27. Balaclava Park West Playground, Vancouver

Balaclava Park - the right side of the tracks!  Very posh houses around here...  Charlotte and I found our geocache, appropriately named "Balaclava Park", then had to decide which of the two playgrounds we would visit - this is how the rich kids live, I guess!  We went with the westernmost playground - it was bigger, so perhaps not the most appropriate for Charlotte, but it was the closest one to the cache and there was another little girl playing there already who was just about Charlotte's age.  They had a great time playing in the sand together with a couple of toys that were permanent residents of the playground.  It's always nice when there is someone around to play with who has parents who will actually allow the kids to play without supervising every movement.  This girl's mama happened to be French - perhaps that has something to do with how amazingly easy-going she was - she laid down on the grass, closed her eyes and soaked up some sun - she seemed more than happy to trust that her daughter was just fine, doing her own thing and making new friends.  Brilliant!  I have a lovely picture of the two girls playing together in the sand, but I guess it's probably not cool to upload random pictures of a stranger's daughter to the Internet.  After they left, Charlotte did some climbing and swinging till I got worried about sunburn.  Time to start schlepping the sunscreen around again, I guess!  The park is located at:  N 49.14.753  W 123.10.520:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

26. MacDonald Park, Vancouver

If anyone deserved a trip to the playground after daycare today, it was Charlotte!  She has been one sick little girl for quite some time now and playgrounds were out of the picture.  She was finally back at daycare, the sun was shining afterwards, and it was time to get back in the swing of things.  We're not on track to get 101 by the end of the year at this rate - we'd better pick up the pace!

We got the nearby geocache first, "Have a Ball".  It wasn't too difficult to find and soon we were at the playground.  Charlotte started off on the small slide, but it was disappointingly slow, so she decided she wanted to tackle the big slide.  And the big slide was BIG!  She couldn't climb to the top by herself because the steps were too big, so I got recruited into giving her a boost when she needed it.  But I do draw the line at accompanying my child down the ladder.  Seriously.  One of the dads was taking his kid down the slide and I will never understand that.  Is it about safety?  Because it seems to me that you're safer when you're in control of your own actions than when a couple of hundred pounds of dad is also added to the mix.  Anyway, Charlotte managed three or four goes on the slide before she suddenly chickened out and had enough.

There were some fun kids playing at the playground - one of them pointed out a caterpillar that we went and examined.  One of the grandparents was not so kind - she made disparaging remarks about Charlotte: "I think it's a girl," she said.  What gave it away?  Must have been the purple shoes!  Her own grandaughter was dressed in voluminous skirts and lots of lace for her trip to the playground, so whatever to her.

Another fun thing at this playground was all the toys!  Some old toys were lying around: stuff to ride on or to dig in the sand.  It was kind of nice to have a few little extras.  We were here for an entire hour before I had to insist that it was time to go home for dinner.  The playground is located at N 49.13.785 W 123.05.928:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

25. Norquay Elementary School, Vancouver

What's this?!?  Two playgrounds in one day?!?  In the evening, we went to visit our friends Paula and Gabi; we had dinner with them and then they took us to check out their favourite local playground.  The playground is brand new, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the parents of the kids at the elementary school and apparently the old playground left a lot to be desired.  Let's not get into whether or not parents should be selling dozens of cookies and cupcakes in order to be able to have a playground in the schoolyard...  Charlotte and Gabi had a great time tearing all over the playground, checking out the swings and slides and climbing everywhere.  Because the playground is designed for school-aged kids, there were no bucket swings for Charlotte, but she didn't seem to mind as she was enjoying herself so much, clambering about and making friends with one of the other girls at the playground.  By the time we left, the sun was almost down, it was getting cold - and we only just made it home in time for bedtime!  There are no geocaches nearby with it being a school, but we already got one today anyway!  The playground is located at N 49.14.467 W 123.03.051: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

24. Earles Park, Vancouver

 

On this beautiful spring morning, we discovered a new park that we had never been to before.  We did this by going to the closest geocache with the word "park" in the title, and sure enough it checked all the boxes - a cache to find and a playground to explore!  We found the cache first, "Mirda's B-day Cache".  It was an easy one to find - we saw it as we approached.  There were lots of muggles around, but they were engrossed in a search of their own - they all had metal detectors and were spread out all over the park, seeking treasure.  I guess it's more lucrative than geocaching, if less certain of a successful hunt!

