Tuesday, May 7, 2013

High Park-A Not So Hidden Gem In The City, But Still A Gem Nonetheless.

This past Saturday, I woke up at 9am to get ready for my first outing to High Park at noon with R, her kids and M. I put myself in charge of makings the sandwiches (something I would later regret), so that R wouldn't have to take care of that on top of everything else one has to deal with when they have kids.

So why did I regret volunteering to make those sandwiches? I had this grand idea of making turkey, lettuce, cheese and avocado sandwiches. Sounds simple enough, right? The problem was that, that was my first time making sandwiches for kids. I had so many questions, do they eat avocados? Should I toast the bread? Do they eat mayonnaise? On top of that, I had no idea how to prepare an avocado. They were not popular before I had left for Taiwan, and they weren't popular when I was in Taiwan, but boy are they popular here now. So I had to call my sister Y for instructions. Thank goodness she helped me out although she did ridicule me for being so avocado-preparing-clueless. Oh well.

After getting a bit lost on the way there, we found some parking on a little side street a few blocks from the park. Just after entering the park, we saw a small cluster of Cherry Blossom trees and decided to procure a spot and declare it ours. R then proceeded to whip out two blankets and a little tiger tent and we made ourselves at home.
Our little picnic spot under the Cherry Blossoms.
I was so relieved when M took a bite of a sandwich and proclaimed that it was really good. All my efforts didn't go to waste. However, the kids were so interested in everything around that they didn't really eat. Can't blame them though. There really was a lot going on and more interesting things to do rather than eat.

Like hanging out in the little tiger tent.
We even saw a guy up on a tree playing the guitar!
That's actually quite romantic. Wonder who he was playing that for.
I guess the tiger tent really was fun because after awhile, mommy decided to join her kids.

Move over, kiddies.
After trying to feed the kids again and again without much success, we took some more group pics. Unfortunately, we had a super hard time getting A2 to sit down. He would only come over with the promise of "zi choi" (dried seaweed) but after M had tried to lure him a few times with an empty promise, he decided to ignore her altogether. Smart boy! Then A1 started getting silly too.

The pictures getting progressively worse.
In the middle of taking one picture, A1 decided she'd had enough and decided to show us just what she thought about the impromptu photo session.

Take that! Now, can we go to the playground?
M tried her very best to make the kids eat.

Trying to explain the facts of life to A1. If you don't eat, you'll die. (Not her exact words.)
Whatever M said to A1, it pretty much didn't work. However, when A2 tried to feed her some sandwich, lo and behold, she ate it like it was the tastiest thing on Earth! (Not to be conceited, but it was rather tasty.)

Little brother feeding older sister. It's a miracle! What's even more of a miracle is that when A1 didn't want anymore, A2 actually started feeding himself!
You're eating my sandwich! Yay!
The humans weren't the only ones enjoying themselves. Kiki got her fair share of attention from random people. Our favourite was the little boy wearing sunglasses.

Kiki spots some four-legged friends.
Not to be outdone, A1 put on her sunglasses as well!

And immediately strikes a pose.
After R gets A2 to put on his jacket...


He puts his sunglasses on as well.

Wow, very "yow ying."
I guess M thought so as well because she tried to kiss him.

Not sure if she succeeded, but she was super happy nonetheless.
After packing up our things and making sure to pick up our garbage, we headed to this really amazing playground. It's too bad I forgot to take a picture of it. Upon entering the playground, you'll see Arthur's sword in stone. That was a really cool detail. Click on this link for photos of the playground. The story behind it is that in 2012, someone intentionally torched the playground and immediately, the community responded by donating money to rebuild it. Children were asked what their dream playground would look like and the end product was derived from their descriptions. Mike Holmes along with the help of the community undertook the project to rebuild the park, and they did a wonderful job.

As we walked into the playground, we were enveloped by the shouts and laughter of children having a grand ol' time. Had I been a child, I would've gone bonkers too! Being adventurous, we took the little kiddies to the big kids slide, and they made it down in one piece. =D

A1 made sure to have a tight grip on her little brother.
After leaving, we passed an ice cream truck. A1 really wanted some ice cream, but after taking one look at the line, we decided to pass.

