157. Moody Park, New Westminster

Technically, we have already blogged Moody Park; it's our closest decent-sized playground, after all.  However, it's completely different from what it was last time we were here and deserves a new post!  Over the winter, the old equipment was removed and a new playground was put in place.  It opened just a short while ago, and as I drove by, I thought it looked quite boring.  It didn't seem to have any challenging equipment and gone were the high (read dangerous) ladders from the old playground.  Still, we had to give it a try and I was happy to change my drive-by opinion.

The playground is "natural" - no metal equipment painted in primary colours here.  There is a lot of wood, sand, rock and water to play on and in and judging by the number of kids playing late into the summer evening, the place is a big hit with a lot of people.  Charlotte had a great time on the slide, which is faster and more exciting than most slides these days.  She came flying off the end more than once, only to land in the sand with no harm done.  She balanced on the wooden climbing structure, she pumped water from the kid-sized pump, waded in the pool and then played in the sand - with predictable results!  We spent almost two hours there and Charlotte was filthy, soaked and happy by the time we had to call it a night.  She has been there several times with her pre-school too and loves it every time.  I think we're pretty lucky to have this awesome playground within walking distance of Blackford Island!  The playground is located at N 49.12.683 W 122.55.475 and is point no. 157 on the map at the bottom of home page.

155. SInclair Park, New Westminster

One of our closest unfound geocaches to home happens to be located a few metres from a playground - so we had more than one reason to head to Sinclair Park on this overcast day.  Charlotte played with Owlie and I helped them both down the fireman's pole and made a daisy chain for Charlotte to wear on her head.  We met a muggle who was exercising her dogs; she was going to move on at first, but we assured her that we were dog people.  Tyson may have looked scary to some people, but not to us!  We had a go on the swings and finally we saw our opportunity to look for the cache.  We came up short at first, but after taking the time to read the logs, we were able to come back later to make the find, which was simply called "Sinclair Park".  The playground is located at N 49.13.287 W 122.55.088 and is point no. 155 on the map at the bottom of home page.

153. Westminster Pier Park - East Playground

Charlotte and I ditched pre-school and work early today - and set off on an adventure!  We took the bus down to the Quay and walked east along the boardwalk, as far as we could go.  We were in search of a geocache at the far end of the boardwalk ("There's a $^@#3 in my Boot!"), which we didn't find, but we had fun getting there.  Along the way, we stopped off at the west playground, which we have visited before, then here, at the east playground.  This one is much smaller than the west playground and designed for younger kids.  There were a couple of kids playing here, but they were being told not to climb (!) so they weren't a whole lot of fun to play with and we soon continued on our way to the giant W made out of shipping containers.  After our failed attempt at finding the cache, we took the glass elevator back up to street level and caught the bus home again for dinner.  Charlotte walked and walked - I don't think she ever walked quite so far in her life!  The playground is point no. 153 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

58. Port Royal Park, New Westminster

There was a geocaching event held in Port Royal Park today!  We didn't stick around for long - just said hi to a few familiar faces, signed the log book so that we could collect our smiley and then hit the playground.  Not that there weren't a few of the other younger cachers also making use of the equipment!  Look at those apartment buildings, looking right on to the park as if it were there own backyard.  I would love to live right on a park like that - Charlotte would be out there playing all the time!  She had a great time here, climbing the just-challenging-enough ladder, sliding down and starting all over again.

I chatted with another mum who had also been at the geocaching event but had come over with her boy - she gave me kudos for not hovering behind Charlotte as she climbed, but Charlotte really is pretty proficient at these things by now!  She should be after 58 different playgrounds so far this year!  Other than the event, there are no other geocaches in the park, but there is a nine-cache mini power trail around the eastern tip of Lulu Island that makes for a really nice 2.5-kilometre paved walk.  The park is located at N 49.11.664 W 122.55.394 and is point no. 58 on the map at the bottom of home page.

50. Waterfront Esplanade, New Westminster

This was a bit of an accidental playground for us - we were on our way to a different playground when we passed by this one! It's a place we've been many times before, but for some reason, this was our first visit this year. We ended up down here today because we had a flat tire earlier in the day and though we planned to have it fixed the next day, we were without a car in the meantime. We took the bus down (dad too - it was our family day!) and walked along the boardwalk, heading for Westminster Pier Park when we passed by the tugboat. It's not a playground in the usual sense of the word and yet it's designed as a structure for kids to play on - which therefore makes it a playground, even if it has no swings or slides! It's also part museum as it has a few old nautical-themed relics in it. Nearby is the Riverfront Market, which is a great place to put a picnic together, and the World's Tallest Tin Solider presides over it all. There used to be a geocache just under the cuff of his pants, but that's long gone. Instead, there is another geocache to be found just downstream, "Fraser Surrey Docks". The tugboat is located at N 49.12.021 W 122.54.644:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

42. Cariboo Park, New Westminster

Poor Charlotte! She waited all day to get to the playground – and when we finally got there, she had a bit of a misadventure! We went to Cariboo Park, which has not one, but two playgrounds – one for big kids, one for small. She made a new friend here, Caleb, and they played on the small playground for a while before moving on to the playground of doom.

