Last night, I saw grandpa putting things into his big evil box.

I remember MY Veronica did that, and I tried to stop her from putting things into her big evil box, from leaving. But it didn't work. She was gone the next day.
I knew what was coming, but I didn't bother trying to stop grandpa. Not because I love him any less (Ohh NO NO NO...), but because I knew it was no use... Instead, I tried not to show my sadness, and just be the bestest grandogter and kept grandpa company while he fed the big evil box.
Grandpa told me he had to go back to Taiwan to work, but he would try to come back and see me again soon....

Grandpa talked to me the whole time with an even tone. He used to do this when I was a pup, and I would just lie beside him, listen to him, and drift into asleep. Now, seven years later, it still does the magic!

Apparently, the same trick worked on mum when she was going to high school and staying up late. Grandpa would grab a physics text book, or calculus text book or any kind of text book and just start reading it to mum (you know, formulas and all), and within 2 mins, magic happens - mum would be sound asleep (or at least she pretended).

This morning, mum, grandpa and me came to YVR - Vancouver International Aireport, the place I picked up grandpa just two weeks ago.

Mum wanted pictures, she ALWAYS wants pictures, she is ALWAYS so trigger happy... I'm not sure why grandpa could still be smiling after a gazillion shots, I certainly couldn't!!

Please excuse my grooming, mum groomed my body and my head, but didn't have time to scissor my legs, so I still had extremely fluffy, un-groomed legs.
Making our way into the terminal,

What can I say, muscle butts run in the family....hehehe!!
I waited patiently while grandpa was checking in,

I'm not sure if you guys remember, but I was turned into a performing seal in front of the Cathy Pacific Aireways counter when MY Veronica was leaving Vancouver. Well, a few of the ladies walked by while I was waiting for grandpa, and recognized me!! They told mum they visit my blog regularly, so they recognized me right away. Too bad Sarah who owns Daisy the Yorkie wasn't working that day.
I waited a little longer,

And FINALLY! MY grandpa was done checking in! See, this was me rubbing my head in between grandpa's legs.

Ok, I know this might seem a bit strange, or, daunting even if you are of a hooman, male kind. But trust me, only very special hoomans get In-Between-Legs-Up-and-Down head rubs from me. It really is no big deal, you just have to learn to squeeze your legs at the right time, that's all. (mum: she has surprised (and that's quite an understatement LOL..) a few of my guy friends over the years by doing this. She particularly likes to rub her head between people's legs right after she's done eating. Yup, wiping her mouth clean of raw meaty smell!!)
I was telling grandpa how much I missed him since he left me to go to the check in counters.

I drew a lot of attention, from travellers, aireline crews, to aireport personnels. Of course, I was loved by all even tho technically........

This family LOVED me. They were on their way back to Japan.

They just couldn't get enough of ME!!!

Why?? Why did they like me so much?? Well, MY proud grandpa found out why.
See, grandpa gets very chatty about ME. He loves to talk to other hoomans about ME - his first grandogter!

See the lady in the front playing with her orange cell phone??
She was trying to find THIS photo to show us,

Mum couldn't get a good picture of the picture in the cell phone, but you can sort of see, that's an Airedale!! Yup, they LOVED me because they have a 2 year old Airedale in Japan. He's waiting for them to go back home, and they miss him soo much too!!
Grandpa chatted a bit longer with the Japanese family, and moved onto his next chatting target.

I was, of course, just being the perfect ME while MY proud grandpa talked to other hoomans about ME.

This nice man works for China Airelines. He thought I was very neat looking and extremely well behaved so he started talking to grandpa. He wanted to know which training school I went to because I was calm and quiet.

He told grandpa he has an 18 months old Yellow Lab at home who is quite a hand full. Well, I gotta say, 18 months old is still considered a STINKY in my book. There is a reason why neither STINKIES went to the Aireport with us, because I'm sure we would have gotten kicked out if they were there. STINKIES will be STINKIES!! (mum: just to clarify things, Miss Sunshade calls all young pups "STINKIES".)
Next, a couple of cute girls wanted to take pictures with me. So mum put me in a "Sit-Stay" and let them take pictures with me.

