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.

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.

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.

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.

96. McLean Park, Richmond

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

 

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

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

95. Hamilton Community Centre, Richmond

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

94. Dover Park, Richmond

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

90. Paulik Park, Richmond

Charlotte and I came here after daycare to get a geocache and hit the playground.  Only problem was it was dark by the time we got there!  She brandished the flashlight in the dark and announced that it was "fun" - but we never did find the cache.  We got spooked by a muggle who ended up walking with us to the playground along with his dog, Ronno.  The playground was much too big for Charlotte, it was freezing out and it was just a bit of a fail.  I went back the next day to nab the cache though - it was one of the City of Richmond GeoQuest caches and was quite easy to find in the daylight!  The playground is located at N 49.09.498 W123.07.287 and is point no. 90 on the map at the bottom of home page.

86. Garden City Park, Richmond

How is that we have gone almost all year without visiting this amazing playground so close to work and daycare?!?  The days are so short now that we did most of our playing in the dark, but it was still pretty amazing.  "I love this playground!" Charlotte announced as she headed yet again for the dodgy steps up to the super-long slide that wasn't too fast or too slow, but was just right.  She didn't like the steps at first and would make me hold her hand as she climbed them, then I would run down again to catch her at the bottom.  I was proud of her when she got brave enough to do them by herself, though I didn't get as much exercise out of it when that happened!  Charlotte doesn't like to be crowded when she's getting ready to go down the slide, so when two older boys were jostling her at the top, I asked them to wait until she had gone down.  She was half-way down when they came barrelling down behind her, knocking into her and sending her flying.  She was quite upset and cried hard, but she was more surprised than anything.  That didn't stop me from angrily telling the boys that I had asked them to wait.  At least the parents came rushing up and apologized to us and dealt with their kids.

 

Charlotte and I went off to explore other parts of the playground while she recovered from her little trauma; it's made from natural materials for the most part and is pretty amazing.  There is a giant crowsnest in the middle of the playground with several ways up, none of which Charlotte is ready for yet.  When she is, my heart will be in my throat as it's very tall and designed to be challenging for sure.  She recovered from her incident on the slide and was soon back at it again.  It was all I could do to tear her away to go home for dinner and the geocache that was hidden nearby was completely out of the question!  I ended up going back the next day during my lunch break to find "CoRGQ #18 - Trees Galore".  A new challenge to take up - the Richmond GeoQuest!  The playground is located at N 49.09.917 W 123.07.363 and is point #86 on the map at the bottom of home page.

84. Blundell Elementary School, Richmond

It wasn't raining after daycare today, so we went to check out a playground that I had recently noticed while taking Theo for a lunch-time walk.  Although it's an elementary school playground, it didn't seem to be too much for Charlotte.  Until we got there, that is...

The playground is quite old school and Charlotte banged her face just a few minutes after we arrived while trying to climb a ladder - a ladder that had an overhanging piece of wood at the top that made it hard to climb over.  I cheered her up and helped her try again - she had fun on the slide, but she was done with climbing.  She had a go on the swings and we hung out in the little playhouse and warmed our hands - and that was all she was up for.  The playground is located at N 49.09.262 W 123.09.158 and is point no. 85 on the map at the bottom of home page.

80. Fedoruk-Kartner Park, Richmond

This is a strange little park; at first it didn't even seem to have a name, though it's listed on Google maps as Fedoruk-Kartner park. It appears on the map as a long, thin strip of green, barely wider than the trail to nowhere that extends the length of the park. We stopped off on our way home from daycare; it had been raining most of the day and we decided we would take advantage of a short sunny break to play.  We both did some climbing today – Charlotte insisted on it. Somehow I managed to bang up my recently-healed hip as I attempted the slide – the very same hip that has just had me in physio for over a year! I was very worried, but luckily it just seems to be bruised and nothing worse... We will have to come back here and hide a geocache in the nearby trees – this place was made for a geocache and I can't believe there isn't one here already! The park is located at N 49.10.320 W 123.02.142 and is point #80 on the map at the bottom of home page.

