150. Go Bananas, North Vancouver

The weather these days has been really, really terrible.  I'm all for getting outside to play and get some fresh air, but this weather is totally inhumane!  I was told there is a good free playground in Capilano Mall, and given that we have just spent an awful lot of money on our beloved Theo, "free" was good.  Well, we went upstairs to the Go Bananas and it wasn't free at all, but I didn't have the heart to dangle this amazing playground in front of Charlotte and then tell her she was out of luck.

The guy at the counter had a little more spark to him than employees at these types of places usually have.  He had Charlotte excited to go and play - but once we got in there, she was disenchanted by the loud noise and the rambunctious older kids.  I convinced her to go play and I tried to read, but it was no place to sit back and relax.  Charlotte emerged from the playground on a regular basis and I kept coaxing her back to play.  Finally, I gave up and we left - $12 I'll never get back.  At least we didn't get rained on.  Go Bananas is located in Capilano Mall at 935 Marine Drive, North Vancouver and is point no. 150 on the map at the bottom of home page.

149. Crash Crawly's, Coquitlam

My company hosted a kids' Christmas party at the amazing Crash Crawly's.  I never did figure out if Charlotte had a good time or not!  She played on the climbing structure - with her hands over her ears the whole time.  She rode the miniature train - with her hands over her ears the whole time.  The only time she took her hands away from her ears was when she needed them to emphasize a point with Santa.  She talked his ear off and made sure he knew exactly what she would like to see under the Christmas tree.  The indoor playground is located at 1-1300 Woolridge Street, Coquitlam and is point no. 149 on the map at the bottom of home page.

148. Wesburn Park, Burnaby

Wesburn Park has become a special place for me this winter.  It proved to be the last playground adventure that Charlotte and Theo would share together.  Theo and I explored the ravine by ourselves a little while after this adventure too, after he had received his cancer diagnosis, but before he began to decline.  That outing will always provide happy memories for me.  Back in November, we had no idea what was in store for us and we had a happy time here.  We didn't spend all that much time on the actual playground itself, but instead played down by the creek.  Theo looked for rocks that Charlotte obligingly tossed in for him.  I found a geocache called "Little Ammo Can" in the rocks above the creek and Charlotte and Theo played Poohsticks together from the two wooden bridges that span the creek.  After that, Charlotte jumped from rock to rock in the parking lot while Theo stayed close, protective as always.  It was a cold winter afternoon, but we still managed to spend three or four hours here before we had to leave.  The playground is located at N 49.14.518 W 123.00.689 and is point no. 148 on the map at the bottom of home page.

147. Broadview Park, Burnaby

I had spotted this little playground while driving along Canada Way, so today we went to check it out.  It was pretty cold out, so we had the place to ourselves.  Charlotte wasn't much interested in the playground itself for some reason, and was much more into digging around in the sand.  I would have thought it was a bit cold for that, but she didn't seem to mind!  Theo chewed on sticks and things only went downhill when he decided to chew on a stick that was integral to Charlotte's master plan for the sand pit, but they always managed to work it out between them in the end.  There was a geocache just a few metres away called "In-Tree-Ging", but it has had so many DNFs on it lately that we didn't even bother looking for it.  The playground is located at N 49.15.345 W123.00.973 and is point no. 147 on the map at the bottom of home page.

146. Quayside Park, New Westminster

It was a sunny day, but a cold and blustery one, when we finally headed down to the boardwalk to explore Quayside Park and pick up my two closest unfound caches to home, "Riverside Walk 4" and "Quick Tour of Riverside Walk".  We walked down to the riverfront, Charlotte riding in her stroller - even though that was supposed to be later, if she got tired.  We found our geocaches first, then went back to the playground to play for a while.  By this time, Charlotte was feeling quite cold - but she refused to put her coat on, silly girl!  We played for a little while before heading to the Quay for gelato - just what you need to warm up after playing outside on a cold November day!  The playground is located at N 49.11.894 W 122.55.350 and is point no. 146 on the map at the bottom of home page.

145. Lower Lougheed Park, Coquitlam

I first discovered this tiny neighbourhood park long before Charlotte was born; I was looking for a place to hide a geocache and found this tiny little green triangle on a map.  The cache didn't run all that long before it was muggled and there is no cache in the park at the moment.  Perhaps I should re-hide something smaller and trickier - the old one was a large cache hidden under a bridge.  We were in the area today and so we stopped off so that Charlotte could see the park too.  She played for a bit and took Owlie for a ride on the back of her airplane.  There were no other kids there and it's a noisy place as it's right next to the highway, so we didn't stay for very long.  The playground is located at N 49.14.355 W 122.53.215 and is point no. 145 on the map at the bottom of home page.

144. Queenston Park, Coquitlam

How can it be that I didn't take any photographs here at this amazing new playground?  We have been trying to meet up here since the summer with our friends Andy and Khanh and their kids Avery and Kayden, but something has always come.  Finally, today was the day!  It was a nice mild day and the playground was full of kids.  There was so much for the kids to do - little things for little Kayden and bigger things for Charlotte and Avery - and enough that they will continue to be challenged as they grow.  It's a lot like the playground at Garden City with its "foam" steps set into a "foam" hill.  The slide is huge and was a little much for Avery for now, though Charlotte loved it.  They also played on the net that stretched from the top of the hill to the bottom - they really had a blast!  We'll have to go back here again soon, for sure.  The playground is located at N 49.17.869 W 122.45.233 and is point no. 144 on the map at the bottom of home page.

