March 2014
Lots of indoor activities
Gym At The Roundhouse
We have been to playgym's at other community
centers - Trout Lake, Mt Pleasant and Granville Island so we are
starting to get a sense about what is unique about each gym.
We normally go to classes Saturday morning at the Roundhouse but
Claira's last class was the week before and Nara's class was
canceled at the last minute with a sick teacher so we decided to
do the drop in gym. This gym doesn't have a bouncy castle
(the highest value kid gym item) but it did have a lot of vehicles
and a good selection of mats to play on.
NightQuest at The UBC Endowment Lands
This was our first year doing NightQuest - I
found it on the GVRD website. This event has been running
for years and it certainly popular with families. We arrived
at 7pm just before it got dark and pushed the stroller through the
various events.
The actual route is more than a kilometer
long and totally stroller friendly. Every few hundred meters
there are little displays where people in costumes talk about
animals. The owl and the flying squirrel was a crowd
favorite, but there were other stations for bats and shrews and
more. The trail was lit up with about a billion battery
powered tea lights. It was impressive.
Nara and Claira don't get outside in the
dark much so this was quite a treat for them. I enjoyed the
late night sunset (thankfully it wasn't raining) and all activity
going on.
Having young kids we had to get leave pretty early, but I could
imagine more fun as the kids get older.
Richmond Nature Park
There are a lot of rainy or overcast days
in a Vancouver spring so on a nice day, you really do feel the
need to go outside. We picked the Richmond Nature park
because it has an easy walk for the kids and Nara likes the
climbing ropes. We should expect more of this - Nara was
walking on the edge of the boardwalk and Claira tried to copy
her. It didn't take long before Claira fell into the leaves.
We looked for turtles, frogs and
dragonflies but we are too early in the season to see them.
Sometimes you can see the turtles in the winter (they are pet
store refugee's) but today they were all playing in the mud at the
bottom of the pond.
As I said, Nara really likes the climbing
gym. She needs a bit of help with the larger gaps and
doesn't climb very high up but she doesn't mind being at least her
own height off the ground without anyone near by. Claira of
course wants to do what she is doing.
Vancouver Aquarium
The Vancouver Aquarium is one of the prime
destinations for kids in Vancouver, but it isn't easy for
photography. The aquarium doesn't open until 10am which
doesn't leave much time before Claira needs to head in the
direction of a nap. Many of the exhibits are dark (under
water) which I'm sure is better for the animals but it is a
challenge.
Trying to parent while taking photos is a recipe for opportunities
lost. If guess if we just go enough times, I'll eventually
gather a set of images I like.
Tags: Richmond Nature Park(7), Vancouver Aquarium(4), play gym(4), boardwalk(2), lantern(2), Pacific Spirit Regional Park(2)
People: Nara(8), Claira(7), Helen(2), John(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > March 2014
Last Modified Saturday, January 28th, 2023 at 22:52:38 Edit
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