65. Thunderbird Park, Vancouver

The very top of this playground structure is visible from 1^st Avenue if you happen to be stuck at a traffic light, waiting to turn onto Highway 1. Since we almost always seem to hit this light on our way to North Van from Richmond, we have had plenty of opportunity to notice the playground and finally today we had our opportunity to go and play on it! It was a bit of a grey day, the kind of day that suggests that summer might not last forever. A couple of kids were playing there while their uncle sat on the wobbly bridge with his face so far forward over his device and his cap so far forward over his face that I never did really see him. I may complain about helicopter parents sometimes, but this uncle had clearly never heard of the term!

 

Charlotte had fun playing with five-year-old Jeremy and nine-year-old Angel. Angel seemed to take to me too – I had the feeling that she might not have a lot of adults in her life who cared about what she had to say and she seemed very happy to be able to have a conversation with me and to be listened to. We ended up staying much longer than I had intended given that we still had groceries to buy for the upcoming week! The playground is located at N 49.16.096  W 123.01.735 and is point no. 65 on the map at the bottom of home page.

61. YVR Domestic Terminal, Richmond

We found an indoor playground on today's post-daycare outing to the airport. This was great, because our pace has slowed down lately and we are not currently on track to hit 101 by year's end. Ironically we have been hitting fewer playgrounds in the summer than we did in the winter or spring - it's been way too hot lately! We took the Canada Line to the airport, which was an adventure in itself as Charlotte got to sit right at the front and pretend to be the driver. The playground wasn't much to write home about, but Charlotte played there for a bit before we went upstairs to the observation deck to watch the planes coming and going. We ate pizza while we watched fuel trucks and baggage trucks weave amongst the planes parked at the gates below us. On our way back to the Canada Line station, Charlotte told everyone in the elevator about her pizza. We bumped into a former co-worker of mine; it was all a little strange since rather than talk to each other, she called one of our other former co-workers to tell him she had seen me - right when I was still there. And then she went on her way again! There wasn't really much to tell him in the end then, was there? Clearly, there are no geocaches here - the first person to look for it would end up with airport security! There is a good airport-themed puzzle cache that has it's coordinates at the airport though - found ages ago at nearby Iona Beach! I couldn't take a GPS reading here and it's kind of hard to pinpoint it on the map, but I've done my best and it's no. 61 at the bottom of the page.

34. King George Park, Richmond

I made a bit of a mistake today! I had physio this evening, but I thought we had time for a playground visit that didn't take us too far off our route home. We were delayed at daycare for a long time though – lately Charlotte has taken to wanting “hugs first” before she gets into her car seat. This does not mean a quick hug and she jumps into her seat – it means a long cuddle while we chat about her day and even the promise of a playground will not speed her up. Not that I want to speed her up really as it's very nice to have such cuddles, but they do cut into our playground time! I should probably have skipped the playground this time around, but I had promised...

 

King George Park is quite a large park in Richmond – big enough to have tennis courts and other amenities and playgrounds at both ends of it. We hit the west one – just because there was parking close by. The waterpark was going at full tilt, but I managed to divert Charlotte around that for today. She climbed on the playground for a bit and then... a diaper change was in order. Stat. So I had to convince her to return to the car with me, and that didn't go over so well. By the time it was all done, we really didn't have time to go back and play some more, and that was that. She cried and cried and cried and we made it home just in time for her to go to our neighbour's place while I zoomed off to physio. We will have to make a return visit – we didn't get to check out all of the west playground, never mind the east. We'll go back on another hot day when we're more equipped for the water park! We also might need to plant a geocache here since the park, amazingly, has none of its own. The playground is located at N 49.10.976 W 123.05.365: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&pli=1

15. South Arm Park, Richmond

The weather just keeps on getting better and better!  It was sunny and warm for this afternoon's post-daycare adventure in South Arm Park.  These are my old stomping grounds; I used to live in an apartment complex on the far side of the park and have ridden my bike through here many a time.  Back then, I had no reason to pay much attention to the playground, but it's a really good one - one of the best we've visited so far.  We didn't even have chance to explore everything, despite staying for over an hour.  We were so busy driving the train and playing on the swings that we didn't even have time to explore the old castle!

Charlotte did lots of climbing here - she became really good at pulling herself up on the "block steps".  The last step ws pretty tricky as it was not directly aligned with the opening onto the landing, so she had to pull herself up and around to get where she was going.  She couldn't manage it at first, but after a few tries, she was negotiating the steps like a pro.