143. Whatcom Falls Park, Bellingham, Washington

We found ourselves in Bellingham on International EarthCache Day - and therefore, in need of an earth cache.  We took a detour up to Whatcom Falls Park to find "Go Chasing Waterfalls".  The falls were pretty skimpy as we still haven't had much rain, but we enjoyed exploring and Theo had a swim in the pool at the base of another waterfall further up-river.  There was a small playground near the parking lot, so we stopped there for a while so that Charlotte could have a play.  She made a new friend and they spent a long time chasing each other around and around until Charlotte took offense to him saying that he could faster than she could - and that was that.  Silly Charlotte!  Challenge him to a race next time!  The playground is located at N48.45.097 W 122.25.712 and is point no. 143 on the map at the bottom of home page.

142. Edmonds Community Centre, Burnaby

On an unseasonably warm afternoon, Charlotte and I set out to find "Edmonds Evergreens".  We found the cache and we also found a very awesome playground a few steps away.  It was a big one and a challenging one - there was a climbing mountain that Charlotte wasn't completely confident on at first - and it's been a long time since she asked for help with a climbing mountain. The playground was packed with kids, which is usually a great thing, but in this case, there was a pretty unfriendly vibe.  Charlotte came running back to me in tears to tell me that one of the other girls had told her that she couldn't play there and though I tried to talk her through how to handle it, she wasn't into it.  We went to another part of the playground where Charlotte crossed the rope bridge with some trepidation, only to be unable to get off when a boy at the other end of it blocked her way and refused to let her go past.  I'm not a fan of parents intervening in playground squabbles, but I had to step in in this case.  The helicopters were going beserk in their condemnation of the parents who were completely ignoring their kids' bad behaviour.  Strangely enough, we were talking to our friends who had been there too and they had a similarly bad experience.  It's so disappointing as the playground itself is amazing and not too far from our place.  We will give it another try and hopefully get a better mix of people next time.  The playground is located at N 49.12.916 W 122.55.976 and is point no. 142 on the map at the bottom of home page.

141. Central Park, Merritt

On our way home from visiting Uncle Andrew and Auntie Lannie in Edson, we stopped in Merritt for some lunch and a chance for Charlotte to run around and stretch her legs.  Although the park had a traditional playground, Charlotte was much more taken with the giant tires, which were big enough that she could hide in them.  They were so huge that when she crawled back inside them, she was completely hidden from view.  Owlie was also able to hide very effectively, but we found him eventually!  Even though we were there in late September, it was still hot like summer in Merritt.  It was a great place for a play before we began the last leg of our journey home.  The playground is located at N 50.07.146 W 120.46.966 and is point no. 141 on the map at the bottom of home page.

140. Galaxyland, West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta

In Alberta, not all playgrounds are outside - it gets pretty cold in the winter!  We took a drive out to Edmonton to check out the way-OTT West Edmonton Mall.  If we lived here, I imagine we would spend many a winter afternoon in Galaxyland, though I bet it's crazy busy on the weekends.  It was pretty busy even on a Tuesday afternoon during the school year.  The playground here is several storeys high (!) and I just don't know how any small child could ever get bored here!  The mall is located at N 53.31.279 W 113.37.214 and is point no. 140 on the map at the bottom of home page.

139. Kinsmen Park, Edson, Alberta

Lucky Uncle Andrew lives just around the corner from an awesome playground!  We walked over shortly after arriving in Edson to check it out.  Not only is there a playground, there's also a spray park and a fitness circuit for adults that differs from the usual outdoor fitness equipment in that it's actually in good shape (no pun intended) and quite fun to use!  So while Charlotte was playing, we were also having fun playing too.  Charlotte loved after Uncle Andrew push her on the swings; I guess it was a change from mum and dad!  The playground is located at N 53.35.279 W 116.25.700 and is point no. 139 on the map at the bottom of home page.

138. Mt. Robson Visitor Centre

Heading a little further north and east, we came to the visitor centre at Mount Robson.  We found a playground here too, one to get future mountain climbers in the mood!  Pete had fun climbing on it, though it was a bit big for Charlotte.  Still, she had fun making a house for herself underneath it!  I was disappointed that there were no geocaches very close by - we didn't have much time to go for a walk to find the one further along the trail.  The playground is located at N 53.02.143 W 119.13.765 and is point no 138 on the map at the bottom of home page.

137. Valemount and Area Museum, Valemount

On our way up to Edson to visit Andrew and Lannie, we stopped in Valemount to see the caboose outside the local museum.  I had stopped here on my way to Edson with Charlotte when she was just six-months-old to find a geocache - I had remembered the caboose and wanted to show it to Charlotte again, now that she's old enough to be into such things.  What I hadn't remembered was the small playground here - Charlotte wasn't into them yet back then!  There was quite a chilly wind blowing, but that didn't stop Charlotte from having a fun time, ringing bells and riding the rails, while Owlie hung on behind her, riding in her hood.  The geocache was still there: "I'll take the train".  The playground is located at N 52.50.172 W 119.15.728 and is point no. 137 on the map at the bottom of home page.

