158. Ernie Winch Park, Burnaby

We came out to this park on an overcast evening to find a geocache starting with "E" - it was called "Ernie Winch Park Cache", appropriately enough.  After making the find, we headed over to the playground; it wasn't a lot of fun at first as there weren't many kids there and those that were there were being very closely helicoptered.  However, Charlotte soon found Apollo and Ateem to play with and they had a great time on the school bus, turning it into an ice cream truck and whatever else captured their imagination.  They thought it was great that they were aged three, four and five - it was then convenient for Owlie to be six, Riley to be seven and me to be eight!  All went well until I brought the camera out and allowed them each to have a turn taking pictures.  There was much drama and heartache over how much time each had been allowed to spend with the camera and things went downhill from there.  They made up for a time, but three very strong personalities couldn't help but clash again!  We headed out, Charlotte in tears over some transgression committed by one of the other girls.  I thought it was good for her to meet some kids who wouldn't let her boss them around!  The playground is located at N 49.12.880 W 122.56.732 and is point no. 158 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

57. Killarney Park, Vancouver

Every Thursday afternoon on our way from Richmond to North Vancouver, we drive past Killarney Park and Charlotte shouts "There's a playground, mum!"  I've kept it in mind for one of these Thursdays - and today was the day!  Although it's right next to Kerr Street, it's a bit difficult to get to - we drove all the way around the block to park at the nearby community centre, then walked over to the playground.  It was quite disappointing though, because it was definitely geared towards older kids - Charlotte couldn't even begin to try to climb up on it.  She did have a bit of a go on the swings though, and she did have fun playing with Owlie.  We practiced balancing like tight rope walkers on the wooden beam that surrounded the playground and we just made the best of it.  There was a pair of twin boys about ten-months-old playing in the sand underneath the climbing frame, getting dirty and had a great time while their mum watched from the grass nearby, letting them do their thing.  She was great - made me feel like there is hope that helicoptering is starting to crash and burn!  There is a geocache called "Killarney Park" in the northwest corner of the park - I had found it a long time ago though.  The playground is located at N 49.13.634 W 123.02.525 and is point no. 57 on the map at the bottom of home page.

32. Draycott Park, North Vancouver

These days, Thursdays find Charlotte and I driving straight from work and daycare in Richmond to nana and grandad’s house in North Van, where we stay the night so that Charlotte can hang out with nana the next day while I’m at work. With the days so long at this time of year, we had plenty of time tonight to check out a nearby playground after dinner. We made a return visit to Draycott Park; we had discovered this little park in the woods last summer while looking for a geocache, “Whatev’s”. We had found that cache back then, so there was no caching for us tonight – we were just in it for the playground! This is one of the loveliest locations for a playground that I have seen so far; it’s completely surrounded by trees and there are several trails providing access from different directions. We parked near the main entrance, walked past the basketball court, collecting flowers and rocks as we went, rounded a bend in the trail, and there was the playground, nestled amongst towering evergreens. It’s a very futuristic playground with silver towers curving up to the sky!

The bucket swings were on a very short chain and so Charlotte soon pronounced them “boring” and wanted to go back to climbing. The slide here is a very fast one – she insisted on holding hands to go down and I had to slow her down a bit at the bottom to prevent her from shooting off the end! Some other kids came along, three more two-year-olds in fact, and they did the slide on dad’s lap. I am so against kids sliding down on an adult’s lap and here’s why: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/a-surprising-risk-for-toddlers-at-playground-slides/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.
There was a piece of equipment on the playground that was new to us – a kind of twisting tube to climb up or down. I admit that the thought of Charlotte attempting it when she’s older was quite scary to me – but then I thought that that was a good thing – most of the playgrounds that we have seen have little in the way of challenge to the older kids. Another mum was there with her older kids; she wouldn’t let them go on it and said that it looked dangerous and that it had something “missing”. I hope that when Charlotte is old enough to try it, I will be brave enough to let her!

Charlotte got right into the wood chips, picking up handfuls and putting them in her hair. Agh! What to do – may as well just take a picture! But then she put them in my hair, so I had to tell her that was naughty and I didn’t want her to put wood chips in my hair. So she didn’t – but Owlie did! She told Owlie off for being naughty – and I had to tell her that no one was allowed to put wood chips in my hair, neither her nor Owlie! It was back to nana and grandad’s after that – we hadn’t planned a bath night, but one was necessary after this particular trip to the playground! The park is located at N 49.20.281 W 123.01.451:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

24. Earles Park, Vancouver

 

On this beautiful spring morning, we discovered a new park that we had never been to before.  We did this by going to the closest geocache with the word "park" in the title, and sure enough it checked all the boxes - a cache to find and a playground to explore!  We found the cache first, "Mirda's B-day Cache".  It was an easy one to find - we saw it as we approached.  There were lots of muggles around, but they were engrossed in a search of their own - they all had metal detectors and were spread out all over the park, seeking treasure.  I guess it's more lucrative than geocaching, if less certain of a successful hunt!

