My continuing guest blogger, Hannah's, last post (Editor's words)
Today we left the house around 4:00 and Dabby left the house at 1:30 because he had to eat lunch with his friend. When he came back we decided to go to a birdy park at Stanley Park. We went to see the blue herons. There were tons of nests. We saw families of them. We even saw some flying.
These heron nests were amazing. Supposedly there are about 50 nests up in the trees in Stanley Park right next to the tennis court, Country Club buildings, and restaurant.
If you look carefully up in the trees you can spot quite a few nests in this one.
With a closer lens, you can see that not one or two but sometimes three herons are sitting on one nest. Why? I have no idea. Maybe one is visiting the couple?
Nests can get up to 4 feet across and nearly 3.5 feet deep.
Herons can curl their neck into a S shape for a more aerodynamic flight and to quickly strike prey at a distance.
They can get up to 4 feet in height but only weigh 5-6 lbs due in part to their hollow bones, a feature all birds share.
The nesting period is 49-81 days. Incubation of eggs are 27-29 days.
We went across the street to another tree and saw that one nest on a branch fell down. We saw a dead fish laying on the ground from the nest. We think that the herons caught the fish and brought it to their nest to eat. It was really smelly because poop was everywhere. The tree, branches, and leaves were all white.
A fallen nest. See the dead fish next to it? The nest was huge!
I was in awe of the nests and all the herons nesting but could not stand the smell of the bird poop everywhere!
Next we went to drive around the park and stopped at this beach. We saw a second beach! Which was a huge swimming pool next to the beach. It was a second beach.
A public beach in Stanley Park....
...which was literally right next door to a public swimming pool. It looked very nice but no shade! :(
Pool or beach? Let's do both! The pool was very affordable.. around $7/adult for the day.
Then I wanted a boba drink so we went to Dragon Ball Tea House. We ordered a drink for Auntie Stacy and me and JJ.
Dragon Ball is Stacy's go-to tea place!
Then we went back to the house to rest.
We played with the boys some more. 5-Sook could not wait for us to come over.. reinforcements!
Tate playing in the kitchen sink. Yep.. Grandpa's idea of course! We just hoped he would not turn on the faucet!
I was entertaining Bryce by shooting bubbles into a container. He loved it! Oh the simple joys!!
Grandpa (5-Sook Goong) reading to Tate before bed. Who's that bothering me?
Of course it was Uncle Matt!
...and then went out to dinner at Golden Seafood restaurant. We ate with the whole family. We said good bye to everyone because we weren't gonna see them in a while.
Matthew was trying to take a panoramic picture from his iPhone. He set the phone down on the lazy suzy and turned it to capture everyone but he was too slow and couldn't get everyone in one shot.
Most of Matthew's Dad's side of the family.. some of our favorite people!!
Then we went back to the house started packing and went to sleep.
(The next day) we left the house around 9:30. We said goodbye to Buddy, 3 Goo Po, 3 Goo Goong.
The girls with Buddy
Then we drove to Seattle and ate at Din Tai Fung (again). The food was so so yummy. Then we went to the airport and dropped off our luggage and boarded the plane. It was the Alaska Airlines plane. We noticed that it was made by the Boeing company that we took a tour of.
This plane was way bigger than the other one. I sat next to the window that was near the wing and the engine. I liked watching the wings move. Then after the flight we picked up our luggage at claim 15 and went outside. Goong-Goong picked us up and we ate dinner at their house. Then we drove home! :(
-Mui Mui Blogs
And that is the end of my guest blogger, Hannah's recap of our trip to Seattle and Vancouver!
On another fun note.. we found out that Matthew's cousin, Jason, (3-Goo-Jeh/Jeung's son) and his family were featured in Justin Timberlake's newest music video, "Not a Bad Thing". They're the Asian family interviewed. You can check it out below.
My continuing guest blogger, Hannah (Editor's words)
Today we woke up around 10:30. Dabby left at 5:00am (way) earlier than we did to drive up a mountain with 5-Sook Goong and some of his friends. Then when Dabby came back home we woke up.
I 'heard' that they were driving up to speeds of the three digit zone but don't quote me on it!
Matthew tagged along with one of his Uncle Pat's (5-Sook) early morning rides with his friends to Squamish. They all rode motorcycles while Matthew took his uncle's Mini Cooper.
Apparently this is a limited edition. Only 2,000 in North America.
His Uncle also has a trailer that can hold 10 bikes!
My chest was itching so so much that we had to get some benadryl for me at London Drugs. Then we went out to lunch at Double Double Restaurant. I was very drowsy as so I didn't feel well. It was because of the medicine. Then after that we went to the Aberdeen Mall. First we went to Daiso. Then we went to this Hobby shop where I saw a lot of Rilakkuma stuff. I saw squishes there! I was so excited. They were squishes I've been wanting. They were so expensive so I didn't get them. I wanted the Rilakkuma toast, macroon, waffle, crepe, Hello Kitty biscuit, and the Rilakkuma sandwich. Next we went to this garage sorta hobby store. Then we went to get a bubble waffle. Then we went to Chapters and bought some stuff like stuffed animals. Then we went to Cookworks to find tongs but they sold out. So we went to McDonalds to get a medium fry for me.
These pineapple buns (bows) were to die for! At Lido's across from Aberdeen Mall. I bought 6!
Then we went back to the house to rest then we went to visit Tate and Bryce.
The twins have an incredible set-up here. Check out the homemade utility play wall
And playroom!