136. Rotary Park, Merritt

For the last half of the Labour Day long weekend, Charlotte, Theo and I headed up to do a little camping at Lundbom Lake near Merritt.  After caching and splashing our way up the Coquihalla, we stopped at the Rotary Park in Merritt for a little playground time.  Charlotte made another friend there - a little boy who was also from Vancouver and in town to see the rodeo.  They rode the car together and chased each other all over the grassy field.  We skipped out on getting any nearby geocaches as we had already found quite a few - and I didn't want to push my luck with Charlotte!  The playground is located at N 50.07.025 W 120.47.334 and is point no. 136 on the map at the bottom of home page.

135. Evil Birds Park, Richmond

I had come across this playground while geocaching alone a couple of months ago; I chose not to go after the cache back then, preferring to wait until Charlotte was with me.  After all, there's nothing that makes me happier than a geocache and nothing that makes Charlotte happier than a playground, so if you put the two of them together...!  As far as I know, this tiny park doesn't have a name, so I have unofficially named it after the geocache, "Watch Out for Evil Birds", so named because of all the bird houses that hang from the park's trees.  We didn't see any evil birds, but we did see a little nuthatch creeping about on the tree trunks in search of food.  The playground was quite old school - wooden splinters and all.  Charlotte had fun swinging on the tire and loved going through the geocache, finally choosing a little toy squirrel to take with her and leaving behind one of her previously-treasured Easter eggs.  The playground is located at N 49.10.057 W 123.10.097 (which also happens to be the coordinates of the geocache!) and is point no. 135 on the map at the bottom of home page.

134. Memorial Park, Hope

We are going camping!!!  We set off today for the Fraser Canyon to work on our 49 degree challenge a little bit, swim in Nehatlatch Lake and spend a couple of nights under the stars.  We stopped in Hope along the way to visit a new playground.  It was a hot day and the ever-present winds of Hope were blowing, but blowing hot this time.  Charlotte had a great time in the yellow tunnel in the picture and made lots of new friends.  There was a zip line to play on - nothing like the one at Terra Nova, but she still had fun with it!  I didn't much like it - there was nothing for her to sit on like the one at Terra Nova, so I was supporting her weight the whole time because she couldn't hang on by herself!  There was an elderly couple sitting on the bench next to mine, watching the kids.  They were pointing out the antics of this one and that, commenting when a less brave kid summoned up the courage to take on the slide.  They seemed to be taking so much pleasure in watching the kids play - it was really quite sweet.  There is a little Japanese garden in the park, adjacent to the playground.  We stopped to have a look and Charlotte loved playing on the rocks around the pond.  The start of a multi-cache called "Tashme" is hidden there - but I happen to know that the final is to be found on the way to Manning Park and we were not going that way today.  The playground is located at N 49.22.817 W 121.26.499 and is point no. 134 on the map at the bottom of home page.

133. Hamilton VLA Neighbourhood Park, Richmond

We came by after work and daycare today to find an "E" cache for a challenge that Charlotte is working on.  We found "ERT06" - part of the East Richmond Trails series.  It was high up in a tree so I picked Charlotte up, hoisted her as far up as I could and she grabbed the cache, looking very proud of herself for her accomplishment.  Afterwards, we played for a bit at the nearby playground, but it was so hot that neither of us really felt much like being there and we soon headed home for dinner!  Maybe we will give this park another shot on a cooler day...  The playground is located at N 49.10.831 W 122.57.881 and is point no. 133 on the map at the bottom of home page.

132. Terra Nova, Richmond

Finally it's time to check out the amazing million-dollar playground at Terra Nova!  I have been saving this one for a long time, wanting to make a day of it rather than just a quick post-daycare trip.  Today we met up with our friends from two families: Gaby with Matias and Anna and Eva with Alex and Nika.  And what an amazing playground we found!

The main structure is about three storeys high and has all kinds of opportunities for climbing and sliding.  It was a bit too much for Charlotte, but the older kids had a great time.  There are lots of things to climb on and everything is made of wood and rope – no pre-fab playground equipment here!  After our picnic, we went to explore yet another part of the playground that I hadn't even realized existed at first and that's where Charlotte really had some fun.  There was a huge slide, much like the amazing slide at Garden City and the kids had a blast sliding down there as a "train".  And then there was the zip line!  I don't know how many times Charlotte went on that thing, but because it was a bit big for her, she really needed help staying on and so I had to run up and down along with her.

We were there for over four hours altogether and the kids all had a great time.  Definitely one of the best playgrounds we have ever visited, rivalled only by John Storvik in Anacortes and City Park in Lynden.  The playground is located at N 49.10.431 W 123.11.897 and is point no. 132 on the map at the bottom of home page.

131. Albion Park, Maple Ridge

Charlotte and I found ourselves in Maple Ridge on this very, very hot day, in search of "Sudoku Summit", a geocache with a difficulty rating of five.  There was a souvenir at stake.  Geocachers will get it...  After making our find, we returned to this playground that we had spotted from the car on the way to the cache.  We found a shady spot to spread out our picnic blanket and set to.  Before very long, a little boy named Otis came along, but he was with his security detail (i.e. his parents) and they looked at Charlotte like she had two heads when she asked their son if he wanted to play with her.  Eventually, they went on their way and another family came along, also with a little boy.  They gave off quite the unfriendly vibe too, so no playmate there.  Later on, as we were packing up to leave, a man came by with his dog and he was so unfriendly that when we were just a few feet away from him, he deliberately turned his back on us rather than exchange a "hello".  This playground gets a failing grade from us because of all its unfriendly people!  The playground is located at N 49.11.424 W 122.32.637 and is point no. 131 on the map at the bottom of home page.

