Lions Gate Bridge
 

We ended the evening with a slight detour to the Lions Gate Bridge. We wanted to show Yodi the downtown city lights from there in case she never gets the chance to see it again... ;)

Terrible pictures, I know. :(

Day 3 - Brunch
 

Our day started off early. We had a prior engagement to attend to at 8:30am. That unexpectedly lasted until 10am. By then, rather than beginning our approximate 2 hr drive to our planned destination, we just had to feed our bellies first. Since our morning appointment was in the city of Richmond, we decided it was most convenient and quick to do a Richmond brunch. The most bustling part of this city has a large concentration of south Asian immigrants--mainly from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. This is where you would go to choose from a wide variety of Chinese seafood restaurants if you wanted a nice dim sum experience. Sure, there are some scattered around Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, but those are few and far between.

The outside of one of my favourites looks cheesy as they had not updated their signage for well over what feels like 20 years now however, I do not recall exactly how long they had occupied that spot for, but it has been a long time. They do regularly update the decor inside which is rare for any Chinese restaurant outside of Asia. I love their English menu as they keep it updated with their new dim sum items and the numbers of each match up with the order sheet! How convenient for those who cannot read understand or read Chinese. :thumbup:

This is not a cart-around place. The ones to go to for FRESH yummy dim sum are generally steamed-to-order locations. Occassionally, trays of some daily feature makes its rounds carried by a server and/or manager.

Day 3 - Brunch continued
 

We tried to order picnic-able foods we can snack on during the long drive scheduled for later, hence some of the spongy baked items. Now, we ordered for 2.5 diners--my husband, Yodi, and myself while Pichu was taking her nap. However, as soon as I had submitted our order sheet, I found out my dad, his sister and her husband were joining us as they were already out and about shopping but hadn't eaten yet. My old man said he was starved and didn't have a penny to his name--in his pockets--so he thought he had to wait until my mom joined him at noon before he got to eat. So Yodi got to meet my relatives for the first time. :) That was unplanned as I wasn't sure why it never occurred to me to introduce them. :rolleyes:

So our "picnic" snacks were downsized pretty much to just the cakes since none of them ordered anything additional except for what we already had on our table, save for one new feature on the menu that caught my father's eye.

Yodi, of course, once again went into disguise so she was able to share the table with us while attracting little to no attention. It's amazing how much difference it makes when she becomes a masked caper. :cool:

Day 3 - Detour
 

So we ate as quickly as possible and packed the items we wanted to take with us, left enough monopoly money behind with my dad to cover the meal and proceeded to zoom back on route to do the touristy thing.

As we came back into our neighbourhood of Vancouver to get to the other end towards West Vancouver and beyond, I noticed some tents up at our local community centre. So we just had to go check it out as it was that time of year for the local fair here.

So we got the two kids to pose in front of the sign to mark their visit to this event.
Attachment 279831

Marpole Community Day
 

So here we are at the Marpole Community Centre playground. We thought Yodi might enjoy some time on the slide until we noticed the evil eye Pichu was giving her while Yodi was trying to calm her nerves before diving down...

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We had to remove Yodi from such a dangerous situation immediately. The hubby took Pichu with him as she's afraid of heights while Yodi and I went over to the toddler swings.

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Unfortunately, these were too high/big for our little guest. :(

Day 3 - Playgrounds and Dogs...
 

Okay, so I grab Yodi as that was obviously not working out. Hubby had chosen this time to wave me over to where he was standing amused by something because he just loves putting a further damper on my fun. :rolleyes:


Now... he enjoys pointing out the obvious. While I bulked at the sight of the dollar figure... I said, "No problem. That's why we have the Yodi disguise." Fortunately for us, we had neglected to remove the cape from Yodi after the incognito brunch experience. She was still wearing it around her neck.

I say problem solved. I will not let stuffy signage ruin Yodi's fun while she's with us. Hrmph. :mad::mad::mad: Attachment 279839

Day 3 - Bird Watching
 

As soon as we hit the fair grounds where The Happening place is, Yodi spotted the suspiciously over-sized seagull amidst the crowd of children. Now that Yodi's in superhero mode, she proceeds to fly over to inspect the suspect. She wants to make sure the innocent little children were not being used as bird feed.


Though the bird watching continued for a little longer at the duck pond... Attachment 279843

Yodi was barely able to enjoy her duck watching and was actually being suspected of duck hunting, hence, the firm grip on Yodi's tail the old man has. :eek: :( We couldn't do anything about it, Yodi, so sorry! But luckily, I think Yodi wasn't really bothered by it as she was simply captivated by the swimming duckies.

Day 3 - Inflatable Fun
 

We were curious to see if Yodi would be capable of flying/floating around in the bouncy room with balls being blown around. But as it turned out, Yodi was a little heavier than we had thought--must have been the brunch.
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Day 3 - Inflatable Fun continues
 

After observing some more inflatable fun like junior sumo wrestling... Attachment 279852

...baton/stick boxing (?)... Attachment 279853

Yodi started looking longingly at the bouncy castle... Attachment 279854 However, there was no way we could let our tiny little guest take part. The children would surely have stepped on her without giving it a second thought. :(

We left the fair grounds to cheer Yodi up as we heard the music coming from an ice cream truck half a block away! So with the promise of ice cream, we had two happy furkids again.

Day 3 - The Ice Cream Truck
 

Wow. And I say, WOW. I fully expected some inflation in an already overpriced market, but WOW. The last time I bought from an ice cream truck... so long ago, I can't even recall anymore, creamsicles were still just under $1, wasn't it?! When you can get it for pennies in bulk from your local supermarket and this is not even counting Costco. Now they're $2.50+?? What I used to think was expensive, $2, is now $3.50!! OMG.

Okay, not to disappoint the kids, under the guise of "too much sugar is bad for you" so the two of you can share a stick. As a matter of fact, daddy can share with them also. :cool: ;)

Day 3 - On the road again...
 

Now with the two little ones satisfied and one bigger one also, we went on our way again back to the original plan. Off to see the Whistler!

It's just under a 2 hour drive however, we took a potty and short shopping break at the town we must pass through at the foothills of Whistler, called Squamish. The last time I was here was for an elementary camping trip. And that was a LONG time ago. :)

Since we were here already, I figured I might as well check to see if this particular location of Canadian Tire had in stock the picnic table I had my eye on.

Day 3 - Whistler!
 

Here we've reached the outskirts of Whistler. We stopped by to stretch our legs and drop into the grocery store they had here.

Day 3 - Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler
 

We had finally arrived at Whistler! This was our stop before driving up to the village.

Outside of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, Yodi poses for a picture. Attachment 279871

We then had Pichu join Yodi... Attachment 279872

However, Pichu had something up her paw once again. :(

Day 3 - Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre - Pichu's mischief
 

Now why we thought Pichu would extend her kind and generous hospitality to our honored guest is beyond me...

Day 3 - Pichu The Queen
 

I know there's that saying, "Let sleeping dogs lie." But in this situation, if we leave them be, Pichu would have kept Yodi pinned down for the rest of the day while employing poor Yodi as an armrest...


However, oblivious to Yodi's plight, Pichu continues to just lounge there on her royal armchair with a grin on her mischievous face.

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"Ahh, this is the life..." Attachment 279892