We had a very interesting time at this park...  This ominous sign greeted us as we settled Theo in with a stick to chew while we played.  Seems like it has satisfied some insurance company somewhere.  Luckily, Charlotte was wearing none of the prohibited articles of clothing - even her shoes were Velcro, so we didn't need to worry about a terrible shoelace accident marring our day.  We met a sweet girl named Josephine who just turned ten last week; she was playing all by herself when we arrived, but she loved helping Charlotte get to where she wanted to go on the playground.  Even the small structure had very big steps - Charlotte was only able to climb it by going up the slide!  Charlotte so badly wanted to go on the big slide, but there was no way she could climb up there by herself.  There were three steps to get up, each of which was about two-and-a-half feet tall.  I don't really like helping her on the playground too much - I want her to achieve things for herself - but I broke my rule on this one and stationed myself on the second step to hoist her up from above and then boost her up from below.  I was getting plenty of exercise myself by doing this!  I did have to run to the bottom of the slide the first couple of times, but soon she was launching herself down with no problem and no need for me.  Josephine often hung off the edge of the slide like a monkey, cheering Charlotte as she spiralled down to the ground.

Just as we were starting to think about leaving (or at least I was; Charlotte never thinks about leaving!), a couple of boys came up with their grandad lagging a little behind.  One of the boys was about five and he sat at the top of the spiral slide, but seemed hesitant to go down.  I asked him if he would like me to catch him at the bottom, but he said "My grandad says I'm not allowed to play with you."  That was me told!  Josephine and I raised eyebrows at each other.  We were getting ready to leave anyway and as we headed out, I heard the boy say to his Grandad, "Please, can I play with someone?!?"  I really don't know what the point of it was.  How very unhealthy to prevent a child from playing with other kids at the playground.  Isn't that what they are supposed to do?  In order to learn social skills and maybe even just have fun?  I guess I wasn't to take it personally because it seems he wasn't allowed to play with anyone.  Josephine came running after us as I was getting Charlotte into the car.  We had dropped Owlie and she was returning him.  Josephine, the chance of you ever reading this are exceedingly slim, but you were a ray of sunshine in an otherwise very cold playground!  The park is located at: N 49.14.024 W 123.02.803: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

14. DeLair Park, Abbotsford

The first day of Daylight Savings was also the first spring-like day of the year.  How could we not go out and have an adventure?!?  We headed east to Abbotsford to collect a few caches for our "122 Degrees Challenge"; I completed the requirements today and Blackford Girl got a few caches under her belt too!  And when we were finished caching, we went in search of a playground...  We were heading to a different park originally, knowing it held a geocache, but not knowing if it actually had playground equipment.  As we drove, we came across DeLair Park, spotted the playground and decided to stop.



Of course the swings were up first!  But Charlotte really had fun on the slides here - and Owlie did too.  His trips down the slide outnumbered Charlotte's by a considerable margin, but she seemed to like it that way.  She enjoyed making her way across the bouncy bridge too.  There were quite a few kids in the park, which made a nice change from what we're used to - sometimes I feel like we're the only people who use these playgrounds!  Some big kids were climbing trees and climbing the rock wall - it looked pretty challenging to me!

But we had a little misadventure too.  I took Charlotte back to the car for a diaper change and as I got back, I noticed a guy a short way off with his camera lens pointed right at us.  I thought it was very strange, but thought he was taking a picture of the whole park.  I had my hands quite full with Charlotte, but when I next glanced up, he had moved towards the front of the car and once again, his camera lens was trained right on us.  By now, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and I hurried to get Charlotte dressed.  Every time I glanced up, the camera lens was directly upon me.  It was completely disconcerting.  Once Charlotte was dressed, I confronted the photographer and asked him what he was doing.  He said he was taking pictures of my dog for a photography project.  I asked him if he had any idea how creepy it was for him to be taking my picture while I was changing my daughter and he apologized - though in a way that seemed to suggest that he didn't quite get it.  I told him he should ask permission next time and I didn't appreciate what he was doing.  I wish I had asked to see his pictures; I can't imagine that he had anything of great quality from the distance he was at - and Theo may be very photogenic, but he was doing nothing more than hanging out by my side, waiting to be allowed back into the car once I was finished changing Charlotte.  The only good thing was that I knew he hadn't been able to photograph Charlotte while I was changing her - he would have had the police on him if he had.  Even as it was, I broke my promise to Charlotte to take her back to the swings after her diaper change - I was just too creeped out to continue.


Apart from that, the park was quite nice, though there was a steady hum of traffic noise at all times as Highway 1 is not too far away.  There is a geocache hidden right at the park; we must have been within several metres of it, but we didn't have it in the GPS!  "Hey Boo Boo" it's called - in deference to the many pic-a-nic tables from which a hungry bear might be tempted to steal a pic-a-nic basket.  We will be sure to go look for it next time!  The covered shelter that is right next to the playground can be reserved by calling 604 859 3134.  The park is located at N49.02.276 W 122.14.213:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI