Play date of the year

Last Thursday and Friday, Tristan had a play date with two boys, age 3.5 and 5.5. These two boys were my friend's children from Victoria. We have been friends since Junior High so that makes her "the friend I have been friends with the longest." We have been meaning to do this for awhile so when we finally picked a date this summer, it finally happened! Also, I haven't seen her in a year.

She took her two boys and came over to Vancouver as foot passengers on the ferry. After a bus and skytrain ride, she arrived Thursday in time for a lunch picnic I had organized for us. That morning I made us frosted soft sugar cookies for treats and vegan cassava tortillas for our picnic. We skytrained to Central Park, had our lunch picnic and the kids played at the playground while my friend and I talked. I got to socialize and Tristan had so much fun playing with his two little friends. He was so happy! He gets like that whenever he has little people to play with :)

After a couple of hours at the park, we walked to Metrotown where we rode the train in the mall. Then it was off to Sushi Garden to pickup sushi for dinner and skytrain back home. The kids love sushi as much as us. We all stuffed ourselves full! That night after the cleanup, the kids played together with Tristan's toys until 11PM. My friend and I looked at photos and talked about recent vacations.

On Friday, Tristan was up around 7AM, his usual time really. We were all awake around 8AM. I did a bit of planning while everyone was getting ready. We headed to Little Nest for brunch. I have never been to Little Nest during a week day before. It was still busy but much less chaotic compared to the weekend. We all liked our meals and my friend really liked the place :) It's one of our favorites too.

After brunch, we walked along Commercial Drive and checked out some kids stores. Then we crossed the street into a big playground where the kids ran and played for at least an hour. We ended up walking up and down Commercial a bit more before leaving for the day. My friend had never explored Commercial Drive. In fact, she doesn't come over to Vancouver often. When she does it's usually just for quick stops and she visits with people and doesn't really get to tour much. All the places I took her were new to her and she seemed to have enjoyed her stay. We weren't the only ones enjoying ourselves, the kids had a blast too! They got along so well and were all so well behaved :) It actually dawned on me that her kids were more obedient than Tristan. When it was time to say good-bye, her 5.5 year old was first to say bye to Tristan. He gave Tristan a hug and said "I love you." Haha. It was so cute though.

Tristan was sad to see them leave and they were sad to leave too. This was probably only about the fourth or fifth time Tristan has ever seen them. You wouldn't have guessed though since they played and interacted so well together. You would have thought they have been friends all their lives. Well all 3 1/2 years of their lives :)