

This year, Arman got a brand new outfit from Zellers. He’s a Henja (Okay, he’s a Ninja, but he sounds so cute saying “Henja”)! We got it 2 weeks ago. Melur got some new wings with last years dress, and went as a fairy. They both look quite cute, and certainly very excited for the evening. And as with previous years, Mommy held the fort at home to dish out the treats. No tricks please… I must say though, this year’s “harvest” wasn’t as good as previous years’. All the houses in Acadia Park were out of candy pretty quickly. I think we’ve had a lot of new comers to UBC this year. I remember when we first came, we ran out of candy very quickly. And we learned to stock up the following years.

But we had lots of fun. Melur and Arman met with many of their friends along the way, as can see above. Arman got cold and tired, and headed home first. Melur and I tried a few more houses on our way to the University Village, but they were all out of candy. And so we ended the evening with some take out – Japanese food. Mmm... Yummy...

For more pictures, check out our album on Facebook. Happy Halloween