My Flog for April 21 + Hitting the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade

 Today was not an ordinary day. Nikkie, Chris, Lizzie and I walked to the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade - http://surreyvaisakhiparade.ca/files/parade-map.php - which was about half a mile down the street, and found a very different way to spend a Saturday.

We were all welcomed with  lots of sparkles in the sky -

 - and then came across a table where people were giving away free bags of chips - and there were some Chinese ladies there scooping them up by the armful and stuffing them in their carts, covering their stash with jackets. Wow. That was just the beginning - the parade was actually a very long block of food tents, music stages, community service booths, and people wandering with pop, water, chips, candies, juice - it was amazing. And all free. I bet the Chinese ladies wished they had brought more than one cart each.

... amazingly enough, there were lots left for other people ...

There were food tents on both sides of the roads, and everything smelled so good. Now, I have no idea at all about East Indian food, although I know it's spicy. However, I was willing to try different things, although I did have some ground rules. Nothing white, yellow or green - anything else was fair game. I did try some stuff - Nikkie asked me what one item was, and I said I had no idea. Which was unfortunate, because I really liked it. If I had to order it in a restaurant I'd be out of luck - I'd have to go the 'One of everything' route to find it again. 

So that is going to make my flog really difficult to finish tonight. 

We decided to take a short-cut across the railway track to the fairway, where the kids wanted to go for rides. Unlike previous short-cuts, they did not turn into long-cuts and we never got lost.

Four balloons were the limit - we didn't want the kiddies to go floating away. They were so well-behaved. We were walking for over three hours, and they never complained once - unlike their older relatives.

This would be Uncle Neil's favourite ride if he were here, I am sure.

Lizzie way up high, getting ready for take-off

Here comes Chris!

After the rides, the kids played a dart game and each won a little
hedgehog stuffy. The games were a bit shifty - at one, you had to first buy the prize - the cheapest was $7 - then the kid got the  chance to bang the hammer on the thingie to ring the bell. I told the gal it wasn't a game, she was just selling the toys, which were these plasticky blowup things, like hammers and guitars. So we went to the Dart Game, where for $5, each of the kids got 2 darts and had the chance to burst balloons. Lizzie got 2 out of 2 - Chris got 1 out of 4 - but they both got their prize, so all was good. It was the same idea as the first one, just seemed a bit more less-of-a-rip-off.

After all that, we walked the kids home and got them settled in front of the Mario Bros, then headed back to get some goodies for Steve's dinner. Yes, we turned into the Chinese ladies, I'm ashamed to say. There were still a lot of people around, and still a lot of food tables open. We each got some fries, and then couldn't find any garbage cans to put our paper plates. I guess everyone was taking their garbage home with them -

yeah, right ...

Late in the afternoon, after crowds of people had left, there were still hundreds walking the walk. I was amazed at the numbers, but then again, this is the largest Vaisakhi Parade outside of India. We were part of a very special celebration and every ache and pain was worth it!

So now you're wondering about the aches and pains, right? Well, aside from a sore toe, which was sore before we started in the morning, my hip sockets felt like they were going to just come unglued and roll down the street, and the back of my neck got burned enough it's really bothering me. Other than that, I held up pretty well for an old broad.

On the way out, we passed this and I had to take the picture. I'm not sure if they are taking on any new members, but I think I could probably take on the gal in the scooter if I had a little bit of training. 

We finally made it home the second time around, with a few treats for Steve and a few non-treats for Howard. He tried a couple of things but couldn't get over the spices, and made it clear he just wanted plain old meat and veggies from now on. I'm just waiting for the next time we go to eat out, and he says something like, "I don't care where we go, pick somewhere." Aha! 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - something brown and crunchy and delicious, and something else brown and not so crunchy, which I think was fish but wouldn't bet on it
• Dinner - another piece of maybe fish, and some French Fries (or should I say Indian Fries?) that were really delicious, and a Potato Patty
• Snacks - Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Water - yes, indeedy, the food was HOT! - and some yummy crackers