We had a very interesting time at this park...  This ominous sign greeted us as we settled Theo in with a stick to chew while we played.  Seems like it has satisfied some insurance company somewhere.  Luckily, Charlotte was wearing none of the prohibited articles of clothing - even her shoes were Velcro, so we didn't need to worry about a terrible shoelace accident marring our day.  We met a sweet girl named Josephine who just turned ten last week; she was playing all by herself when we arrived, but she loved helping Charlotte get to where she wanted to go on the playground.  Even the small structure had very big steps - Charlotte was only able to climb it by going up the slide!  Charlotte so badly wanted to go on the big slide, but there was no way she could climb up there by herself.  There were three steps to get up, each of which was about two-and-a-half feet tall.  I don't really like helping her on the playground too much - I want her to achieve things for herself - but I broke my rule on this one and stationed myself on the second step to hoist her up from above and then boost her up from below.  I was getting plenty of exercise myself by doing this!  I did have to run to the bottom of the slide the first couple of times, but soon she was launching herself down with no problem and no need for me.  Josephine often hung off the edge of the slide like a monkey, cheering Charlotte as she spiralled down to the ground.

Just as we were starting to think about leaving (or at least I was; Charlotte never thinks about leaving!), a couple of boys came up with their grandad lagging a little behind.  One of the boys was about five and he sat at the top of the spiral slide, but seemed hesitant to go down.  I asked him if he would like me to catch him at the bottom, but he said "My grandad says I'm not allowed to play with you."  That was me told!  Josephine and I raised eyebrows at each other.  We were getting ready to leave anyway and as we headed out, I heard the boy say to his Grandad, "Please, can I play with someone?!?"  I really don't know what the point of it was.  How very unhealthy to prevent a child from playing with other kids at the playground.  Isn't that what they are supposed to do?  In order to learn social skills and maybe even just have fun?  I guess I wasn't to take it personally because it seems he wasn't allowed to play with anyone.  Josephine came running after us as I was getting Charlotte into the car.  We had dropped Owlie and she was returning him.  Josephine, the chance of you ever reading this are exceedingly slim, but you were a ray of sunshine in an otherwise very cold playground!  The park is located at: N 49.14.024 W 123.02.803: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

23. Hume Park, New Westminster

Today was the most beautiful day of the year so far!  Did you notice the shorts?!?  After I spent the afternoon locked away at work, Charlotte and I headed out to Hume Park, not too far from Blackford Island.  The park was teeming with people - why wouldn't it be on such a beautiful evening?  This park has a bit of everything: a dog off-leash park, an outdoor pool, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, a lacrosse box, a waterpark, and a playground for little kids and big.  Lower Hume Park is much less developed; there is a picnic shelter, but mostly it's just a big grassy space on the banks of the Brunette River - where you just may see a beaver or two if you go there at the right time of day.

Now, I try not to be one of those parents - I let Charlotte roam about the playground as she pleases for the most part.  I figure that it's good for her to test her limits and find out what she's capable of without too much interference from me.  And for as long as we were on the small climbing frame, that was just fine - but then Charlotte headed over to the one designed for the big kids...  Even then, usually I'm fine with it - Charlotte can only get herself so high after all.  But this one was different...  It had a set of nice, easy stairs, just perfect for an almost-two-year-old to climb - up to a height of about eight feet or so!  Then at the top there were openings out to ladders or to a fireman's pole - openings that made my heart catch in my throat.  So I had to supervise Charlotte pretty closely on this one and all was well, but let's just say that I was happy when she decided it was time to check out the fire truck and dolphins at the waterpark.  I don't really want to return to this particular park for a while!  Unless it's to go geocaching, of course; there are several in the park, including a night cache.  The park is located at N 49.14.020 W 122.53.440: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

