156. Jim Lorimer Park, Burnaby

Once a week, I either walk or take the bus past this playground on Gilmore Avenue in Burnaby, not too far from where I work.  I've always told myself that I would have to bring Charlotte here and add it to our playground blog - and today was the day that we did it!  It happened quite by accident; we were heading elsewhere, driving down the next main street over when we saw a train coming down the tracks towards us, way up in the distance.  As we are never ones to miss out on watching a train go by, we turned off the street we were on to see if we could find a spot from which to watch the train.  Well, I don't know if it was some kind of Famous Five-style spook train or if my eyes had been playing tricks on me, but no train appeared.  We did find ourselves across from this playground though, so we slapped on the sunscreen and headed over to play.

There were no other kids to play with unfortunately - perhaps because it was so hot, but then again, I've never seen more than one or two kids playing here.  A teenager came and hung out at the top, engrossed in her phone while we were playing.  But we had a good time; I got to take care of the ice cream shop, which made me happy as I got to hang out in the shade.  We spent a good half hour playing, before we headed out, needing a cold drink and some air conditioning.  It's a pretty decent playground that's got some stuff that's challenging for Charlotte - it's just too bad there's no one to play with!  Unfortunately, I didn't have any memory left in my camera, so I've had to use a stock photo for this post.  The playground is located at N 49.15.759 W 123.00.831 and is point no. 156 on the map at the bottom of home page.

149. Crash Crawly's, Coquitlam

My company hosted a kids' Christmas party at the amazing Crash Crawly's.  I never did figure out if Charlotte had a good time or not!  She played on the climbing structure - with her hands over her ears the whole time.  She rode the miniature train - with her hands over her ears the whole time.  The only time she took her hands away from her ears was when she needed them to emphasize a point with Santa.  She talked his ear off and made sure he knew exactly what she would like to see under the Christmas tree.  The indoor playground is located at 1-1300 Woolridge Street, Coquitlam and is point no. 149 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.

85. Delamont Park, Vancouver

What a beautiful day! It was so sunny and warm, but we had lots of things to do, so we got an early start on the day so that we could get it all done and still have lots of time to play outside. I had a little shopping that I wanted to do in Kits, so we parked near Delamont Park so that we could nab a geocache and a playground at the same time. I had looked for the cache, "Historic Kitsilano" before, but had been unable to find it. That was back when it was hanging in a tree and I was looking in the dark - but by now, the cache has been moved to a much more cacher-friendly location and was soon in hand. Charlotte had a great time climbing on the little Jeep structure then sliding down again all by herself. It was a nice little neighbourhood park with lots of kids playing and lots of dogs passing through with their owners. Some of them paused to gnaw at a smashed pumpkin left over from last night! As we headed down to the shops, we cut along the old railway track to get there. I believe there is only one line in the area, so this must be the one that they wanting to put back into service again. I guess they had always maintained the right to do so, but the line sure is close to the houses and the playground! After finishing our shopping and having some lunch, we headed back to the car, passing through the playground once again. Charlotte had one more go on the slide before we were off to see Paula and Gabi - to make up for missing the birthday party last week! The playground is located at N 49.15.948 W 123.09.143 and is point no. 85 on the map at the bottom of home page.

77. Riverview Park, Vancouver

Our first post-daycare outing in quite some time! The days are noticeably shorter than they were last time we went out after daycare and fall is definitely in the air. We found “Another Marpole Hide” first; I was so proud of my girl who wanted to open the cache herself, then said “Please have the log book?” so that she could sign it herself. She is getting to be quite the little geocacher! We headed over to the playground and Charlotte met a little boy named Mason, who was just a little bit younger than her. They played a little bit and did a brilliant job of taking turns driving the train. I heard from Mason's dad about the new playground in Terra Nova that opened while we were on vacation and that everyone has been telling me about. I told him about John Storvik playground in Anacortes, but I'm not sure he's willing to make the trek! The playground is point #77 on the map at the bottom of home page.