130. Emery Barnes Park, Vancouver

Emery Barnes Park is a lovely little gem in downtown Vancouver.  It's a busy spot at all times, but when we were there at lunch time on a Tuesday, it was really bustling.  Charlotte really didn't spend much time on the playground itself as there is a water feature that few kids could resist.  It's meant to be decorative, but with its stepping stones, child-sized bridges and the little "river" leading from the waterfall to the spray fountain, it's hard not to resist kicking off your sandals on a hot summer day.  We had brought Charlotte's swimsuit along in anticipation of a trip to the beach later in the day, but we pulled it out here and let her loose.  She made a new friend, as you can see from the picture.  Maya was there with her mum and she did a great job of looking after Charlotte.  While Pete was keeping an eye on Charlotte, I went off to find the geocache hidden just a few metres from the fountain, appropriately named "Emery Barnes Park Cache".  The park is located at N 49.16.580 W 123.07.446 and is point no. 130 on the map at the bottom of home page.

129. Mahon Park, North Vancouver

Our second playground of the day was Mahon Park.  We chose it because it has a water park!  Charlotte has been there before with nana and granddad and today we gave it a try too.  We were there quite late in the day, so even though it was still a warm evening, it wasn't as hot as it had been and most of the kids had already gone home.  Charlotte made a couple of new friends to run around with though.  She also found someone to order about, getting her to push her on the swing a lot longer than I think she wanted to!  We're going to have to keep an eye on that...  The playground is located at N 49.19.499 W 123.04.985 and is point no. 129 on the map at the bottom of home page.

128. Bell Park, Coquitlam

We were driving along Lougheed Highway today when I needed something from my bag that I couldn't reach.  I needed to stop, so I pulled off the highway and Charlotte immediately spotted this playground and asked if we could stop.  We were in no hurry, so we did!  Shortly after we arrived, another dog raced over to join us - for the first time ever, Theo had met a canine namesake!  "Two Theos!" said Charlotte, delightedly.  After the other Theo had gone on his way, we were joined by a boy named Tristan and his mum.  Tristan shared his toys with Charlotte and she showed him how to do tipple-tails.  He was quite enthralled by Theo, which made Charlotte proud; she loves to let everyone know that Theo is her dog when he's attracting attention!  There is a cache called "Booty Crack" just a few metres away from the playground, but we had found it a long time ago - when Blackford Girl was just a baby and too small for playgrounds!  The playground is located at N 49.15.125 W 122.54.300 and is point no. 128 on the map at the bottom of home page.

127. Riverside Adventure Park, New Westminster

Although today was daddy and Charlotte day, I had Charlotte in the evening as Pete was going out.  He dropped her off to me at work, but it took us a very long time to get back to New Westminster due to the traffic.  It really seemed that Charlotte deserved a chance to stretch her legs, so we stopped off at the awesomely-named Riverside Adventure Park, not too far from Blackford Island.  I found one of my very first geocaches here way back in 2006; it was called "Delusions of Grandeur", named by a CO who was as amused by the name as I am.  I don't know where the "adventure" part of the name comes from and as for the "riverside" part, well, the river is in sight, way down the hill, with a highway and a busy rail yard to cross before you get to it.  The park is a lot different now than it was in early 2006 when I found my seventh geocache.  The dodgy playground equipment has long since been removed and replaced with a sanitized version that offers little challenge to anyone.  But Charlotte did have fun giving Owlie a ride on the loop.  "Delusions of Grandeur" is long gone too, but "Illusions of Grandeur" has been in its place for some years now; Charlotte and I have both logged a find on this cache!  The playground is located at N 49.12.300 W 122.56.022 and is point no. 127 on the map at the bottom of home page.

126. Tomekichi Homma Elementary School, Richmond

Today we were out and about in Richmond, looking for some more of the Richmond GeoQuest series.  After finding the one at the Britannia Shipyards, we went across to the playground that Charlotte's eagle eyes had spotted when we arrived.  Charlotte managed to make friends with a little girl named Anna, despite the fact that she was never allowed to be more than two feet away from one of her parents at any time.  After Anna left, Charlotte got off to a bad start with an older boy named Paul, who told her that she couldn't climb up on the same structure as him.  Charlotte was really upset and came to me for a snuggle.  I told her that she could go wherever she wanted on the playground and before very long, things were patched up with Paul and they were playing again.  When Paul left, Charlotte joined me on the bench and took over reading my book.  The playground is located at N 49.07.367 W 123.10.157 and is point no. 126 on the map at the bottom of home page.

125. Rasar State Park, Washington

After our trip to the playground in Concrete, we headed back to our campsite.  We headed down to the day use area of the park to explore the trails and get a stamp for our Washington State Parks passport from the "WaStatePks100: Rasar" geocache.  This was our first passport stamp and we have an awful lot more to go!  We went for a nice walk through the woods and found the cache in a birdhouse.  Afterwards, we stopped to play at the nearby playground, which we hadn't even realized at first was there.  It was a nice surprise - a nice little playground in the woods.  I can see us camping here when Charlotte's a little older, riding her bike down to the playground to play with her campsite friends!  The playground is located at N48.30.907 W 121.54.227 and is point no. 125 on the map at the bottom of home page.

