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.

150. Go Bananas, North Vancouver

The weather these days has been really, really terrible.  I'm all for getting outside to play and get some fresh air, but this weather is totally inhumane!  I was told there is a good free playground in Capilano Mall, and given that we have just spent an awful lot of money on our beloved Theo, "free" was good.  Well, we went upstairs to the Go Bananas and it wasn't free at all, but I didn't have the heart to dangle this amazing playground in front of Charlotte and then tell her she was out of luck.

The guy at the counter had a little more spark to him than employees at these types of places usually have.  He had Charlotte excited to go and play - but once we got in there, she was disenchanted by the loud noise and the rambunctious older kids.  I convinced her to go play and I tried to read, but it was no place to sit back and relax.  Charlotte emerged from the playground on a regular basis and I kept coaxing her back to play.  Finally, I gave up and we left - $12 I'll never get back.  At least we didn't get rained on.  Go Bananas is located in Capilano Mall at 935 Marine Drive, North Vancouver and is point no. 150 on the map at the bottom of home page.

110. Robert Burnaby Park, Burnaby

It's been a while since we visited a new playground, so the first weekend of spring seemed like a good time to go and try a new one!  The weather wasn't supposed to be good at all today, but it started clearing up in the early afternoon, showering on and off.  We "parked at the park" to Charlotte's complete amusement and she ran down the hill to the playground while I sorted out Theo.  Another little girl came by with her parents, but they both stuck so close to their daughter that there was no chance there for making a new friend.  Shortly after they left, another mum showed up with her two kids, one older and one younger than Charlotte.  Charlotte played nicely with them and all was well.  The little boy, Donovan, climbed up on a piece of equipment and couldn't get down again.  While his mum was helping him down, little Capri took off like a shot.  She didn't look much older than a year and she probably didn't need to be high up on the equipment on her own, so I ran down and stuck close to her until her mum was ready to turn her attention back to her.  It was really nice - she thanked me for helping and it was pretty awesome - just a couple of mums looking out for each other at the playground, just like it should be.  I played pirates with Donovan for a couple of minutes and then Charlotte said she was ready to leave.  Only she didn't want to go back to the car, she wanted to go over to the nearby hill to go roly poly, roly poly!  The hill is a steep one, perfect for tobogganing on the rare days when there's enough snow to do so.  Charlotte tipple-tailed all the way down it - four times!  It took about a dozen tipple-tails to get to the bottom, so she probably did about 50 tipple-tails in a row and I don't know how she didn't get dizzy!  She would have gone again if I hadn't convinced her it was time to head home and change out of her wet clothes - the grass was still soaking wet from all the rain we've had lately.  There are a dozen geocaches in this park, but none of them showed up in the GPS today; we've already cached out the park!  The playground is located at N 49.13.907 W 122.55.728 and is point no. 110 on the map at the bottom of home page.

100. Thornton A. Sullivan Park, Everett, Washington

After Christmas and Boxing Day at home, we headed down to Edmonds to see our friends "TheClueFinders" and to attend their party on Saturday night and go to the zoo the next day.  It had been raining on and off during most of our drive down as far as Everett, but as we got further south, we could see some sunshine ahead of us and I thought we were in for a nice break at a playground I had googled beforehand.  It wasn't raining when I pulled into the parking lot - but it began to pour before I had even had time to get Charlotte out of her carseat!  Still, Charlotte needed a break and there are still two playgrounds to go by the end of the year, so she donned her Muddy Buddies and off we went.  Her Muddy Buddies were noted by a family who had just moved to the area from Texas and were still learning how to cope with the rain!

We had a good time on the playground in spite of the rain, then we went to find a nearby geocache "Silver Lake View".  The playground is on the southwest shore of Silver Lake, which was chock full of birds today - a huge flock of coots, some huge cormorants, and a handful of buffleheads.  We found the cache without too much difficulty - and no wonder, since I had actually found it before, back in June 2011, on a caching mission with Mr. ClueFinders!  I had realized that I had been here before as soon as we pulled up in the parking lot, but I hadn't realized that I was after the exact same cache!  At least Blackford Girl got a new cache for her stats.  We left the playground still in the pouring rain - and wouldn't you know it, the sun came out about ten minutes later further down the highway.  The playground is located at N 47.53.611 W 122.12.877 and is point no. 100 on the map at the bottom of home page.

82. Million Smiles Playground, Lynden City Park, Washington

Charlotte and I planned a trip to Lynden, Washington today so that we could attend a geocaching event, “The Ice Scream Man”. Before we went, I googled “best playground in Lynden” and the Million Smiles Playground in City Park immediately popped up. The pictures were amazing and this playground was clearly going to give John Storvik a run for its money!

Unfortunately, the weather was terrible all day. At least it was “just rain” when we were at the playground – as opposed to a “torrential downpour” while we were at the event. Charlotte got kitted out in her Muddy Buddies for the first time this season and we went to check out the playground.

It was very similar in design to John Storvik, though this one was much more commercialized with a little row of playshops for the little ones to play in – each one prominently displaying the name of a local sponsor. I wasn't too thrilled with the commercialism and the wet weather swayed my judgment a bit too, but even so, I think this one wins out over John Storvik because of the amazing three-storey playhouse. We climbed up to a very dark little playhouse – which lit up as soon as we got close to the top and made the place very cozy. It was entirely closed in and made for a great little spot to hang out. There was a twisty slide from almost the very top that was just a black hole – Charlotte refused to go down it – and refused to let me go down it either!

The park itself is lovely, situated on the banks of Fishtrap Creek. We will definitely have to come back here and make a day of it when the days are longer and the weather is nice again. There are a couple of puzzle caches nearby that we will need to work on too! The playground is located at N 48.56.963 and is point no. 82 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.

78. Burns Park, Coquitlam

The weather this weekend was supposed to be terrible, so when the sun came out late this morning, Charlotte and I seized the opportunity to go out to play. We chose this playground because it's not too far from the Superstore, which we can save for when it starts to rain again! Everything at the playground was wet, but the damp weather was keeping other people away and Theo was able to roam while Charlotte played. She took on the “climbing mountain” repeatedly – up and down, with her shoes squeaking on the wet plastic with every step she took! We played on the balance steps and then we just sat on a dry patch of wood beneath a tree to watch the crows and squirrels playing on the grass. Charlotte was thrilled that if we were quiet, they would come closer to us and before we left, she left a little nut in a place where the squirrels would find it. The playground is located at N 49.14.539 W 122.52.561 and is point #78 on the map at the bottom of home page.

71. Memorial South Park, Vancouver

Brr!  It may still be August, but today, fall was in the air.  Maybe even winter!  This large park has several caches in it and I was hoping to cache the park out, but Charlotte only had it in her to get two before she wanted to hit the playground.  We cut across the playing field between the two caches, flushing out all the mosquitos that were hanging out in the wet grass.  They swarmed us!  We managed to shake them when we returned to the dead, brown, end-of-summer grass in the rest of the park.  There were a few kids playing on the playground with not a parent in sight - very refreshing!  They were a bit too old to want to play with Charlotte, but she had a good time anyway, digging in the sand and swinging off a bar as she's doing in the photo.  It was truly cold though, so I convinced her to come back to the car with me sooner rather than later - and we got back just as the skies opened and the rain began to pour.  The cache is located at N 49.13.836 W 123.05.158 and is point no. 71 on the map at the bottom of home page.