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.

155. SInclair Park, New Westminster

One of our closest unfound geocaches to home happens to be located a few metres from a playground - so we had more than one reason to head to Sinclair Park on this overcast day.  Charlotte played with Owlie and I helped them both down the fireman's pole and made a daisy chain for Charlotte to wear on her head.  We met a muggle who was exercising her dogs; she was going to move on at first, but we assured her that we were dog people.  Tyson may have looked scary to some people, but not to us!  We had a go on the swings and finally we saw our opportunity to look for the cache.  We came up short at first, but after taking the time to read the logs, we were able to come back later to make the find, which was simply called "Sinclair Park".  The playground is located at N 49.13.287 W 122.55.088 and is point no. 155 on the map at the bottom of home page.

154. Deer Lake Park, Burnaby

We were on our way home from nana and grandad's when we made an impromptu decision to stop off at Deer Lake Park.  The rhodos were in full bloom and we had a great walk through the gardens.  Charlotte had me read the plaque on every single bench we passed (kinda morbid!) and she asked everyone she met if they knew that she was FOUR - with four fingers prominently pointed in their direction.  We came across this climbing frame and Charlotte did a great job of climbing on it.  She fell off a couple of times before she finally managed to make it to new heights - but then she found herself stuck.  I had to guide her down as she was in a bit of a state and she made it safely to terra firma in the end.  It was nice to see her challenged by it as so many of the playgrounds have been scaled back.  I'll have to take her there again and see if she can get up higher next time - and more to the point, see if she can get back down again!  The playground is located at N49.14.416 W 122.58.277 and is point no. 154 on the map at the bottom of home page.

153. Westminster Pier Park - East Playground

Charlotte and I ditched pre-school and work early today - and set off on an adventure!  We took the bus down to the Quay and walked east along the boardwalk, as far as we could go.  We were in search of a geocache at the far end of the boardwalk ("There's a $^@#3 in my Boot!"), which we didn't find, but we had fun getting there.  Along the way, we stopped off at the west playground, which we have visited before, then here, at the east playground.  This one is much smaller than the west playground and designed for younger kids.  There were a couple of kids playing here, but they were being told not to climb (!) so they weren't a whole lot of fun to play with and we soon continued on our way to the giant W made out of shipping containers.  After our failed attempt at finding the cache, we took the glass elevator back up to street level and caught the bus home again for dinner.  Charlotte walked and walked - I don't think she ever walked quite so far in her life!  The playground is point no. 153 on the map at the bottom of home page.

152. Harwood Park, Burnaby

I park near this playground every day, so it's only fitting that I should one day bring Charlotte here to play!  There's not much going on here during the week, but on this Saturday morning, the place was packed with kids playing soccer on the nearby pitches and their younger brothers and sisters were all over at the playground.  All the parents were spinning the merry-go-round for the kids - who never tired of it and required a fresh supply of parents on a regular basis to keep the merry-go-round going!  The playground is located at N 49.15.147 W 122.59.187 and is point no. 152 on the map at the bottom of home page.

151. Kilmer Park, North Vancouver

We haven't visited many new playgrounds lately.  Winter is definitely here and our hearts are heavy after saying goodbye to our beloved Theo last month.  Still, three-year-olds need to get out and run and play, no matter how cold it may be and no matter how sad their parents may be feeling.  Today, we visited a playground not far from nana and grandad's house.  It was a stone cold day, but Charlotte still had fun, selling ice cream and playing on the slide.  She had even more fun off the playground, running up and down a nearby hill and sneaking through a "secret" gate in the fence.  Me, I was freezing, but Charlotte doesn't seem to feel the cold when she's busy having fun.  The playground is located at N 49.20.788 W 123.01.499 and is point no. 151 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.