124. Concrete Playground, Concrete, Washington

This morning, we had met up with Mr. ClueFinders for a day of caching around and about in the area.  He had left his car in Concrete and hopped in with us, so at the end of the day, we dropped him back off in Concrete and then checked out the local playground.  There was lots to climb on and Charlotte also enjoyed riding on the space shuttle - though she wouldn't let me take her picture while riding it!  There is a fairly major road nearby called Challenger Road, so combined with this play structure, I wondered if one of the Challenger astronauts had been local and I looked up the crew of the ill-fated shuttle.  Turns out that one of them, Dick Scobee, was from Cle Elum, Washington and there is an elementary school named after him in Auburn.  I don't think that he is the reason behind the playground and Challenger Road, but it was interesting anyway.  I had not yet moved to Vancouver at the time of the Challenger disaster and wouldn't have heard of Cle Elum at that point.  There were no caches at the playground, but we were near the end of a 129-cache power trail that I hope to do some day!  The playground is located at N 48.32.283 W 121.45.496 and is point no. 124 on the map at the bottom of home page.

123. Howard Miller Steelhead Park, Rockport, Washington

After our misadventure in Sedro-Woolley, we picked up our groceries and headed out to Rasar State Park to find a campsite.  We had a walk-in site, and though it was hardly any distance from the parking lot to the site, it was a bit inconvenient given that I was on my own with a three-year-old and every single trip to the car was a bit of a production.  So I decided to head east on Highway 20 in search of a picnic site - I knew there were many places along the way that would be nice to stop at and explore.  We ended up at a little county park in Rockport on the banks of the Skagit River - the same river I had pictured Charlotte in earlier today!  I pulled out the kitchen box - only to find my camping stove in pieces.  So much for the delicious pasta dinner I had planned - and so much for hot water for dishes too.  We made do with a lunch picnic.  While I was getting things ready, Theo and Charlotte were racing around on the grass near the picnic table when she spotted this playground around the other side of the nearby building.

"Maybe we can play at the playground!" she said.

"What playground?" I asked - I couldn't see any playground!

But eagle-eye Charlotte had spotted one.  It was pretty strange as a public playground goes - just a collection of Little Tikes equipment - only more of it than you would normally see in a private yard.  Charlotte wasn't picky though - especially as it was something that her friend Theo could join her on!  I was without a loaded GPS at this point, Paddy having recently died in a freak accident.  It was killing me to know that there was probably a cache hidden in the park and I didn't know where to look!  I actually took a peek in some likely-looking spots, but to no avail!  In the end, we found the closest cache, "Here's to Slough" the next day when we were caching with our friend Mr. ClueFinders.  The playground is located at N 48.29.119 W 121.35.636 and is point no. 123 on the map at the bottom of home page.

122. Riverfront Park, Sedro-Woolley, Washington

This weekend, Charlotte and I undertook our first mama-daughter camping trip!  We've been on lots of overnight trips before, but have always stayed with family or friends - this was our first time camping.  It was the May long weekend, so the border was pretty hectic; we headed inland to hit the border at one of the "quieter" crossings.  So much for that bright idea.  We eventually made it to Sedro-Woolley, the last big town we would encounter on our trip.  The plan here was to hit the playground and then stock up on groceries for the weekend.  The playground was chock-full of kids, which was great in one respect and not so great in another.  I was horrified at one point to realize that I'd lost sight of Charlotte after tending to Theo.  For a few moments, I just couldn't see her at all, even though I thought I was carefully looking at every single possible spot on the playground.  The fact that we were not far from the banks of a very fast river crossed my mind - but I needn't have worried, because little Miss Boston Strong was playing on the roundabout with the boys.  She sure knows how to hold her own with the big kids - she just lets them know how things are going to be.  So the whole mystery of her disappearance had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me, so I tried not to let on how worried I'd been - but she did get a bigger hug than usual next time she came to check in.  The playground is located at N 48.29.425 W 122.13.431 and is point no. 122 on the map at the bottom of home page.

121. Graham Park, Burnaby

The days are getting to be so nice and long again!  On this Tuesday evening, we headed out after dinner to find my closest unfound cache to home - which just happens to be next to a playground!  "For Grace" is there for a sad reason; Grace was an exchange student from Korea who used to have a cache in this park, one which I found back in July 2011.  She died of leukemia in April 2013.  Her cache is no longer there as the old equipment was recently removed and the new playground installed - and now her homestay family have a tribute cache here for her instead.  We didn't get to look for the cache today; there was a family playing badminton right at ground zero.  The cache is also a four-star difficulty, so will probably require a good, uninterrupted hunt!  But Charlotte had a great time here even without a cache hunt; she especially liked driving the race car.  The playground is located at N 49.13.446 W 122.55.809 and is point no. 121 on the map at the bottom of home page.