22. Sunbury Park, Delta

Brr!  We've been treated to some lovely spring weather lately - but it wasn't too warm in windy Sunbury Park this afternoon!  We zipped out here from Richmond along the brand new South Fraser Perimeter Road.  When we first arrived, there was no one else in the playground, which suited me just fine as I had a geocache to find - a cache called "Olivia's Tiny Cache" is hidden right on the fence that surrounds the playground.  Or at least I assume it is - I couldn't find it!  I started at GZ (that's ground zero, where my GPS zeroes out) and fanned out from there, but came up short.  I stopped searching when a gang of muggles descended on the playground - which was okay with Charlotte as she wanted me to push her on the swings anyway.  The playground here is geared to younger kids, so it was great for her.  She enjoyed climbing, sliding and bouncing across the bridge.  The playground had a feature we hadn't yet seen in any of the other playgrounds we've visited - sort of a knobbly slide for climbing up, more than for sliding down.  It was still a bit much for Charlotte, but it was pretty cool.  After all, what kid doesn't like climbing up the slide just as much as sliding down it?  Finally, a slide where they can do just that!

It really was quite chilly and I thought we would be better off getting some dinner and heading to story time at the library rather than staying at the playground too much longer.  I gave Charlotte her usual two-minute warning - much to her dismay.  She did not want to go and repeatedly told me that she was "sad".  We went on to have lots of fun at story time and we chose some good books to take home with us.  But as I tucked Charlotte into bed that night, she once again told me she was "sad".  "Because we had to leave the playground?" I asked her.  "Yes," she said.  Poor Charlotte!  I guess she really loved this playground!  But as I pointed out to her, we're only on playground no. 22 - there will be plenty more playground trips to come!  This one is located at N49.09.362 W 122.56.023: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

21. Columbia Park, Vancouver

Columbia Park!  There are not many decent-sized parks in Vancouver that I haven't visited on one geocaching mission or another, but this is one that had never even made it onto my radar - until this afternoon.  Once again, we came for the cache and stayed for the playground.  "Cruisin' in Columbia Park" was well-hidden in a stand of two or three small trees - shall we say that a little climbing was required?  Once we had the cache under our belts, we were ready to hit the playground and I do think that this is Charlotte's favourite playground so far!  She was off - no need to hold mum's hand anymore.  She climbed some steps, climbed down to a lower platform, climbed up again, made her way through the tunnel, down to another platform and finally across the arched bridge.  The she made her way back down to the ground and ran off to repeat.  And repeat, and repeat, and repeat.  One of the climbs was a little tricky for her, but she put some effort into it and made it up by herself.  I resisted the urge to congratulate her on her accomplishment, but just watched her smile to herself and say "Did it!" to no one in particular.  It was so nice to see her taking pleasure from her own accomplishment, doing it for herself and not for me or anyone else.  Of course, I felt like a negligent parent amongst all the others who were within arm's reach at all times, telling their kids where to go and how to play and, quite literally, chiding them for running too fast.  In a playground.  Seriously.

The park even had a type of swing that I had never seen before; it was a step up towards a big girl swing, being a regular bucket swing but without the front part to hold 'em in.  Charlotte had fun in it, but she did hang on extra tight as I pushed her into the air!  And I didn't swing her anywhere near as high as I normally would have - I don't think she was ready for that, but more to the point, neither was I!

I don't know that this park would necessarily strike anyone else as being that much more amazing than any other.  It looks like any other playground, after all.  But for Charlotte, it was a perfect fit at this stage - just challenging enough without being too much for her.  The park is located at N 49.13.934 W 123.06.772: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

20. Oak Park, Vancouver

Yet another beautiful afternoon!  Before leaving work, I looked for a park with an unfound geocache in it - a little something for me and a little something for Charlotte!  I came across Oak Park, with a cache named, appropriately enough, "Oak Park".  Charlotte was happy enough to go caching first - "find it!" she said.  We found it quickly, signed the log, retrieved a travel bug and were on our way back to the playground.  There were lots of other kids there on this lovely day and Charlotte had fun on the swings, the slide, and all the usual playground equipment.  There were even some non-hovery parents for me to talk to!

This park also has a water park for the summer - I had no idea how many water parks were around until I started writing this blog!  Charlotte actually had as much fun in the still-dry water park as she did anywhere else, sliding down the slopes of the pool and trotting across the bridges.  The playground is located at N 49.12.995 W 123.07.680: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI