Grae’s new favourite game…
♥
Tag Archives: park
iPhoneography // The Perfect Playground
With the number of parks we visit around Vancouver, Gracen and I may as well be labelled playground connoisseurs. And while Grae has fun wherever we are, there is one playground that seems to be her clear favourite. It’s not big and it’s nothing over the top fancy, but it’s just perfect for her.
It’s the playground at the Langara YMCA on 49th at Alberta.
It’s one of those playgrounds that is perfectly suited to littler kids (I’d say probably ages 1.5 to 5). With the exception of getting in and out of the swings and climbing onto the airplane bouncers which are still a little too high, Gracen can do everything on her own at this playground. What makes it even better is the big firetruck apparatus she pretends to drive, the drums built into one of the climbing structures, the plastic bubble she loves to curl up in, and the covered area, complete with mini picnic tables for snacks and lunch on the go.
If you’re a parent to a toddler and you’re not too far away, I’d say a visit to this little playground would be well worth the trip.
Vancouver parents, which park/playground do you and your little one(s) enjoy most?
♥
Photos edited with Instagram. Find me under jkossowan.
Grays Park
Gracen and I finally made it to Grays Park for the first time today… I don’t know what took us so long – it’s almost the exact same distance from our house to Grays as it is to Queen Elizabeth Park, and we’re at Queen E. at least a few times a week. Either way, I’m glad we finally checked it out. Located at the corner of E 33rd and St. Catherine’s, Gray’s Park is a big green space that includes two separate play apparatuses, two sets of swings, an old-school concrete wading pool, multiple courts, and a public washroom.
Gracen really enjoyed the play areas. Besides loving the different types of swings (as she always does), she really liked the playgrounds too. Both were different than the ones we normally visit and had some great new tunnels and climbing structures for her to try out.
The wading pool was a hit also. Although it was COLD (like really cold), she was happy to alternate pool play periods with warm up breaks on our blanket in the sunshine. What I really liked was that I could easily go in wearing my skirt and because it was so shallow, I felt comfortable sitting along the edge while Miss G splashed her little heart out.
The only downsides we noticed were the bees (there were tons of them all through the park) and the fact that the pool was cleared every so often so a man wearing tall rubber boots, a rubber smock, and a Dexter-style plastic face mask could come in and sprinkle in what appeared to be chlorine/pool chemicals into the pool with a watering can (I guess I just figured that in a pool that is drained and refilled daily, these things would be skipped all together?) It’s probably not much different than being in a pool that has a more ‘automatic’ way of adding chlorine, but it definitely made you wonder each time he came out in full gear…
♥
Supergirl Goes to the Park
Today Gracen woke up and wanted me to tie a receiving blanket around her neck. Of course, Baby couldn’t be left out of the fun, so a small snuggly tied around her neck it was. I’m not sure what inspired this (maybe the graphic novels Papa’s been reading her while we all snuggle in bed in the mornings?), but today I spent my day with two mini superheroes. And there was no convincing either of them that capes are ‘at home things’ either… So off to the park we went, me and my two Supergirls.
I must admit, I’ve seen little girls dressed in princess costumes {and those “dancer”-esque clear plastic heels} at the grocery store and thought to myself ‘My kids won’t where dress-up clothes while out in public‘, but there I was at the park, with not one, but two in costume. I’m sure some of the other parents and nannies thought we were nuts. But then again, maybe they know just what it’s like…
Miss G did take her cape off while on the climbing apparatus and slides (safety first!), but you bet your bottom dollar she put it right back on again afterwards.
♥
Roz Edge Photography
I know I shared a couple of photos taken by Gracen’s Auntie Roz a little while ago, but over the course of this past week, my inbox has received several new surprises and I just can’t help but share. They’re just so beautiful.
Love, love, love them. If you love Roz’s photography style too, you should head on over and like her Facebook page. She’s amidst a 365 days project where she shares a gorgeous new photo everyday (some of my favourites: this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one). You’ll be happy you visited, trust me.
♥
Yay for Cousins!
This morning the 3 of us packed up our things and headed into Vernon to Grandma Sue’s house for the long weekend. My brother, sister-in-law, and their 3 munchkins arrived late last night from Alberta, so we’ve got the whole crew here (not to mention that my dad arrives from Alberta tomorrow too!) Gracen was so excited to see her cousins this morning that she went around handing out hugs and kisses to each one of them on repeat. After hanging out at the house for a little bit, Uncle Gary headed out dirt biking, and the rest of us decided to walk down to a nearby park for some outdoor fun. The kids pulled each other in the wagon, played on the playground, met new friends, and stared longingly at the {closed} peanut pool before it was time to head back for lunch and naps. Here’s our morning in photos…
Gracen and her cousin, Kinslee, just hanging out in the wagon together.
So happy to be hanging out with her cousins!
Chayton taking the little girls for a spin.
Korbin swinging with his new friends.
Loving the ring toss game Auntie Roz brought along.
A ride courtesy of her {6 weeks} younger cousin.
‘Oh, peanut pool, why aren’t you open?’
A heavy load for KJ.
Perhaps Korbin can sneak us in?
♥
Father’s Day 2.0
Because we didn’t really get to celebrate the real Father’s Day properly last week, we said we’d set aside a little time to do something special during our Okanagan vacation. So this morning, after Bradley had a chance to sleep in, we all got ready, packed up some things, and made our way to Polson Park. Once there, we played at the playground, explored the park, had a little picnic, opened the gift G and I made for Brad, and visited with the ducks. Despite the fact that much of the park was covered in a generous layer of water due to the recent rain, it was a gorgeous morning. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and the park was as green as could be.
Here is our morning in photos…
Swinging with Papa.
Soooo happy.
Snuggles and sandwiches.
Checking out the water park.
Grae and Mama.
A little gift.
Checking out Papa’s 2nd annual Father’s Day photo book.
“High! More high!”
High fives while swinging. No big deal.
Hungry ducks.
Sprinkling seeds.
Headed home.
♥
Park Lunch
Sandwiches in the park with my little lady. How lucky am I?
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Park Crawl
After a busy weekend with Gracen’s Grandma and Grandpa (a.k.a. ‘Manmaw’ and ‘Poppop’) here, we headed out for a relaxing afternoon at the park. We decided to visit one of our favourites a little ways from home, and on the drive over, Gracen spotted a different playground out the window and asked to visit. It was too late for me to jump into the lefthand turn lane, so I quickly decided we’d do both. Why not, right? We went to the original one as planned first, then stopped at the other one on the way home. A mini playground crawl to end our weekend was just what the doctor ordered.
Favourite saucer swing position. Sunnies mandatory.
Big girl swinging.
Balance.
“Muwahs” for Mama.
Cautiously crossing.
Space car riding.
Serious.
Recreating these photos.
“Mama, Grae Grae sleeeeeep.”
Her first time saying, “Higher! Higher!”
♥
Park Date
After a morning teaching Kindergarten, I hurried home to spend my afternoon at the park with Bradley and our baby girl…
Doesn’t get much better.
♥
A New Playground
Have I mentioned how much I love taking Miss G to new parks and playgrounds? I don’t know what it is, because we have plenty of great favourites already, but I feel like I’m always driving around with my playground radar in full effect. I’ll spot one in the distance, take a quick survey (Saucer swing – score! FOUR slides – sweet! Check out that merry-go-round!), make note of the location, and add it to my mental list of places to visit soon. (Oh, the things that get you excited as a mommy!)
Anyways, I scoped out this beauty of a playground a few weeks ago, and we just got to visiting it this afternoon. It was well worth the wait, let me tell you. The school it belongs to (Dr. Annie B. Jamieson) doesn’t look like much. It’s not new or fancy, but its playground sure is! It’s actually two separate playgrounds – one that is geared more towards older kids, and one towards younger ones. There are multiple swing sets, a saucer swing, one of the safest seeming merry-go-rounds I’ve come across, FIVE slides, and some really cool climbing apparatuses. Not to mention that it’s located right in / next to a park with a giant green space, a walking path, and an outdoor fitness park much like the one in our favourite Kuwait park. (Oh, Kuwait… How I miss you sometimes…)
Of course I took about a million photographs while there. Here are a select “few”:
All about spinning.
Sliding.
Trying to balance like Papa.
Swinging froggy-style.
Wheee!
Mama’s turn.
Just chillin’.
Little climber.
‘I’d be much happier if I had some company on this cool merry-go-round’…
Somehow I got convinced. Barf.
Our favourite – a saucer swing!
Fun!
Riding on her “bell buh” (bellybutton), as she calls it.
Her favourite way to ride… While someone sang Rock a Bye Baby of course.
I think we nearly put her to sleep! Time for dinner, a bath, and bedtime.
♥
Sand and Surprises
What do you do when you’ve gotten your munchkin all excited about going out and playing in the newly-filled long jump pit across the street, only to walk out the door to realize it’s pouring rain (the diagonal wind-powered rain that gets you straight in the face over and over again)? You put on your big girl panties, tuck your camera into your jacket, pull on your hood, and go make some sand castles. 
That’s what you do. ☺
Highlights
A few highlights from Miss G’s day…
Learning what a piggy bank is for and begging Mama for more and more and MORE! coins.
A trip to our mail lady.
Gracen taking a rock from her pocket, placing it carefully on each piece of equipment at the playground, and giving it “rides”.