There have been geocaches in this park in the past, but there are no active caches at the moment.  It's not a very cache-friendly park with its many muggles and wide-open spaces - but surely a cache could survive somewhere here?!?  I think Charlotte and I will have to plant a cache of our own when we come back to explore that old castle!

The park is located at N 49.08.382 W 123.07.413: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

13. Terra Nova Neighbourhood Park, Richmond

We made plans to meet up with auntie Eva, Alex and Nika at their local park after daycare today.  I took lots of photos of the three kids - only to later realize that there was no memory card in the camera.  The photos lurk within the internal memory of the camera, but I don't have the right cable to retrieve them.  Maybe one day!

This is a great park for kids of all ages - we've been here several times before.  There is an elementary school right next to the playground, so there are structures for big kids as well as for little ones.  One of the slides here is not just a double slide, but a triple!  The kids played for ages while Eva and I chatted and caught up with each other.

There are no geocaches in the park due to the proximity of the elementary school, but there are lots nearby in the Terra Nova Rural Park and along the dyke.  Today, there was a huge flock of Snow Geese in residence - they are often here for a few days in the spring and fall.  The park is located at N 49.10.225 W 123.11.180: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

11. Tait Neighbourhood School Park

We paid another visit to a Richmond park after daycare today - it's nice for Charlotte to get some fresh air after being inside all day.  As we got closer to the park, I began to realize that the playground is geared towards bigger kids - in fact, there was a sign that indicated that it was for kids aged 5-12!  The swings were all for big kids and so I wasn't sure that we would find anything Charlotte-friendly.  But we did!

She needed a little help to climb the steep steps up to the top of the slide, but I was right behind her.  A double slide!  Charlotte had me sit on the right side while she took the left - every single time.  We held hands, wiggled forward, and whee!  My white skirt was good for nothing but the laundry afterwards, but we both had a ton of fun going down the slide together.  We did it over and over again until we were both cold and ready for home.  Charlotte found a nice stick to take home for Theo and this playground is now on our list of ones to return to when she's older - or the next time we want to experience the fun of the awesome double slide!

Given that this is an elementary school, there are no geocaches nearby.  The park is located at N 49 11.781 W123.06.729:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI

6. Larry Berg Flight Path Park, Richmond

Larry Berg Flight Path Park has undergone a major overhaul in the last few months.  It's not a playground in the usual sense of the word, but we're counting it as one anyway because the brand new globe that rises up in the centre of the park is, according to YVR's blog, meant to be climbed on!

I had promised Charlotte a ride on the swings today, but when we got to our original destination, Grauer Park, it turned out not to have any swings for little kids, so we continued on.  Perhaps that's why Charlotte was so upset when we got to this park - she had been promised swings and they were not part of the deal.  She cried the whole time we were there, which wasn't long given the circumstances.  Though of course we made time to do a little geocaching...

I had found a geocache in the park a long time ago, but it was obviously gone as it used to be in the area that had been completely renovated.  I was happy to realize that there was a new cache to be found - and find it we did.  It was called "On Top of the World!" - and was indeed at a pretty high altitude for Richmond!

It was too bad that Charlotte was so distraught while we were there - even the sight of the planes flying so close overhead as they came in for their landings wasn't enough to cheer her up.  Looks like we will have to save this one for another day - she might appreciate the map a little more when she's a bit older!

The park can be found at N 49.11.054  W 123.08.925:  https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI&authuser=0&hl=en

4. Burkeville Neighbourhood Park, Richmond

Another Friday afternoon, another post-daycare playground!  The playground here was a little big for Charlotte, but of course, she gravitated towards the swings anyway, as usual.  Four little kid swings - two pink and two blue.  She tried one of the pink ones first before she decided she wanted to switch to a blue one.  There are lots of picnic tables in the park as well as tennis courts and a basketball court, but the very best part is that this park is right under the flight path for YVR and jets roared overhead every few minutes, much to Charlotte's delight.  This would be a great place for a picnic for her in the summer because she loves the planes so much, but it's a pretty noisy place to be!  There is a geocache at the northern end of the park, "SISE 08" - part of a series that explores "Sea Island South East".  I had found it already, but Charlotte didn't feel like caching today - the allure of the swings was just too much.  We stayed till we were cold and hungry, but she was still very upset when it was time to leave!  The park can be found at N 49.11.316 W 123.09.069: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=z7IAXiVD2wGY.ke14vi-3MYtI