120. Ellwood Park, Abbotsford

Today was a pretty exciting day for us - we finished our 122 Degree Challenge!  Afterwards, we went in search of Charlotte Park - I had discovered that there was such a place while doing a little pre-trip research.  But although we found Charlotte Avenue, Charlotte Park remained elusive.  However, at the end of Charlotte Avenue, we found a playground that would suit us just fine and we went in to play.  We never did find out the name of the park while we were there - we just got it off the map afterwards.  There were lots of kids playing, but unfortunately, most of them were from a birthday party that was being held there, so they all knew each other already and weren't interested in getting to know anyone else.  Charlotte still had fun while Theo and I soaked up some sun on the grass.  After the playground, Charlotte and I zipped around from tree to tree, looking for the one that held a geocache, "Getting to Know My Way Around - K".  Great, now there's another series that we need to complete since we've got one of them!  The playground is located at N 49.03.457 W 122.20.924 and is point no. 120 on the map at the bottom of home page.

119. Arborlynn Park, North Vancouver

This playground has been on our list for a long time - it has a geocache in it that starts with "A.  Now that we have almost completed the 122 Degree Challenge, we are looking for a new challenge to work on and right now, that's "The A Challenge".  Grandad just got back from Boston, so Charlotte went all tough in her "Boston Strong" t-shirt and played on her own while I grabbed the cache.  A family of four rode up on their bikes and Charlotte tried to play with the kids, but none of them (including the adults) seemed to know how to respond to "Do you want to play with me?" and they all just seemed uncomfortable.  I'm proud of my girl for being as outgoing as she is and I hope she never stops trying to get the other kids to play with her.  The playground is located at N49.19.259 W 123.02.035 and is point no. 119 on the map at the bottom of home page.

118. F.W. Howay Elementary School, New Westminster

One hot day, we were out and about after a swim at the relatively nearby Canada Games Pool when we happened by this elementary school playground.  It was a bit big for Charlotte, but she had a good time practicing her balancing.  Some big kids came along and they were busy playing "Hot Lava" and they didn't much care about Charlotte.  But they also didn't mind when she played with their soccer ball for a bit until they were ready to dash away on their next adventure.  It was quite nice to see them playing, making up their game and solving their own problems without an adult in sight!  Gives me hope after all...  We will have to come back soon as there is a geocache nearby that we haven't found yet - "In Loving Memory" - one of our closest unfound caches at the moment.  The playground is located at N 49.13.540 W 122.54.629 and is point no. 118 on the map at the bottom of home page.

117. Mt. Lehman Elementary School, Abbotsford

Continuing on with our hunt for caches that would help us qualify for the 122 Degree Challenge, we came across this elementary school playground where we stopped for a picnic lunch.  The small playground was just right for Charlotte and we also had a game of hopscotch!  Some other kids came by to play too and we chatted with them for a while.  The playground is located at N 49.07.074 W 122.23.007 and is point no. 117 on the map at the bottom of home page.

116. Bradner Community Park, Abbotsford

Somehow I have the impression that this playground is haunted!  We came across it while working on our 122 Degree Challenge.  It has clearly seen better days - the wooden structure is in some disrepair and grass and weeds are starting to take over at the base.  It was actually quite shocking since we are so used to sanitized playgrounds in tip-top condition.  We played here for a while, chased each other around the grassy field and found the two nearby geocaches, "Geo-Poker Run 2013 Cache 33" and "Geo-Poker Run 2013 Cache 34", before I finally convinced Charlotte that we could probably find a nicer playground somewhere else.  The playground is located at N49.05.832 W 122.25.608 and is point no. 116 on the map at the bottom of home page.

115. Train Station Playground, Stanley Park, Vancouver

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Charlotte's third birthday!  It was Pete's day off and I took the afternoon off too so that we could take Charlotte to the aquarium.  After we left, we stopped by the playground to play for just a little while before we were off for a birthday dinner at White Spot.  This is a nice little playground, so we'll have to come back after another aquarium visit and check it out further!  The playground is located at N 49.18.109 W 123.07.953 point no. 115 on the map at the bottom of home page.

114. Maple Grove Park

The days are getting longer and warmer and after-daycare playground season is about to get underway!  This time we went to Maple Grove Park and Charlotte especially liked crawling through the tunnel and poking her head out of one of the three holes like a mole in a "Whack-a-Mole" game.  She played for a while, then I asked her to come with me to find the park's geocache "Excel in the Park" - but she was having none of it.  Next time, the rule is that we find the geocache first and then we get to play!  The playground is located at N49.13.423 W123.09.561 and is point no. 114 on the map at the bottom of home page.

113. Eastburn Park, Burnaby

A geocache called "Eastburn Park" had made its way to the top of my "closest unfound cache to home" list, so I was anxious to go by and make the find.  Today was a bit chilly, but it was a nice day for the playground that was just a few metres away from where the cache was hidden.  The cache was soon in hand and then we were free to play!  There were no other kids around today, but Charlotte and I had fun anyway.  She would climb the stairs, I would help her across the zip line, she would climb some more and take the big slide down to the ground again before running off to do it all over again.  They even had an old-school seesaw and Charlotte had fun running back and forth across it - holding my hand of course!  The playground is located at N 49.13.307 W 122.55.738 and is point no. 113 on the map at the bottom of home page.

