Canadian Summer Trip: Alberta: Day 2 West Edmonton Mall

 For the second day, we walked around the humongous West Edmonton Mall.  This mall is still the largest shopping mall in Canada and has the biggest shopping mall parking lot in the world.  It has the world's largest indoor water park (World Waterpark), a theme park (Galaxyland), indoor kart racing, kids playing area, a small aquarium, skating rink, and all kinds of brand name shops.  

Aquarium area with sea lion show:

West Edmonton mall Sea Lion show

The sea lion:

They are soooooo cute!!

Heck, they even have a pirate ship inside the mall:

West Edmonton Mall Pirate Ship

They have a big Lego shop:

West Edmonton Mall Lego Shop Lamborghini

They have a T&T Supermarket, and they even have a large Asian scenery display:

West Edmonton Mall Asian Display

This mall is so big that we get tired just by walking around.  It has almost everything in there, and there is so many things for young people to do.

There is even a restaurant street with different kinds of food.

They have all kinds of wall art on display in the mall:

We planned to head to the Waterpark the next day.

Nike Jordan Zion X Naruto Collaboration Basketball Shoes

 I am an anime fan and a basketball fan.  When I heard that Nike Jordan series will have collaborations with Naruto to make 3 different models of Jordan Zion basketball shoes, I knew I had to get one for my collection.

In Canada, it is hard to get our hands on any kind of new release, but I was amazed that I could get my hands on one pair on the date of release.

Nike Jordan Zion Naruto

The pair I got is the "Kyubi" model.  It has the orange and yellow theme.  The shoes have the Ninja patterns and dots.  It also has the Air Jordan mark and ZW sign.

Nike Jordan Zion Naruto in box

Nike Jordan Naruto wrapping

The wrapping paper was customized with ZW and Naruto ninja patterns.

Nike Jordan Zion Naruto left shoe

Nike Jordan Zion Naruto Kyubi 

As you can see from the side, it has the "zap" lighting style design and dot design on the sides.

Nike Jordan Naruto sticker

Inside the box, there is a small sticker.

Nike Jordan Zion Naruto Box

Even the box is customized for the collaboration as you can see.  It has the Naruto anime sign and leaves.

I think this is well done by Nike, and I hope they can release more collaborations with popular anime.  (Few suggestions:  Dragonball, One Piece, Super Mario, or even Streetfighter would be awesome!)

Walmart: Coca Cola with Coffee

 I saw this new interesting product at Walmart the other day:  Coca-Cola with Coffee.

Coca-Cola with Coffee

I bought one and tried it.  It taste good for me.  It does taste like Coca-Cola with thick scent of coffee.

First, you will taste the coke and the bubble, then a thick scent of coffee taste and smell will come along.

I know they have a lot of different variety of coke drinks in the USA, and I hope they sell more kinds of drinks here in Canada.

(We just don't have the varieties here for all kind of products....gets boring.)

Costco: Boba Milk Tea Mochi

 I saw this at Costco the other day:  Boba Milk Tea Mochi.

Boba Milk Tea Mochi

I love bubble tea, and I thought I would buy it and give it try!

It came with 60 mochis, and these taste great!!

These taste authentic and they were made in Taiwan.  I wished that Costco will keep these on the shelves permanently.

Costco: Popcorn M&M Minis

 I saw this in Costco the other day:  Popcorn M&M Minis

It looks very interesting and probably tastes good for kids.  It might be too sweet for me.

New Kumamon Country Ma'am Cookies in Suzuya

 

I saw this pack of this famous Japanese cookies "Country Ma'am" in Suzuya in Burnaby the other day.  In Japan, there are usually many kind of local food and manufacturers will make different taste of cookies in different regions.

Kumamon is a mascot from the Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu region, Japan.  This box's taste is "Yakimaron".  I supposed that it is chestnut flavor...

Kumamon Kumamoto Country Ma'am

I did not buy it as all import cookies are double or triple priced in Canada.  It is tough to live away from Japan when you love the food there.

Canadian Tim Horton's New Tim Biebs

After our walk to Burnaby Lake today, we went to Tim Horton's for the new advertised "Tim Biebs", promoted by Justin Bieber.

Basically, it is the usual Tim Bits coated with different coatings with 3 flavors:  Birthday Cake, Chocolate Fudge and Sour Cream Chocolate.  They cost around 20 cents more per piece.

Tim Horton's Tim Biebs Box

Personally, I like Birthday Cake more because it have more impact taste wise.  However Chocolate Fudge is okay, too.  Actually, the other two chocolate taste are pretty similar.  Some people say they don't really feel too much difference.  

At least Tim Horton's exploring more ways to get new product on the market.  However, I think they should do it without inflating the price.  New products should not always mean expensive pricing...

In Asia, new products are constantly being introduced.  (Things move faster in Asia, and the menus change more often.)

Lego Minecraft Bumble Bee Set for My Son's Birthday

Lego released a Minecraft bumble bee set, and I bought it for my son's birthday.  (One of the gifts he got) 

Lego Minecraft Bumble Bee Set

The bees look very cute and my kids liked it!  I think you get 7 or 8 bees with it.

