93. Herbert Spencer Elementary, New Westminster

Since this will one day be Charlotte's school, I figured we should make sure that the playground features in our blog!  Theo was disappointed that he wasn't allowed on school grounds, so he waited for us patiently while we went to play.  There are actually four playgrounds in one here, so there was something for all ages and abilities.  We even found the elusive purple playground here!  There were lots of kids playing, but most of them were older and not much interested in Charlotte.  A girl a little younger than Charlotte did come by and Charlotte showed her and her mum where to find the steering wheel so that they could drive the ship, but the mum was a bit of a helicopter and that was the end of that before it even began.  The playground is located at N 49.13.072 W 122.54.771 and is point no. 93 on the map at the bottom of home page.

92. Castle Park, Port Coquitlam

We made a plan for this cold, sunny Saturday afternoon - two playgrounds in a row!  One in Castle Park, the next one in Citadel Heights, right next door.  We hit Castle Park first - it has such a beautiful view over the Fraser River down below.  The playground was a bit big for Charlotte, though she really wanted to have a go on the see-saw.  A little boy of about Charlotte's age showed up with his parents and I suggested that she ask him to play with her.  She asked so nicely "Do you want to play on the see-saw with me?" - only she asked "Are you?" like she does.  The mum was all a-fluster - "Such nice asking!" but the little boy was a bit of a crybaby and didn't exactly rise to the occasion.  Charlotte was a little disappointed, so I suggested that maybe the see-saw wasn't his favourite part of the playground.  We walked over to Citadel Heights a block further up the hill, stopping to get a puzzle cache along the way, "Pet Shop Series #4".  It was a bit of a slog through the grass, and Charlotte wasn't much up for it, but we made it out in the end.  Citadel Heights was supposed to have a playground, but there was none to be found!  We found a little gravel area that looked like it may once have housed a playground - perhaps there used to be one here that was deemed too dangerous and was removed in favour of the new one at Castle Park.  The playground is located at N 49.13.925 W 122.46.821 and is point no. 92 on the map at the bottom of home page.

91. Sapperton Park, New Westminster

One cold afternoon, we headed to the playground across from the hospital where Charlotte was born.  She likes to hear that this was the place where she was born every time we go by!  There was another family there, and they were a little afraid of Theo at first, so I kept him close.  But eventually, the little girl got used to him and wanted to give him a pat.  The boy was a little harder to win round, but eventually, they were both fighting over who would be the next one to throw the stick for him!  I think Charlotte was quite proud that her dog was the centre of attention.  The playground itself wasn't really Charlotte-friendly as it was a bit too big for her though.  There is a geocache in the park called "Sapperton Park Rebirth" - we found it when Charlotte was just eight months old!  The playground is located at N 49.13.648 W122.53.714 and is point no. 91 on the map at the bottom of home page.

90. Paulik Park, Richmond

Charlotte and I came here after daycare to get a geocache and hit the playground.  Only problem was it was dark by the time we got there!  She brandished the flashlight in the dark and announced that it was "fun" - but we never did find the cache.  We got spooked by a muggle who ended up walking with us to the playground along with his dog, Ronno.  The playground was much too big for Charlotte, it was freezing out and it was just a bit of a fail.  I went back the next day to nab the cache though - it was one of the City of Richmond GeoQuest caches and was quite easy to find in the daylight!  The playground is located at N 49.09.498 W123.07.287 and is point no. 90 on the map at the bottom of home page.

89. Mundy Park, Coquitlam

This playground was much more Charlotte-sized!  It was also in the sun, which made me a little happier - not that it offered much warmth at all.  Charlotte had a great time on the twisty slides and we also checked out a wooden swing made by a woodworking class from a nearby high school.  There are lots of geocaches in this park, but the closest ones were either disabled or we had already found them.  Mundy Madness, my very first geocache ever is in this park.  It's still active and has been in place for over ten years now!  The park is located at N 49.15.208 W 122.50.103 and is point no. 89 on the map at the bottom of home page.