Charlotte began climbing a ladder – a vertical one with slim rungs that was very challenging for her, something she hadn't yet tried before. And yet, she was actually doing it! She was very focused, head bent, watching her feet as she carefully placed them on each higher rung. But Caleb's mum swooped in, “protecting” her head from the rung above – which really posed no danger to Charlotte! The swoop distracted Charlotte to the point that she lost her balance and she fell / was scooped up by Caleb's mum who deposited her “safely” on the ground. Charlotte then went and tried something a little easier and I was a little upset with Caleb's mum for helicoptering her. But she did try it again and this time she made it to the top! “I did it!” she cried and there was a round of applause from myself and Caleb and his mum. She took the small slide down and tackled the ladder again and again, making it seem easier and easier each time she did it.

So what came next was a little too ironic for my liking... After climbing the ladder again, Charlotte went even higher, moving on to the big slide rather than using the small one again. It was no higher than many other slides she had been down before and thought nothing of it, but just as Charlotte set off down the slide, Caleb's mum told me it was “dangerous”. A second later, Charlotte was at the bottom, face-first in the gravel. Caleb's mum was closer to her than I was and stood over her, flapping her hands in a panic. I picked my poor girl up and she spit out a mouthful of gravel through her tears. She ended up with a scraped forehead, chin and knees, but thankfully she only cried for a minute or two before she was back at it again. The slide had a pretty strange design to it – it ended at the bottom in a box shape and the kids needed to put their legs on either side of it. Caleb's mum said she had seen lots of older kids hurt their legs on it, but poor Charlotte had no idea what she needed to do and just pitched off face-first. But soon she was climbing the ladder again – though taking the little slide back down! Besides, she got to go for a Dairy Queen ice cream afterwards! The park has two geocaches in it, both of which we have already found, “Cariboo Park” and “Cariboo Park #2”. The park is located at N 49.14.048 W 122.54.208:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

 

37. Grimston Park, New Westminster

Charlotte had a bad morning.  A very bad morning.  And that meant a bad morning for mum too.  It was just one of those days when nothing went right in two-year-old Charlotte's mind - things just weren't going her way.  Mostly the problem had to do with a certain piece of cheese and it's a long story that doesn't deserve a mention in a playground blog except that it led to mum deciding that a trip to the playground was in order before things got worse.  A little fresh air and a lot of running around would do wonders!

 

If ever you have taken the Skytrain through New West, you will most likely have noticed sloping Grimston Park with its "Welcome to New West" sign.  I have ridden my bike past here a million times and I used to bring Theo here when he was a puppy to wear him out by throwing his ball down the hill.  That's not as cruel as it sounds, it was necessary!  Today, Theo took it easy in the shade - it was Charlotte who needed wearing out.  Someone was exhorting her child not to run (at the playground?!?), but I was encouraging Charlotte to exhaust herself!  Luckily there were lots of things to climb on - and then she discovered the water pump...  This kept her amused for ages as she pumped water, then tried to run around to the front in time to drink some of it as it fell.  She soaked her shirt in no time and so she was soon topless and I was soon making futile attempts to keep her sunscreened up.  She had a great time and the offending cheese was a thing of the past.  We didn't get around to finding the park's geocache, "Pleasant Park, Dirty Deed".  This cache has been in the park for almost nine years and it hadn't been there long when I found it, so I couldn't remember exactly where to look and I didn't have it in my GPS.  We'll have to come back for it in a month or so - by then the wading pool will have opened!  The park is located at N 49.12.118 W 122.56.640:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

33. Ryall Park, New Westminster

We were a little disorganized today and didn’t really have much planned, so we just went down to a park not too far from home, Ryall Park down in Queensborough. I used to come here once a week before I was pregnant with Charlotte to do yoga at the community centre; I hadn’t been here in a couple of years and the place was unrecognizable after a major renovation. The park was nice – a small playground for the smaller kids to play on and lots of kids there to play with. There was a little girl named Maya who really took a shine to Charlotte – but Charlotte was having none of it and every time Maya tried to follow her around, Charlotte would run back to me, plonk herself down in my lap, and look as sad as a two-year-old can look. Poor Maya.  Rejected.  I was amused by the warning sign (oops, the "Welcome!" sign) on the equipment - I guess Canadian kids are just tougher than American ones!

