159. Memorial Park, Summerland

We are in the Okanagan!  We camped last night at Trout Creek Crossing, in the mountains above Summerland.  This morning, it was raining at our campsite, so we came back into town, hoping it wouldn't be raining at a lower elevation.  We found this playground and Charlotte played while I cooked our oatmeal over my camp stove at a nearby picnic table.  Just as we were finishing breakfast, Tanna and her grandma were dropped off at the park and before we knew it, Charlotte and Tanna were playing happily together.  We were there for a couple of hours while the kids played and played - soccer, crocodiles, you name it.  We adults just sat back and let 'em go at it.  Finally, everyone had to be on their way and the kids posed for a photo and Charlotte gave Tanna one of her goodie bag mazes, left over from her birthday party.  Tanna's grandma said that she'd never made such a good friend at the park before and asked if we'd like to meet again for a playdate.  How disappointing that we live so far away!  The playground is located at N 49.36.000 W 119.40.842 and is point no. 159 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.

56. Memorial Park, Ladner

Charlotte and I had all the time in the world after daycare today and there was no reason not to venture a little further afield than usual for this evening's playground adventure. I looked up water parks in Delta and we ended up at Memorial Park in Ladner. I have often parked here in the past to bike out to the bird sanctuary or to do a loop out along the dyke and then back along the rural roads.

 

The spray park was not a big hit at first - Charlotte wanted to be carried everywhere and she really didn't much like all the spray. She soon decided she wanted to go out to the regular playground. She got bored with the little playground pretty quickly and was soon climbing up to the top of the larger mushroom-shaped structure and flying down one of the slides. Actually the slide had a bump in the middle that slowed her sufficiently that she found herself motionless on the slide halfway down. "I'm stuck, mum!" she shouted - until she figured out how to get herself going again.

 

Eventually, she wanted to try the spray park again. I had been chatting briefly to a woman there the first time around, but this time we got talking a little more. She told me that her boyfriend had died last fall in a boating accident and that she was finally trying to get back to normal with her kids' first visit to the spray park. She teared up and I did too - she told me how her boyfriend had gone to check his crab traps and hadn't come back. His body had been found in US waters several days after he went missing. She was now trying to get her life on track and was taking a nursing program to keep busy and get herself back on her feet.

 

The kids all played until the water turned off at 7:00 - and Charlotte played longer than that. She liked the spray park better when it was just dribbling water rather than shooting it out at her! The park is located at N 49.05.271 W 123.05.067 and is point 56 on the map at the bottom of home page.