101. 59th Street Public Park, Seattle, Washington

What a way to finish off our year in playgrounds!  I had found this great playground right next to the zoo and was so excited to take Charlotte there to play before we went in to see the animals.  But last night, Charlotte had been looking like she was coming down with a cold and by the time we got to the playground, she was not feeling herself at all.  She didn't want to do anything without me holding her hand and then she just found a spot to sit and slump in a corner like a sullen teenager.  She wouldn't even let me take her photo.  She didn't perk up much even for the zoo animals, though she did do some building in the Zoomazium, which is where the photo is from.  I couldn't let my 101st post go by without some kind of photo!  She quietly ate her picnic lunch and then I asked her if she would like to see the giraffes - those were her favourites and she was looking forward to seeing them.  Well, she was asleep by the time we got there; I picked her up to show them to her and she woke up just long enough to give them a wave before she fell back to sleep.  So much for the playground, so much for the zoo, but we did manage to find one geocache within the zoo, "Caution: Children at Play".  The playground is located at N 47.40.282 W 122.21.14 - which also happens to be the posted coordinates of a puzzle cache that I couldn't solve!  The playground is no. 101 on the map at the bottom of home page.

And so we did it!  We've had a great time visiting 101 playgrounds, but there are so many more to go, even within walking distance of our house.  I think we'll keep up our blog - but maybe we'll slow down the pace a bit and maybe even visit a few repeat playgrounds that are worthy of a return visit!  Thanks for reading along with us.

100. Thornton A. Sullivan Park, Everett, Washington

After Christmas and Boxing Day at home, we headed down to Edmonds to see our friends "TheClueFinders" and to attend their party on Saturday night and go to the zoo the next day.  It had been raining on and off during most of our drive down as far as Everett, but as we got further south, we could see some sunshine ahead of us and I thought we were in for a nice break at a playground I had googled beforehand.  It wasn't raining when I pulled into the parking lot - but it began to pour before I had even had time to get Charlotte out of her carseat!  Still, Charlotte needed a break and there are still two playgrounds to go by the end of the year, so she donned her Muddy Buddies and off we went.  Her Muddy Buddies were noted by a family who had just moved to the area from Texas and were still learning how to cope with the rain!

We had a good time on the playground in spite of the rain, then we went to find a nearby geocache "Silver Lake View".  The playground is on the southwest shore of Silver Lake, which was chock full of birds today - a huge flock of coots, some huge cormorants, and a handful of buffleheads.  We found the cache without too much difficulty - and no wonder, since I had actually found it before, back in June 2011, on a caching mission with Mr. ClueFinders!  I had realized that I had been here before as soon as we pulled up in the parking lot, but I hadn't realized that I was after the exact same cache!  At least Blackford Girl got a new cache for her stats.  We left the playground still in the pouring rain - and wouldn't you know it, the sun came out about ten minutes later further down the highway.  The playground is located at N 47.53.611 W 122.12.877 and is point no. 100 on the map at the bottom of home page.

99. Sullivan Park, New Westminster

I have been "saving" this hidden playground, in walking distance from our apartment, and I finally got to use it today.  I had worked in the morning and had the afternoon off - but by the time I got home, I did not want to tackle Christmas Eve traffic and there were only a couple of hours of daylight left.  I have always called this park "Secret Park", Mya and Addy call it "Oliver Park" because it's at the foot of Oliver Street, but it's real name is Sullivan Park.  I don't think I can bring myself to call it by its real name though!  In fact, I have known the real name of this park for a while because its geocache is called "Sullivan Park" - but I had forgotten all about that.  Charlotte had found this cache when she was about six-weeks-old; I remember that day well because I had showered, put on clean clothes and had Charlotte recently-fed and freshly diapered all at the same time! 

Everyone had a great time here today - Theo played with another Golden Retriever named Senator for a while and after Senator left, a Goldie named Casey showed up too!  Charlotte played in the sand more than anything else and I just enjoyed the sunshine - it was warm like spring today.  We left as the sun was starting to slide down towards the horizon, stopping to pick up one last thing that we needed for Christmas as we went.  The playground is located at N 49.12.736 W 122.12.877 and is point no. 99 on the map at the bottom of home page.

98. Como Lake Park, Coquitlam

On another beautiful, sunny afternoon, we headed to Como Lake Park.  The playground equipment here wasn't terribly exciting, but it was in a beautiful location, right on the shore of this small lake in Coquitlam.  We went for a little walk out to the nearby dock, where people had fishing lines set up.  I don't know what they were fishing for though!  A woman who was fishing had allowed her son to play at the playground; he had a go on the swings at the same time as Charlotte.  When I gave her her usual two-minute time-to-go warning, he piped up with "how about three?!?"  So I laughed and gave her three minutes - it's not like these minutes are very precise anyway!  Each time I counted down, he tried to negotiate an extra minute of playtime - it was pretty cute.  There is a geocache nearby, but Charlotte wasn't into it today and we had lots of things to do with Christmas coming up!  The playground is located at N 49.15.631 W 122.51.409 and is point no. 98 on the map at the bottom of home page.

