101. 59th Street Public Park, Seattle, Washington

What a way to finish off our year in playgrounds!  I had found this great playground right next to the zoo and was so excited to take Charlotte there to play before we went in to see the animals.  But last night, Charlotte had been looking like she was coming down with a cold and by the time we got to the playground, she was not feeling herself at all.  She didn't want to do anything without me holding her hand and then she just found a spot to sit and slump in a corner like a sullen teenager.  She wouldn't even let me take her photo.  She didn't perk up much even for the zoo animals, though she did do some building in the Zoomazium, which is where the photo is from.  I couldn't let my 101st post go by without some kind of photo!  She quietly ate her picnic lunch and then I asked her if she would like to see the giraffes - those were her favourites and she was looking forward to seeing them.  Well, she was asleep by the time we got there; I picked her up to show them to her and she woke up just long enough to give them a wave before she fell back to sleep.  So much for the playground, so much for the zoo, but we did manage to find one geocache within the zoo, "Caution: Children at Play".  The playground is located at N 47.40.282 W 122.21.14 - which also happens to be the posted coordinates of a puzzle cache that I couldn't solve!  The playground is no. 101 on the map at the bottom of home page.

And so we did it!  We've had a great time visiting 101 playgrounds, but there are so many more to go, even within walking distance of our house.  I think we'll keep up our blog - but maybe we'll slow down the pace a bit and maybe even visit a few repeat playgrounds that are worthy of a return visit!  Thanks for reading along with us.

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.