Eventually we moved over to the waterpark – it had been going when we first arrived, but had since stopped and there were no kids playing there. Charlotte would have been happy to just splash in the lingering puddles, but I eventually found the magic button to get things going again and soon there was water spraying from here, there and everywhere and kids were soon flocking back to it. We hadn’t really been prepared for a water park, so Charlotte was soon soaked. I took off her t-shirt and got her sunscreened up and she had the time of her life until it was getting to be nap time and I had to coax her to leave. Luckily we had enough extra gear with us that I was able to get her dried out – and she fell asleep in her car seat before we had even left the park. No time to geocache today, though there are three in the park and we only have one of them. That just gives us another reason to come back! The park is located at N 49.11.157 W122.56.541:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

 

28. Thompson's Landing Park, New Westminster

It was another warm afternoon after daycare and we headed to a park not too far from home, down in Queensborough.  We spent some time looking for a cache called "Rabbit Hole" - or at least I did.  Charlotte was too busy blowing dandelion clocks.  I never did find the cache; it was getting a little overgrown and may be one of those that are best found in the winter.  This park was pretty underwhelming.  The map shows it as being right on the banks of the river, but it's not visible at all.  Instead, it's the highways that dominate - just to the west is the off-ramp from the East-West Connector to the Queensborough Bridge, and right above is the highway itself, making its way to the Alex Fraser Bridge.  It's noisy to say the least.  But there is always a silver lining - Charlotte enjoyed watching the traffic helicopters that came by from time to time, keeping an eye on how things were going during the afternoon commute!

 

The park features the usual playground equipment - nothing too exciting here unfortunately.  Charlotte did like the big glass bubble; she was a little hesitant to reach out into it at first, but soon realized that it was safe.  The park is located at N 49.10.624 W 122.57.366:  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

18. Old Schoolhouse Park, New Westminster

Over the last couple of weeks, we've had some bad weather that has kept us away from the playgrounds - and some weather so good that we made the most of it by going out caching and exploring Reifel with our friends.  It was high time that we hit another playground, and this Thursday evening, we headed out after supper to check out Old Schoolhouse Park.  We were actually scouting it as a location for Charlotte's birthday party, but it was a little bit disappointing as it doesn't offer much for the smaller kids, other than the swings.  As you can see, Charlotte quite enjoyed the bike rack!

Before we played, we walked along the perimeter of the park, collecting information from five signs on five pieces of exercise equipment - there is a multi cache hidden in this park that neither of us had yet!  The next day, I did the calculations necessary to work out the final coordinates and after work and daycare, we took advantage of a little break in the weather to go and find the cache.  The calculations were correct and we easily found "More Fun Than School".  The park takes its name from the fact that there used to be a school on this site - this must have been quite some time ago as I only ever remember it being a wasteland.  It actually used to be quite an eyesore, so this is a big improvement.  The playground may be a little big for Charlotte for now, but we look forward to coming back on a hot day in the summer to try out the little mini waterpark!  The cache is located at N 49.11.482 W 122.56.012: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

16. Connaught Heights Park, New Westminster

Today we had another beautiful spring evening - I figured we'd better make the most of it before the rain sets in again for the weekend.  We discovered a little park in the northwest corner of New Westminster that we probably would never have discovered if it weren't for this challenge - even though we've passed within 100 metres of it hundreds of times before.  The park and Southridge Drive are that close to each other - but you'd never know it.  And though they are that close as the crow flies, the park takes a little bit of effort to get to, guarded by one-way and traffic-calmed residential streets.

Great swings at this park, as you can see!  Charlotte went as high as the laws of physics would allow, loving every minute of it.  We had fun on the triple slide and we explored the giant tires.  The park is quite pretty with its lush vegetation - it would be a very nice place to visit in the summer.  No geocaches around though as the park neighbours an elementary school.  The playground is located at N 49.12.192 W 122.57.301: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

3. Sukh Sagar Park, New Westminster

Sukh Sagar Park in Queensborough was a little underwhelming.  It's designed for only the very smallest kids - two very small structures to play on and no climbing to speak of.  But we still had a great time this morning!  Charlotte kept an eye out for the buses that go back and forth and when the playground lost its allure, she explored the benches and picnic tables.  But the best part of all was the two bridges over the rain garden, where we played "Stomp, Stomp, Troll"!  Sometimes she stomped over the bridge and sometimes she was the troll!

The park has a geocache in it, simply called "Sukh Sagar Park".  Charlotte and I had found the cache back in August as part of the "31 Days of Geocaching".  The park is located at N49.11.362 W122.56.411: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

1. Rainbow Playground, Queens Park, New Westminster

We are so lucky to have this fabulous playground so close to home!  It's only fitting that this be the first of the 101 playgrounds we hope to visit this year.  The weather was terrible this morning and it poured the entire time as Charlotte drove the train and rode the swings.  There were no other kids in the playground, so Theo got to run around off-leash and play with a border collie who also came by on a rain-soaked walk.  We look forward to coming back to this park in the summer to see the animals in the petting zoo, play in the splash park and eat over-priced hot dogs at the concession stand!

The playground is located at N 49.12.978 - W 122.54.505 - see the map linked below:

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI