Summer Festival in Blaine, Washington

One day, before we went shopping for grocery down in Bellingham, Washington, we decided to stop by Blaine, a small border town.

We wanted to go for a picnic near the seaside park.
And, it turned out that they had a summer festival with small vendors selling food and crafts.

Blaine, Washington seaside

It was a grogeous, perfect summer day with blue sky!!
There was a replica pirate ship going around the dock to show the visitors.

blaine wa pirate ship

They also had music bands playing and some model miniature boats on display.

We had a nice time!
It is nice to see a relaxing festival in a small town during the summer time!

My Birthday Gift 2012: Kipling Shoulder Bag

I received a black Kipling bag for my birthday this year.

Kipling is known for its canvas bags and its mascot gorillas.

This shoulder bag with handles is perfect for my work and can fit a lot of things in there.
It also has front, back and inside pockets. (very good for carrying small things).

Kipling black bag shoulder

I like bags with different compartments to keep things tidy.
This actually completes my collection because I have two black bags in different sizes.
I like the monkeys because they look cute to me. haha.

IKea Pull Out Bed under Ikea Kids Bunk Bed

We bought a pull out bed to accommodate more people just in case in the kids room.

This pull out bed from IKEA fits under the bunk bed very well:

Ikea bunk bed and pull out bed

For people who need space and need more beds, I would recommend this.
This pull out bed from is under 100 dollars in Canada.
For now, this room can sleep up to 3 people!

My Son's 5th Birthday Gifts: Mario Kart Bed Set

My son became 5 years old this August. 
Boy....where did my life go? So fast...

He looooves Super Mario, so we gave him the whole Mario Kart bedset.
He completes his room with mario figures, plush, poster, tissue box, turtle shells, blankets, cover, pillow...etc.
The whole package!!

He was really happy to get his customized bedroom for his birthday!!
(man...I wish I had that when I was young.  All these merchandizes were not there.)


Anyways, here is the Thomas the Train cake we ordered from Price Smart:

My son's 5 year old birthday cake and food

It is a nice cake considering the cake from Costco, Superstore and Safeway are absolutely disgusting and full with sugar.
The cream they use here are better and we get to choose the design!

My wife made a lot of wonderful dishes for him as usual!!

He enjoyed his birthday!
(so good to be a kid...well, as an adult..it is just very hard to enjoy birthdays for some reason. Not sure why.)

Restaurant: Sang Thai & Vietnamese Restaurant (Port Coquitlam)

We went to this place because I got a deal from Living Social.

This restaurant locates in a Port Coquitlam strip mall beside a major road intersection.
However, this restaurant could be hard to find because it is at the outside corner.
(maybe that is why they need to promote it because people don't notice it.)

It is a quiet restaurant with nice Thai style decorations.
The food they sell actually is Chinese, Thai plus Vietnamese.
(I should find the interior photos...)

Here is the fried rice we ordered:

Fried rice sang thai port coquitlam

The fried rice was very nice. 
They actually hired a girl playing traditional chinese instrument.
It was wonderful but I felt bad because no one was there on a friday night.

pad thai sang thai port coquitlam

Next, the Pad Thai.  It was not hot.
It was lacking some kind of taste and wasn't the best pad thai I have tried...
I would not recommend their pad thai.

The spring roll was pretty good I gotta say.
Because I paid regular price, I have to say, while not cheap, the portion is reasonable.

I would recommend this place if you live near Port Coquitlam, BC if you just want some simple things to enjoy.

Vancouver Lego Store Part 3: Stuff As Much As You Can

The Lego Store also sells parts and blocks for people who wants to build for fun at home.
It is perfect for us because we don't have too much pieces at home!

You can stuff a small plastic can for 12 dollars or a big can for 20 dollars (I think...)

I chose the smaller can and we tried, very creatively, to stuff as much in the can as possible.
We stayed there for more than an hour doing it but other people took only 10 minutes or less.
I guess money is not an issue because it is "only" 12 dollars.  Boy....we must be poor or people have money.

Wait!  Most families do have more money than us!  What am I talking about!
Where is my career path?

Anyways, here is our can:

can of lego all you can stuff

It was full...very full....

lots of special parts we could use.....

things we made after lego store

We also got a good deal on a lego keychain.  It was only 2.50 dollars....amazing.

Lego pirate keychain!

It was an interesting experience and we will drop by again for their monthly events!!

New Lego Store Vancouver Part 2: Monster Fighters Series

One of the new series that I found was interesting was the Monster Fighters Series:

Lego store vancouver: Monster Train

I find the theme was very interesting and not something Lego has done before; monsters and ghosts.

Lego Monster fighters series display

It looks like an intriguing series and I hope they expand on the stories.

New Lego Store Vancouver 1

Lego opened a new Lego store in Vancouver store this year, the first in west coast Canada.

I often wondered, would people pay regular price to buy things in Lego Store instead of discount retailer?
The answer:  Yes, they do....and lots of people have money.  (including the super rich.)

A grandpa was looking into the window (the picture below) of two european building sets.
He was with two grand daughters.  He was saying to the grand daughters, "Okay, this one and this one.  Five hundred dollars?  Okay, we'll get it."  (nodding to the shopkeeper).

Lego European building sets.

I guess rich grandparents would spend the money these day and age.
Lots of other parents are buying sets after sets for their kids as well.
The store does sell sets that you don't often find outside:

london tower bridge lego

Things like London Tower Bridge and the Architecture series:

Lego architecture series

Lego Maersk trucks train

Lego mini figures

Lego super hero series

Lego princess series

They have so many kinds of series nowdays to cater to all age and all types of adults and kids.
One day, I will try to get some architecture sets because they look very impressive.

I will write more about the Lego store trip.

Seattle: Uwajimaya

We went to Uwajimaya in downtown Seattle last time when we visited.

We also wanted to buy some magazines from the Kinokuniya bookstore inside the market.
The address was actually wrong for my GPS....actually, it was so confused that we went round and round....

For 30 minutes, we did not know where we were going.
At the end, we managed to find it at a corner of its Chinatown.
I really don't think it is easy for tourists to find.

Uwajimaya Seattle downtown

Uwajimaya Seattle 2

Because of the larger Japanese population in Seattle.  The range of Japanese products sold here is much larger than what we have in British Columbia.  We were quite impressed by it.

I found this one item sold very interesting:  Rabbits....

I know that Japanese monks were allowed to eat rabbits in ancient times. 
I didn't know there was an appetite for rabbits here.
Interesting indeed....

We bought lots of food items back to B.C. Canada.  Funny...to go all the way here to buy food....