This reminds of a story:
When mum was still in university, her male friends used to always ask her to bring me to go shopping on Robson Street - Vancouver's premier shopping and entertainment street. Once we were there, the guys would rock-paper-scissor over who to hold my leash and walk me. Reason being - I'm a "chick magnet" (that's a quote). Cute girls are always attracted to ME. Because I am naturally very aloof to hoomans I don't know, I don't get over excited or enthusiastic, which makes me less threatening to hoomans who aren't use to dogs but are curious about them. So girls, cute ones according to mum's friends, always had questions about ME, what kind of dog I was, if they could pet ME, if they could take pictures with ME. You get the point right?
So I was USED!!!!!!
However, that only happened a few times before I put a stop to it. I refused to walk with anyone other than mum. That together with me hating to shop (for hooman clothes), I just stopped dead on Robson Street. Nadah, not moving! Unless we walked towards the beach of course, which is just off Robson Street.
I took grandpa and mum over to the food court. I thought since I was such a good girl all morning, I should at least have gotten a food reward from the food court you know?
Don't you think that's reasonable??

But NOOOOOO... my EVIL mum said Sunshade needs to lose 10 lbs, she's too heavy, it's bad for her joints, no more junk food!
WHAT!
Do you know why I call her EVIL sometimes??
Oh, and SHE could go get Starbucks while I was STARVING?? Mum took this picture while she was in line to get a Starbucks frappuccino.

Grandpa of course, was chatting away about ME again with other admirers. This lady in the pink capris, she's from Toronto. She told grandpa that she has a 12 year old Aire-girl at home and a 1 year old STINKY Aire-girl at home as well. Of course, grandpa then just had to tell her all about my STINKY at home....

Boy, I thought me and STINKY being 7 years apart was bad enough, but boy, 11 years apart between the lady's two Airedales is quite something. I hope her 1 year old doesn't do the land shark thing to the 12 year old girl...
Next group of admirers. They were from Taiwan too and were gonna be on the same flight as grandpa back to Taiwan. The first thing they asked grandpa was "is that a Giant Schnauzer??"

Miniature Schnauzers are very popular in Taiwan. However, they are the only terriers that are well known in Taiwan. This is the reason why grandpa was going to get an Airedale from here, because there are no breeders in Taiwan. I don't even think there is one Airedale in Taiwan!
Here's another funny story:
When mum first got me, she wanted to know what MY breed - Airedale Terrier was called in Mandarin, so she asked grandpa to ask vets in Taiwan. Grandpa went to three vets with my photo in hand. The first one told him I was a Schnauzer, he said he was sure.
The second vet told grandpa I was a "Terrier". WOW.. really, NO KIDDING!
Now, the third vet was the bestest. He first said I was a Schnauzer. But when grandpa questioned about my colours not being the standard salt and pepper schnauzer colour, the vet's response was "it's a mutated Schnauzer", and then he proceeded to saying "it sometimes happen within a litter." Grandpa had to try very hard not to laugh.
So the vets in Taiwan were no help. Grandpa did find out from one of the dog books that I am a "萬能-耿" (prounced Wan Neng Geng). The first two characters - 萬能 means "All purpose" or "versatile". The last character - 耿 means "Terrier". Which I guess makes sense since we - Airedale are known as King of the Terrorists because we can hunt and kill anything from a mouse to a mountain lion; we were used as police dogs, and messenger dogs in WWII, and we were also used as retrievers both on land and in water.
This was me, being the perfect ME through all the chats.

Hoomans have always told mum and grandpa that I'm such a well behaved, calm girl, especially for an Airedale. Do you see why?? This was me having a rest at the Starbucks cafe.

I waited while MY grandpa was finishing up his drink, in style LOL!!

Then it was time......
Time to head over to the EVIL gate.....

Grandpa saying Good-Bye.... he gave me a good face rub....

And then... he was off to be eaten by the EVIL gate... yet again..

I left the Aireport without MY grandpa.....

It was sad... VERY SAD.....
BUT..
What's even MORE sad was when I got home.....
and realized.........
Grandpa had forgotten a couple of things here......


Ohhh.... you're still here.....

SIGH........
Anywayzzzzz.... time to get some ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz..... sweet dreams everypup!