112. Richmond Nature Park, Richmond

Our second new playground in a row is birthday party-related!  This time we headed to the Richmond Nature Park to celebrate Alex's fifth birthday.  The playground itself is a rope pyramid that's a bit much for Charlotte for now, but she did play on it a bit with the other kids.  Mostly she cared more about the giant log nearby that was just perfect for climbing on - lots of kids seemed to prefer it over the structure that was actually designed for climbing!  When everyone had arrived, we headed along the boardwalk on an Easter egg hunt, with all of the kids finding a treasure.

We ended in the "grassy meadow", where we had a pizza picnic and the kids romped and played.  I turned on the GPS from underneath the picnic shelter and found myself just three metres away from "Green Meenie"!  At that moment, some other geocachers arrived and we all hunted for the cache together.  We actually came back to the park a few days later after work and daycare to climb on the log some more and to find one of the other caches in the park, "Time Machine 2".  There are still lots of caches to find in the park, including some of the Richmond GeoQuest caches, so we will be back again for sure!  The playground is located at N 49.10.247 W 123.05.640 and is point no. 112 on the map at the bottom of home page.

111. Brickwood Park, Maple Ridge

Today we found ourselves in Maple Ridge, off to visit our friends Andy, Khanh, Avery and Kayden - to celebrate Kayden's first birthday!  We headed out a little early so that we would have time to discover a new playground at Brickwood Park and hopefully unearth the nearby geocache, "Fruit Salad: Lime".  Charlotte played for a while before we went off to find the cache; it was at the bottom of a steep grassy hill and I managed to stay upright while I retrieved the cache, but planted my hands and knees in the mud as I tried to scramble back up the steep, muddy hillside.  Charlotte and Dad did some more playing while mum had a go on the swings and then we were off to the party.  The playground is located at N 49.12.729 W 122.35.966 and is point no. 111 on the map at the bottom of home page.

110. Robert Burnaby Park, Burnaby

It's been a while since we visited a new playground, so the first weekend of spring seemed like a good time to go and try a new one!  The weather wasn't supposed to be good at all today, but it started clearing up in the early afternoon, showering on and off.  We "parked at the park" to Charlotte's complete amusement and she ran down the hill to the playground while I sorted out Theo.  Another little girl came by with her parents, but they both stuck so close to their daughter that there was no chance there for making a new friend.  Shortly after they left, another mum showed up with her two kids, one older and one younger than Charlotte.  Charlotte played nicely with them and all was well.  The little boy, Donovan, climbed up on a piece of equipment and couldn't get down again.  While his mum was helping him down, little Capri took off like a shot.  She didn't look much older than a year and she probably didn't need to be high up on the equipment on her own, so I ran down and stuck close to her until her mum was ready to turn her attention back to her.  It was really nice - she thanked me for helping and it was pretty awesome - just a couple of mums looking out for each other at the playground, just like it should be.  I played pirates with Donovan for a couple of minutes and then Charlotte said she was ready to leave.  Only she didn't want to go back to the car, she wanted to go over to the nearby hill to go roly poly, roly poly!  The hill is a steep one, perfect for tobogganing on the rare days when there's enough snow to do so.  Charlotte tipple-tailed all the way down it - four times!  It took about a dozen tipple-tails to get to the bottom, so she probably did about 50 tipple-tails in a row and I don't know how she didn't get dizzy!  She would have gone again if I hadn't convinced her it was time to head home and change out of her wet clothes - the grass was still soaking wet from all the rain we've had lately.  There are a dozen geocaches in this park, but none of them showed up in the GPS today; we've already cached out the park!  The playground is located at N 49.13.907 W 122.55.728 and is point no. 110 on the map at the bottom of home page.

109. Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford

We came out to Abbotsford today to do a little geocaching for our 122 Degree Challenge.  Charlotte absolutely refused to allow me to take her picture, so I pulled up this old one taken when we were last at this park for a geocaching event in September 2013.  She has changed so much since then!

There were lots of kids there when we first arrived in the late afternoon and Charlotte ran off to join them, periodically returning to me to joyfully tell me that she had "made a new friend" or to report something funny that one of them had said.  She scaled the climbing mountain like a monkey and generally had the time of her life.

I perched on the curb around the edge of the playground and watched her run and play and make friends.  It was all exactly as it should be and I was happy to see her having so much fun.  So I was more than a little surprised when one of the other mums fixed me with an evil eye, staring at me so intently, and with no reason that I could think of, that I turned around to see if there was someone behind me.  She asked "Is that your daughter?" so coldly that I was taken by surprise.  When I simply said "yes", she turned away unsmilingly with a grunt of disapproval.  How can two mums at a playground see a situation so differently?  I truly don't know what her problem was!  Whatever to her because Charlotte had the time of her life.  The playground is located at N 49.02.549 W122.18.605 and is point no. 109 on the map at the bottom of home page.

108. Kensington Park, Delta

Charlotte and I found ourselves in Delta this morning after attending a "Geocachers Breakfast" at the Skyhawk Restaurant at the Boundary Bay airport.  I've been to this playground before in search of the nearby geocache, "Jiminy 'What'?".  It was such a warm sunny day today; I can hardly believe it's only February.  Charlotte raced up the climbing mountain over and over again, climbed up the slide and slid down on her tummy and generally had the time of her life.  The playground is located at N 49.05.294 W 123.02.651 and is point no. 108 on the map at the bottom of home page.

