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.

76. Lyndhurst Park, Burnaby

Charlotte and I went to claim my free Grand Slam at the nearby Denny's – I won't let my birthday go by without a delicious Denny's breakfast, even if I have to have it for dinner! We found a Harry Potter-themed cache hidden in a tree near the playground, “Floo Powder – Thanks for the Magic”, and then we headed over to play. It was already starting to get dark, I had a nasty cold and I still had to pack lunch for daycare tomorrow for the first time in a month – so we didn't stay for long. Still, Charlotte had a good time repeatedly climbing the ladder and sliding down the slide – all by herself, she would have you know. We had some tears when it was time to go, maybe because we only stayed such a short time.  It's been ages since she had a meltdown over leaving the playground. We don't have any pictures of this outing as I had left my camera in my jeans pocket – which I had changed out of following a sandy, muddy, wet outing to Barnston Island earlier today. The playground is point #76 on the map at the bottom of home page.

75. Myrtle Park, North Vancouver

We headed over to North Van today to see nana and grandad, but first we decided to check out a playground on this lovely fall day. Before we went to the playground, we tried to find the nearest geocache, Yertle the Myrtle Turtle, but our geo-senses were not sharp today and we couldn't come up with the goods. There are a couple of other caches in this large park, but Charlotte was ready to go to the playground by the time we gave up on Yertle. She had a good time here and managed a couple of new things. There was a curved ladder shaped like a roller coaster that she began to tackle and a “climbing mountain” that she managed to get up all by herself, using the little ledges for her hands and feet as she pulled herself up. She wanted me behind her because she climbed pretty high, but I was just there for reassurance and she didn't need my help at all. She also did a great job of balancing along a sort of net made out of chains – repeatedly!  Then she got her hands on my camera and she lost all interest in the playground - she seems to be quite the budding photographer these days!  We were having so much fun at the playground that I forgot to take a waypoint, but it's point no. 75 on the map at the bottom of home page.