Were they handing them out for free or something?
It was the first time M and I had gone out with the kiddies, and we had a hard time steering the stroller. It was pretty massive, with all the bags hanging off the side, but R had no trouble with it at all.

R is supermom.
At the zoo, we saw all kinds of strange and smelly animals, like emus, yaks, wallabys, llamas etc...It a great little zoo that's free for everybody, but is struggling to remain open because of a change in the City Council's budget and is now relying on donations to stay open. The zoo has been opened for 112 years, and it would be a pity if it closed down. If you have change to spare, click on this link to donate.

At the zoo, we bumped into C and G. It was a planned meeting and I got to meet their dog Comet! She is so cute, but so shy. She and Kiki haven't hit it off yet, but they are definitely going to get to know each other more whether they like it or not! Kiki tried to sniff Comet's bum when she wasn't paying attention. haha...

Now, this is the part where my day at High Park got weird. So there we were standing with our dogs and chatting, when a lady just goes over to Comet, pets her without asking, gives her a big kiss and then jogs away! It was as if we weren't even there. Then another girl comes along and asks me if she can "pet" Kiki and I say yes, she immediately scoops her up and starts petting her explaining to me that she also has a Maltese blah blah blah, which was ok, but then she almost drops Kiki! OMG!!! I almost had a heart attack! Like G said, why have my days back been riddled with weird occurrences? Nonetheless, I don't regret having moved back.
Anyways, afterwards, C and G took Comet to the off-leash park. I really wanted to take Kiki there, but we didn't have time. That's ok-this gives me an excuse to go there again!

After we left the zoo, A1 decided that she wanted to walk Kiki herself, and she did a great job!

Do you like her hat? I bought it for her. Yup, little things make me proud.

In the last picture, she A1 bent down to pose with Kiki. How adorable!
On the walk back to the car, guess what we saw? A popsicle cart that didn't have a ginormous line up in front of it. Guess who was as happy as a clam?

That's right, our little princess.

The same couldn't be said for her little brother who apparently doesn't like anything cold so the cookie sandwich mommy bought for him was a waste, but mommy ate it so it wasn't really a waste, just a waste of his time, I guess. haha...

Afterwards, we headed home and got a bit lost on the way back. Yup, all in a days work.

Thanks R, M, kids and Kiki for such a lovely afternoon. I can't think of a better way to have spent that Saturday afternoon.

When's our next outing going to be?

Tips by Mel (I just copied this from my Yelp review. Click here to see it.):
1) If you can't find a spot in the parking lot, try parking on the side streets outside.
2) Make sure you have tissues to bring to the washroom.
3) Go early to avoid massive line ups to pretty much everything. We were there from 2-6 and there were line ups for the washrooms, ice cream truck, hot dog stand etc...
4) Bring your own food, drinks and a blanket so you have something to eat, drink and a place to relax!


Thank you for reading and please leave a comment for me. =D

Mel

11 comments:

  1. Oh yeah, I saw that episode of Mike Holmes lol. Looks like you had fun :D

    Hay

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    1. Cool! Was it good? Ya, it was fun. We should go when you get a dog.

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    2. Cool! Was it good? Ya, it was fun. We should go when you get a dog.

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  2. You missed the best part...... when I arrived.

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    1. My mistake I only did a quick glance at pictures, but I see we got a short shoutout, wohoo!

      We can try Sheerwood Park when you're free, it's a really good off-leash park with fencing and free parking. Just at Yonge/Eglinton area.

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    2. Ya of course I would include you and C. Too bad we didn't take any pictures. I have to remember to always take pictures.

      Sheerwood Park sounds good! Let's do it!

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    3. I took some pictures but they weren't very good, I'll send them to you now.

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  3. Replies
    1. We wished you were there when we were ready to go home. Ren says that you always tell them to stay there while you go to get the car. haha...

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  4. Great Post!! Thanks for the tips. Comet and I were dying of thirst and we had to wait in line for a long time just to get a bottle water. It was great seeing R, (A1 & A2), M, Kiki and you! Lets get comet and kiki together again.. they HAVE to be friends no matter what it takes! xoxo ~C

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    1. Thanks! Ya, make sure you bring your own water next time. Line ups were crazy! It sure was great seeing you. Wish we could've chilled longer. Ya, they really do need to be friends. LOL

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