88. R.C. MacDonald Elementary School, Coquitlam

On Remembrance Day morning, Charlotte and I headed out to find ourselves a nice playground.  I thought there was a park up here, but we didn't come across it, unless the playground in the elementary school is what I had been thinking of all along.  It was about as cold as it gets in Vancouver and Charlotte was not in the best of moods over it - or maybe that was me.  The playground was nice in that it was hidden away in a  little grove of trees, but that kept away any warmth that the sun might have brought us.  The playground was designed for bigger kids and Charlotte just wasn't into it.  "It's too big!" she said - and so we went in search of a more Charlotte-friendly playground.  This was a bit of a dud, but at least we got another playground for our blog - time is ticking down!  There was a geocache about 100 metres away, but we were too cold to bother going to look for it.  The playground is located at N 49.14.684 W 122.49.322 and is point no. 88 on the map at the bottom of home page.

87. Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Park

What a beautiful sunny day for an afternoon at the playground!  Only it wasn't a whole afternoon at the playground - it was much too cold for that.  The playground at Foreshore Park is designed like a boat, in keeping with its location on the river.  As Charlotte played, she was continually stopping to watch the tugboats going this way and that up the river.  She told me that she loved this playground and it really was just right for her.  I was freezing, but I managed to convince her to leave without a meltdown - by promising her a trip to the swimming pool!  There are lots of geocaches along the shoreline; the FFT series runs by here, though Charlotte and I have already found the ones near here.  The playground is located at N 49.11.510 W 122.59.911 and is point number 87 on the map at the bottom of home page.

86. Garden City Park, Richmond

How is that we have gone almost all year without visiting this amazing playground so close to work and daycare?!?  The days are so short now that we did most of our playing in the dark, but it was still pretty amazing.  "I love this playground!" Charlotte announced as she headed yet again for the dodgy steps up to the super-long slide that wasn't too fast or too slow, but was just right.  She didn't like the steps at first and would make me hold her hand as she climbed them, then I would run down again to catch her at the bottom.  I was proud of her when she got brave enough to do them by herself, though I didn't get as much exercise out of it when that happened!  Charlotte doesn't like to be crowded when she's getting ready to go down the slide, so when two older boys were jostling her at the top, I asked them to wait until she had gone down.  She was half-way down when they came barrelling down behind her, knocking into her and sending her flying.  She was quite upset and cried hard, but she was more surprised than anything.  That didn't stop me from angrily telling the boys that I had asked them to wait.  At least the parents came rushing up and apologized to us and dealt with their kids.

 

Charlotte and I went off to explore other parts of the playground while she recovered from her little trauma; it's made from natural materials for the most part and is pretty amazing.  There is a giant crowsnest in the middle of the playground with several ways up, none of which Charlotte is ready for yet.  When she is, my heart will be in my throat as it's very tall and designed to be challenging for sure.  She recovered from her incident on the slide and was soon back at it again.  It was all I could do to tear her away to go home for dinner and the geocache that was hidden nearby was completely out of the question!  I ended up going back the next day during my lunch break to find "CoRGQ #18 - Trees Galore".  A new challenge to take up - the Richmond GeoQuest!  The playground is located at N 49.09.917 W 123.07.363 and is point #86 on the map at the bottom of home page.

85. Delamont Park, Vancouver

What a beautiful day! It was so sunny and warm, but we had lots of things to do, so we got an early start on the day so that we could get it all done and still have lots of time to play outside. I had a little shopping that I wanted to do in Kits, so we parked near Delamont Park so that we could nab a geocache and a playground at the same time. I had looked for the cache, "Historic Kitsilano" before, but had been unable to find it. That was back when it was hanging in a tree and I was looking in the dark - but by now, the cache has been moved to a much more cacher-friendly location and was soon in hand. Charlotte had a great time climbing on the little Jeep structure then sliding down again all by herself. It was a nice little neighbourhood park with lots of kids playing and lots of dogs passing through with their owners. Some of them paused to gnaw at a smashed pumpkin left over from last night! As we headed down to the shops, we cut along the old railway track to get there. I believe there is only one line in the area, so this must be the one that they wanting to put back into service again. I guess they had always maintained the right to do so, but the line sure is close to the houses and the playground! After finishing our shopping and having some lunch, we headed back to the car, passing through the playground once again. Charlotte had one more go on the slide before we were off to see Paula and Gabi - to make up for missing the birthday party last week! The playground is located at N 49.15.948 W 123.09.143 and is point no. 85 on the map at the bottom of home page.