In our continuing efforts to introduce the twins to new neighbourhoods and see new sights, this weekend we took them to Kerrisdale and Dundarave. Both trips went smashingly well, thank you very much.
The trip to Kerrisdale was a special pleasure because Caraghand I both have ties to that part of town. I used to drive through it on my way to my distinctly blue collar work near the now long gone Eburne Sawmill. Caragh used to live in that particular part of town and attended Point Grey Secondary. So it was a sort of trip along memory lane for both of us. How lovely.
We went into the clothing shop, Hills of Kerrisdale for a look around. Unfortunately the prices for clothing were somewhat out of our range and we could barely afford to pay attention in that store. It was fun walking around looking at men’s shirts that cost $300. They definitely had a lovely feel.
After our Kerrisdale walkabout we headed back to the suburban sprawling hell we call home. It is funny to see the difference in the communities. In the burbs you rarely see people walking along the streets. When we were in Kerrisdale the streets were crowded with people going in and out of the little shops. Such a profound difference. Not good or bad, just a noted difference.
On the way home Annalie had an uncharacteristic of her meltdown. I suppose she was simply tired of being in the car seat. As soon as I got off the freeway I pulled over and took her out of the seat. Big smile through the streaming tears. Thinking okay, she’s ready to go home now, back in the seat, and back to full on screams and howls of apparent agony. A stressful and not particularly pleasant ride home.
Sunday rolls around and in the hopes that Caragh and I could have some grown up time together to talk, we decide to drive out to Dundarave. We get hungry on the way and decide to pop into Tim Hortons. As anyone knows, there is no such thing as popping into Timmies. After waiting in the drive-thru lineup long enough to collectively burn up a small cargo ship of fossil fuels we get to the speaker thing.
“I would like an egg salad sandwich combo with veggie soup, a large coffee with milk, a large double-double coffee, two sour cream glazed doughnuts and a toasted multi-grain bagel with regular cream cheese.”
The disembodied voice comes back through the ether to repeat my order.
“So that is a chicken salad sandwich, chili, one medium hot coffee, one small coffee with cream, and a box of timbits?”
At this point Annalie wakes up, let’s loose a blood curdling scream…in an act of total acquiescence to the situation, I say, “SURE!”
Back on the road, tour the new Sea to Sky highway to Lion’s Bay. No matter what you have to say about how big of a waste of money the Olympics and highway up-grades were, the Sea to Sky highway is an engineering marvel.
Back to Dundarave with Story crying basically the entire drive. As we pull into a parking spot in from of BJ’s Shoes (don’t even think it, never mind say it) Story falls asleep. So we get out, wake her up, and load her into my Ergo Baby carrier. She’s happy with her two minute nap.
Get Annalie dressed in her winter gear. She has had a good long nap but is not pleased we have awoken her from her slumber.
As you may be able to discern, Annalie is trying to figure out how to reach the gas pedal and steer the car in an effort to get out of Dodge. She was not successful quickly enough so ended up on Caragh’s back.
You can tell from this shot that she cheered right up once she was in the Ergo Baby on Caragh’s back.
And then it was off to the seawall to see the sunset. It was all very romantic other than the fact that the wind was whipping up whitecaps that delivered a fine mist of sea water onto us as we walked hand in hand along the seawall. We even got to watch the sunset as the girls howled in agony and distress. As soon as the sun had dipped below the horizon we dashed back to the car, loaded the girls into their seats and sped away. Romance be damned, it was cold.
Other than screaming and crying as we drove around this weekend it was a lovely weekend to be in city. Simply lovely.