Seeing as Sweetheart was going to be stuck in the office for most of the day and it was sunny outside, well sort of sunny, I decided to make it a day to be out and about in the city with my little ones today.
As it turns out, the day the day turned out to be much like that tv commercial that airs for some SUV where the dad is trying to fix a series of messes (those things that will be remembered for being such a cool thing to have done) he has gotten into and he is always turning to his kids and saying, “Don’t tell your mom.” That was our day.
We jumped on the Skytrain and rode to the end of the line at Waterfront Station.
The kids love the Skytrain (we call it the choo-choo train) and the addition of a boat ride made the trip even more exciting for the girls.
Of course we never travel without bringing along at least two stuffed animals; today it was Ruff and Bear who travelled the city with us.
After making the journey across to the Northshore we got off the SeaBus and “sprinted” as best a guy can with two toddlers more interested in strolling and taking in the sights around to get back on the same boat. We made it back on the boat with me diving through the closing doors with a 35 pound kid under each arm.
After the harbour cruise we got back on the Skytrain, headed east. I knew it was getting near to lunch time so we got off the train at Joyce Station and had a pizza picnic. I’m not sure of the name of the pizza place but the sign says it is the best vegetarian pizza in town. It was good pizza, but the best?
See that knife and fork? Like a good boy scout I always keep a plastic knife and fork in my carry-all. It was very useful today.
While eating our pizza, I heard the words that will strike fear and panic into any lesser of a man, “Papa, I need to use the potty.”
I asked the young lady behind the counter if there was a washroom I could use. She said, “No.”
The old guy working beside her says, “For little kids, yes, we do.”
We made it to the toilet in time. But I’m telling you, that washroom looked like it might have been used as the set for a Quentin Tarantino movie. Even the kids looked around and then asked, “Papa, did someone have an accident in here?”
I just told them to keep their hands in the air and try to not to walk on the ground.
From there we headed even further east and back in time to the Burnaby Village Museum. It is really cool how they have these almost human statues everywhere. The unsmiling and barely moving staff make you feel as welcome as an infestation of grasshoppers on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s farm.
The Burnaby Village Museum has all sorts of those half plant-half animal things positioned all over the grounds. Seeing as it is the season of putting lights on everything that doesn’t move, the animals are decorated up like all sorts of Christmas freaks.
What kid wouldn’t want to climb on top of a giant reindeer and scream with joy?
Apparently that is not allowed, for me or my kids. One of those barely moving-never-smiling staff-like-statues came to life and sprinted across the grounds when a swarm of young children (mine included) made a full-frontal assault on a cow made to look like a Grinch.
Yikes.
After we had been shooed away from the cow-Grinch we headed into the carousel.
Double yikes.
As we went around and around on the horses and enjoyed the music and ups and downs of the ride I watched out of the corner of my eye as one of the staff statues stood at the doorway to a room full of miniature trains and carried on a grim looking and sounding conversation with himself.
After the carousel we toured the little town site. The kids actually quite enjoyed watching the blacksmith create a candy cane out of a 1/4 inch strip of steel.
Admittedly, they were less interested when he handed them a piece of mild steel that looked, smelled and tasted nothing like a candy cane.
I’m not saying that handing a three and a half year old kid who loves candy canes a bent, beaten and twisted chunk of mild-steel was necessarily the turning point in our day but I have to say that it kind of took the fun out of the rest of the day.
Regardless, it was a full day of fun and laughs. As we got back in the car I turned to the girls and said, “Just don’t tell your Mommy what we did.”
Both girls grinned ear to ear as they said, “Okay!”
And as soon as their mommy got in the car?
“Mommy, Mommy, someone had an accident in the bathroom and Papa said to not walk on the floor!”