97. Dawes Hill Park, Coquitlam

We have been very lucky with the weekend weather lately! Today was another beautiful day and not too cold, considering that we are closing in on the end of the year. We chose Dawes Hill Park today because it's not too far from the Superstore, where we went grocery shopping afterwards. I missed the park at first and drove right past it, noticing what I thought to be an adult riding high on one of the swings. When we got ourselves turned around and sorted out, he was still there. He was younger than I had realized, but much older than most kids who play on the swings! He kept going the whole time that Charlotte was playing; he was worried about Theo because he didn't want to kick him by accident, but otherwise, he just kept on swinging. When Charlotte went over for a turn on the swings, we started talking to him. He told me he was fifteen and lived nearby – and he just likes swinging. He told me he had been there for five hours and he may well have been! I asked him if he was going for a world record and his face lit up – he seemed to think that was a very good idea! I don't know if making small talk with me was too much for him, but he said he was going home, jumped off the swing, and left. I felt badly – I hope we didn't chase him away. Charlotte had some more fun on the playground, tackling the climbing mountain and the ladders with aplomb. There is a geocache nearby called “Bugs on the Hill” that has been around since 2005. I had originally found it in 2006, so didn't have it in my GPS for Charlotte to find. There is a great view of the bridge deck of the new Port Mann from here – it's a pretty nice park. The playground is located at N 49.14.175 W 122.50.002 and is point no. 97 on the map at the bottom of home page.

96. McLean Park, Richmond

After visiting the playground at the community centre, we headed over to McLean Park, where the ERT series begins. I had found “ERT01” back in the winter of 2011 when I was pregnant, so technically Charlotte had been along for the ride - but she wasn’t yet Blackford Girl!

 

We had a lot of fun at this playground; Theo was free to play and Charlotte played hide-and-seek with Owlie. He hid in various nooks and crannies around the playground and I called out “warmer, warmer!” as Charlotte got closer. I think she was figuring out the concept!

We were there for a long time, but as we started going back to the car afterwards, Charlotte did something very out-of-character. She took off across the huge, open grass field – and at first I let her go, allowing her to explore. But before long, she was further away from me than I liked and I shouted after her to stop. Continuing with her out-of-character break from reality, she ignored me – and kept going! If she kept going like that, she’d be able to get to Westminster Highway before I could get to her, so off after her I went. She had crossed the waterlogged field in her waterproof purple boots – I crossed it in useless little black shoes and my feet were soaked and freezing long before I even got to her. Yes, there was a little bit of trouble! At least Theo had gone with her. We walked back to the car along the path, which took us past the playground again. And there was Theo’s leash – so I would have left it behind if Charlotte hadn’t staged her little escapade. But I still didn’t thank her for putting an end to my plans for the rest of the day and for making me go home to get out of my wet shoes! The playground is located at N 49.10.329 W 122.58.391 and is point no. 96 on the map at the bottom of home page.

95. Hamilton Community Centre, Richmond

Today was a beautiful sunny day – and much warmer than we’ve been used to lately. It has been unseasonably cold – and today it was unseasonably warm. In fact, it felt a lot like spring! We made the most of it and visited a couple of playgrounds today. We visited this one first and it was a lot of fun as Theo got to play with us. Charlotte was extremely proud of herself when she climbed an arched climbing wall all by herself, using alphabet-shaped grips to pull herself up. She then took the slide back to the ground again, where Theo was waiting for her to come and play with him. The community centre and Hamilton Elementary School both share the same building; we were on the big kids’ playground, but there was a smaller one that we may need to check out one day that doesn’t look too small for Charlotte. There are lots of geocaches nearby as the ERT (East Richmond Tour) series goes by here, some of which we have, some of which we don’t. We have a DNF on the closest one to the playground, so we didn’t bother humiliating ourselves with another attempt at it today! The playground is located at N 49.10.578 W 122.57.941 and is point no. 95 on the map at the bottom of home page.

94. Dover Park, Richmond

These days, it’s pretty much dark by the time I pick Charlotte up from daycare, but this little park is fairly well lit, so I figured Charlotte could have some fun – and I could collect a geocache afterwards! But it was so cold… Charlotte did a little bit of playing and then I gave her a push on the swings – on the understanding that we would then go and get the geocache, which was only about 60 metres away. But when she had finished on the swings, she reneged on her promise! “I ended up going back for the cache, "CoRGQ #16 – Dover Park" a couple of days later on my lunch break. The playground is located at N 49.10.315 W 123.09.731 and is point no. 94 on the map at the bottom of home page.