107. Kilmer Park, Blaine, Washington

Our geocaching day came to an end relatively early as Mr. ClueFinders had a long drive back to Seattle ahead of him.  So when Charlotte asked me if we could go to the playground after we dropped our friend back at his car, I saw no reason why we shouldn't, though the sun was starting to set.  We met a boy named Kason and his dad at the playground; we chatted with them for a bit before they had to go, attempting to hop a fence and cross private property on their way back to grandma's house!  Charlotte had fun playing on the rocking frog and playing with a ball that she had found.  We played until we were too cold and hungry to play any more, and then we headed off to find our dinner.  The playground is located at N 48.59.998 W 122.44.519 and is point no. 107 on the map at the bottom of home page.

106. Brickyard Park, Blaine, Washington

We headed south of the border this morning to meet Mr. ClueFinders for a few hours of caching around Blaine and Semiahmoo.  Since we never know how long the border line-up is going to be, we gave ourselves plenty of time and as luck would have it, we were across in 20 minutes and had lots of time to check out a new playground.  I had looked up a couple of playgrounds in Blaine and this was one of them, though it turned out to be a little much for Charlotte.  It had a structure to climb on and nothing else; it was made of rope and was more than Charlotte was up for.  But she still enjoyed running around and doing some balancing, as did Theo.  There was no geocache hidden in the park, though there wasn't really anywhere much to hide anything more than a micro.  The playground is located at N 48.59.049 W 122.44.306 and is point no. 106 on the map at the bottom of home page.

105. Tumwater Falls Park, Tumwater, Washington

We stopped off on our way home from Oregon to find a geocache that started with "Z" for a challenge I'm working on.  The cache had been muggled, but it almost didn't matter because we re-discovered this beautiful park.  Pete and I realized we had been here before in 2010, when we had found another geocache here.  We explored the area around the waterfalls and maybe one day we will have chance to explore the trails that run beside the Deschutes River.



As we walked back to the car, we stopped off at the little playground.  It wasn't a typical swings-and-slides playground, but it had two boats to climb and play on.  There were a few other kids there too and one of the girls gave Charlotte a little bottle of bubbles, which thrilled her to bits, of course.  The playground is located at N 47.00.832 W 122.54.294 and is point no. 105 on the map at the bottom of home page.

104. Cannon Beach Playground, Cannon Beach, Oregon

We have all been so sick lately that playground visits have been in short supply.  We have re-visited one or two favourites lately, but mostly we have been languishing at home, trying to shake our sniffles and coughs while watching "Paw Patrol".  This week though, we are on vacation in Cannon Beach and though the sniffles have followed us down to Oregon, the weather was beautiful and just perfect for a visit to the local playground in between our beach explorations.  The playground was just a couple of blocks from our motel and it was a decent playground with a high climbing mountain - which Charlotte scaled with no problem whatsoever!  It's amazing how quickly she can go from needing help with something to being completely independent.  After we had finished working up an appetite at the playground, we set off to find the nearby geocache, "Cannonfloria plasticus" and then for lunch at the Lumberyard.  After that, it was back to the motel for more sniffle-nursing, at least for me!  The playground is located at N 45.53.942 W 123.57.579 and is point no. 104 on the map at the bottom of home page.

103. Robson Park, Surrey

We were out and about with no real plan today.  It had recently occurred to me that our playground map avoids Surrey almost completely - and say what you like about Surrey, it's nearby and must have some decent playgrounds?  We headed across the Pattullo Bridge (this dodgy bridge may be the reason we've avoided Surrey) and asked the GPS for the nearest cache with "Park" in the title.  And that is how we discovered lovely little Robson Park.  We played for a while on a cute little playground designed like a tree house - and Theo had fun too as some people came along who were only too happy to play stick with him.  We headed off in search of one of the three geocaches in the park after we'd played - the way to the cache was across a cute little bridge over a creek that had been dammed by beavers.  We didn't see any, but there were plenty of tell-tale tree stumps, sharpened like a pencil where the beavers had chewed.  I promised Charlotte we would come back one warm spring evening to see if we could see any.  I was very proud of Charlotte when we got to the site of "Robson Park Tree Hugger South" - it was clearly in a large tree and we started making our way around it when Charlotte said "There it is!"  She found it before me - I hadn't even had to pretend so that she could find it first!  We watched a pair of ducks paddling in the creek, then played at the playground for a little while longer before we were driven out by the smell coming from the potheads perched on a nearby picnic table.  This is Surrey, after all.  The park is located at N 49.11.054 W 122.52.247 and is point no. 103 on the map at the bottom of home page.

102. Shingle Bolt Park, Pitt Meadows

We may have slowed down our pace a bit, but there are still lots of playgrounds out there to explore!  Today we went out exploring the Pitt River Regional Greenway in search of a few caches, in particular one at 122.43 for Charlotte's 122 Degree Challenge.  We found three caches along the dyke and then Charlotte was ready to hit the playground.  The Pitt Meadows website wasn't the best one to navigate, so I came up with a playground relatively close to where we were exploring.  It was just a tiny little neighbourhood square with a tiny little playground - and it was raining too by the time we got there.  There was a little covered picnic table at the top of the playground, so Charlotte ate some of her lunch there, sheltered from the rain.  The playground is located at N 49.12.215 W 122.40.756 and is point no. 102 on the map at the bottom of home page.