November 15th, 2021 BC Historical Flood and Food Shortage (Panic Buy)

 BC had an once per 100 years, historical flood that cripple the highway and rail systems.  The supply chain system was also disrupted, and people started panic buying.  Abbotsford, Merritt, Princeton were flooded.  Many grocery shops ran out of food in BC including our area in Burnaby.

All breads, ham, meat, eggs and milk were sold out in Walmart:

This is crazy.  There is food shortage due to panic buying even though the government says there is no problems.  I guess people worry and want to prepare ahead of time.  All highways were shutdown but now, after few days, some are opening slowly.  I hope this situation improves.

Animal Crossing Update and Series 5 Amiibo Cards

Animal Crossing had a very large update last week, and they also released a new series of amiibo cards (Series 5).  All the websites had sold out of the cards the first day, and I finally found some on Amazon.ca.  They were 7 Canadian dollars, and as usual, they had a 2 packs per person limit.

I got a couple of new characters including Rio and Cephalobot.  It is truly a big update with thousands of new items and hundreds of new DIYs.  My kids and I were very excited for it.

Wal-Mart Halloween Sale: 50% Off Goods and Signages and Decorations

 Walmart usually has 50 percent sales after holidays, and they had it for Halloween, too.

I went on November 1st morning to check their sales.  This year, they did not have much leftovers because they did not import as much to begin with.

There is this farm house decoration below.  It is 5 dollars on sale.  I didn't buy it as I think it should be cheaper.  There is also the "thankful" tray and other decorations on sale.

farmhouse

welcome sign and decorations

Halloween birds and table clothes on sale:

Welcome sign is on sale for 2.5 dollars:

More flower decors:

I think these are 3 dollars. I bought a couple of them.  There is also a squirrel, which is very cute.

These pumpkin signs are 3.5 dollars.  I bought one.

Hello Pumpkin sign

These signs are also 2 to 3 dollars on sale.  I bought the welcome sign and Halloween sign.

Welcome sign and halloween sign

Here are more signs:

The pumpkin sign below is actually in wooden frame, and it was 7 dollars.  It is way too expensive.

First Time Seeing "Crab Apple"

 The other day, I saw this kind of apples, called "Crab Apple" in the local market.  It is the first time seeing it, so we bought some home.  It is the size of a prune, so for an apple, it is very small.

My son ate one which is kind of sour...I haven't tried yet, so I can't comment on it.

New Super Mario Bros Products!

I have always been a big super mario bros fan since I was small.  I have always wished we had as many toy selections as the kids now.  They are lucky!

We had nothing like these new toys.  The one below emulates the mario game scenaries:

Super Mario Game Toys

It was kids' dream back then to have these ones to play with or to at least display on desks.

back of mario toy package

I actually bought a few of these to let me kids play and display in the room.

There are also constantly new mario kart toys coming out like these ones:

New Mario Kart Pull back kart 2014

I have bought many mario kart toys, so I don't think I will be buying these full price.

Mario and Yoshi new karts 2014

Again, lucky kids nowdays, but I guess things continue to progress, my kids will say the same thing to their kids.

Nexus 5 Cell Phone

Finally, 6 years after smartphone has been invented, I bought my first smartphone.

It is the Google Nexus 5 phone by LG.

It is super fast with good graphics.  Everything was going well.

Then, after a week, all the sudden, I can't turn the cell phone on.

The night before, it still had 30% of battery.

(That means it shut off during the night and was gone forever...)

Maybe just by chance, I received a defective phone???

Anyways, I called Google, and they are sending me a new phone.

We will see what happens next...

Google Nexus 5 Box and Phone 2014

Lego Store Again: Lego Architecture, Lego Sushi, Fast Food and Parisian Restaurant

In February, we went to the Lego Store in Surrey again because I wanted to get the Eiffel Tower from the Lego Architecture series.

I love unique historical buildings that represent cultures and style.
The series started to release famous buildings around the world for the users to build and decorate their rooms.

Lego Architecture Series Eiffel Tower, Tower of Pisa
UN Building, Japan Emperial Hotel

They also had lots of interesting things on display, which might give kids idea if they have lots of pieces and special parts.

For example, check out the sushi set:

Lego Sushi Set Japanese Restaurant

Using some unique parts, they recreated sashimi dishes, sushi rolls and chopsticks.

How about the lego McDonald's set:

Lego Fast Food set McDonald's Hamburger

Well, they did not have a 'M' for McDonald's.  They just use a 'Y' on the fries. haha.

I do think it is a good idea or sample if the users have lots of flat parts with different colors.

I think a collector will have to be relative wealthy to spend thousands of dollars for all the parts.

Lego Movie display

They also have the Lego movie sets on display.

Lego Store Parisian Restaurant

I really like the Parisian streets.  They are just beautiful and nicely preserved.  

This restaurant set sort of recreates some of those feelings...

Sometimes, Lego feels like an high end toy collection just like Apple products.  If you can afford it, you will buy it.  Their big sets goes for hundreds of dollars...just like iPad or iPhones....

The Lego Architecture sets are smaller and more affordable: around 50 dollars.

They are even cheaper in Asia...probably around 40 dollars.

I will see if I have space in my small place to buy more sets...probably not.