I usually can tell them apart but in this photo I can't. I think Bryce is on the left and
Tate on the right (he's usually the mischievous one).
Then we went to the Richmond Night Market. When Uncle Sherman was trying to park there was a lot that was blocked off by cars.
It totally felt like I was in HK!
Every summer, there is a night market in Richmond, a suburb in Vancouver (aka the Hong Kong of North America).
Some people could not move their cars to exit. It was really crowded, busy and complicated. I got chicken fawn fawn, hand pulled noodles with fried beef and mushroom, boba drink (hard bobas, wrong ordering, seeds), and a blue raspberry lemonade. After that we looked at the stores and saw a lot of Rilakkuma stuff I liked.
Matthews cousin, Sherman and Stacy along with Sherman's girlfriend, Elaine took us to check this all out!
This is an ice cream cane.. the cane is made out of puffcorn (like sugar pop cereal) and is filled with soft serve ice cream. Supposedly a favorite in South Korea!
My continuing guest blogger, Hannah (Editor's words)
Today we left the house around 10:00 to eat brunch at White Spot. I got spaghetti and meatballs with a side of fries with Caesar salad. Then we drove to the bird sanctuary. We saw lots and lots and lots of birds. We even fed them.
The Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is one of Canada's top bird watching sites. The Sanctuary (located about 45 minutes southwest of Vancouver) is ideally located in the center of the estuary and contains ponds, natural tidal marshes and sloughs all of which provide important resting and feeding areas for migratory birds.
I was feeding the geese and ducks. They followed the seeds I dropped. I felt like the Pied Piper.
There were geese, baby geese, ducks, and ducklings that we fed.
Canada Geese
Emily was in heaven.. birdy heaven that is!
Mallard ducklings
The Sandhill Cranes were so gentle.. they ate from our hands even though technically they are 'wild birds'.
Their bills were pointy and it felt like someone was poking a sharp chopstick in our palms.
The majestic bald eagle
Tree swallows; they had all these bird houses throughout the sanctuary
The sanctuary also had bird blinds or bird hides which are designed so that people can watch or photograph birds without the birds noticing or flying away.
Checking out the birds from the bird blind
More tree swallows
Red winged blackbird
View from the 2 story tower overlooking the marshes
After that we passed by 2 farms and we went strawberry and raspberry picking. It was so hot. My cheeks were sunburned so I had to shade myself with an umbrella all day. It was sorta fun.
There were so no more raspberries left so I bought only the prepicked ones from the store. After that we drove to the house to rest and then drove to 5-Sook Goong's house. Then we went out to dinner at Kirin. A seafood restaurant. Kirin is my most favorite restaurant to eat at in Vancouver. I warn you though, it's Chinese and pricey! But we always get taken to eat there whenever we come visit.
Tate finally let someone else other than his grandpa hold him
Bryce is such a ham!
While we went out to eat, Matthew's other uncle, 3-Goo-Jeung (Uncle Roy) went deep sea fishing for the day and came back with four red snappers/rock cods. They were huge!
Here they are filleting them!
Then we drove back to the house in 5-Sook Goong's car.
My continuing guest blogger, Hannah (Editor's words) We headed north of Seattle to the Boeing 787, 777 & 747 Assembly Plant Tour.
Today we left the hotel around 7:30. We woke up early to eat breakfast. Then we drove to the Boeing Factory. We took a tour on the factory. It was really interesting.
We were able to see airplanes under various stages of assembly. The building has a moving assembly line where it moves a few inches a minute. The planes are all side by side and looks so small in the huge building.
The Boeing building is ginormous! It can fit all of Disneyland and it's parking put together.
After the tour we went to the research lab and took tests on how the 2 different cabins were. At the end we were supposed to pick someone's seating card and I was chosen to pick and I apparently chose myself. Everyone was laughing. I got a gift card to the Boeing store $15.00.
She got to pick the winner and it was herself!
I learned some new things, like the engines are located on the wings and the wings are filled with fuel.
One plane costs around $350,000,000 and that's without engines and seats.
Engines are an additional $50,000,000
I got some stuff like an airplane wallet, stylist/pen, and some postcards. Next we went out to Z's Burgers. I got a hot dog. It was all cut up and put on to a patty like a burger. It was weird looking.
Then we drove to Vancouver. There was traffic so it took even longer. Once we passed the border there was even more traffic. It took about an 1 hour and 30 min.
Z's Burgers Coke collection
Then we finished and got to 3-Goo-Po's house. We were so happy to finally get here. I really wanted to come see the twins ever since I heard that Matthew's cousin, Stacy was pregnant.
Emily and cousin Bryce connected quickly.
Tate (in the back, Bryce's older brother by 2 minutes) took a while to warm up.
Buddy, a doberman pincher, likes all kids.
We unloaded our things and ate dinner with Auntie Stacy, Uncle Sherman, Uncle Terry, Tate, Bryce, 5- Sook Goong, 5 Sum Po, 3-Goo-Po and 3-Goo-Goong. We had delicious food. It was yummy.
Always a feast at the Tang's.
Both Bryce and Tate LOVE their grandpa (aka 5-Sook Goong).
The twins with their grandpa, 5-Sook-Goong.
Tate even favors his Goong Goong over everyone, even his parents.
Of course, if your Goong Goong lets you get away with things like using the glass lazy-suzy as a merry go round you'd prefer him too.
Then Dabby, Jj, Uncle Sherman, Auntie Stacy, and I went to the mall to get a SIM card (for my phone). Then we went to the house and went to sleep.