The other highlight of our day was attending our first of several Stroller Fitness classes in Queen Elizabeth Park. Gracen was a go-with-the-flow gal and loved that her baby friend Tate was able to join us. Sadly, there are no pictures of the adorableness that was our babies all lined up in strollers… We were much too busy running up hills and lunging around the park for that!
A Day Outdoors
Yay for Brad’s first sunshiny day off in a long time! We soaked up every minute we could and filled our day with a morning trip to Granville island, seawall walking, cherry blossoms, and an afternoon trip to the park. Of course I celebrated by taking way too many photos {as usual}. Here are some of my favourites…
The usual Granville Island treat (a Terra Breads cheese flute), a mosaic bench, and a view of the river.
Off to see the cherry blossoms.
Papa and his little lady.
Strolling.
Perched in a tree.
Exploring.
Covered by blossoms.
Mama and her girl.
Sniff sniff.
Merry-go-round.
Spinning cup.
On top of the world.
Mini marathon runner?
Climbing.
First time on a big kid swing alone.
We really couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Our Easter Sunday
I don’t think we could have asked for a better Easter Sunday. For starters, Bradley had the day off work and the weatherman was wrong in the way you always hope he’ll be wrong… Despite the forecast for clouds and rain, the day was sun-filled and warm, which meant a healthy dose of fresh air and vitamin D for our little family.
Our day started with Gracen waking up to all sorts of goodies from the Easter Bunny. She carefully went through her basket, spending a little time with each item before moving on to the next…
Inside, she found several books…
An egg shaker…
A new sunhat to fit that ever-growing Kossowan head of hers…
A beautiful new dress…
A button-up perfect for spring… (Plus new stamps and ink pads, stickers, cookie cutters, bunny ears, a baseball cap, a summer dress, and more!)
After enjoying all of the Easter Bunny’s treats, it was onto opening her gifts sent down by Grandma Charlotte and Grandpa Dave.
Again, she opened each item carefully, pausing to investigate them before moving on. She especially loved her new wooden caterpillar puzzle.
Grae kept busy by strategically placing her new stickers all over herself (and the house) while we prepared Easter brunch.
Soon after, Uncle Brett arrived and we all sat down to eat.
With brunch cleaned up, it was time to pull out some of her new goodies! This little lady is all about stamping right now.
When she’d had plenty of stamping, we put on her pretty new dress, got her egg collecting basket, and headed into the back yard.
Some spots were a little tricky…
And some were not.
Either way, she collected those eggs like it was her job!
And when she had found most of the ones out back, we headed out to the front yard to see if there were more there…
Team Ogasawara was there to give pointers, just in case.
And then it was off to find the really tricky ones. Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up into the air!
Problem solved with the help of a shoulder ride!
When we sat down to take a closer look at Grae’s findings, we realized she had collected a new little friend in addition to her eggs.
A little wet slug!
Grae patiently opened each egg and placed the treats into her bucket.
Opening eggs is tough work.
Inside, she found all of her favourite treats – all sorts of nuts, raisins, freeze-dried berries, banana chips, and fruit leather strips. She was thrilled.
{Yup, this one’s especially for you, Gar and Mikey. Go on and make fun. At this point, I may as well participate in the daily ‘make fun of Jen and her parenting choices’ sessions… It’s more fun that way, right?}
Out front, she picked out her first treat and sat down to enjoy it.
Of course she shared a little with Unky Brett.
And then it was off to do a little exploring…
One of the other things Grae found in some of her eggs were these very weird little mystery Easter pills. We brought out a bowl of warm water, popped them in, and waited…
Some waited more patiently than others… Uncle Brett just couldn’t stand the suspense any longer, and helped the surprise arrive in a more timely fashion.
Easter-shaped sponges – woooooooooow!
We spent the rest of the morning outside and only went in when it was time for Miss G’s nap.
When Grae woke, the three of us headed down to Stanley Park to partake in more Easter festivities.
And guess who was there! The Easter Bunny himself, that’s who!
It’s a good thing our little doodlebug is a collecting machine, because she participated in yet another egg hunt.
The only problem was that the baskets were so small that her eggs kept spilling out when she’d bend down to retrieve more.
Not sure what it is about these things, but I just can’t seem to pass them up.
And with that, we boarded the Stanley Park miniature train.
We rode around, watching closely for animals and Easter eggs – both of which, Miss G pointed out plenty of.
On the way into the park, I had spied a little organic popcorn station hosted by Whole Foods, so after our train tour, we stopped in a grabbed a bag as a treat.
Gracen was all over it and kept saying, “Moore. Moore!” the way she does in her little accent.
We stopped and played at this crowded playground for a bit before heading down the hill.
Grae found herself a flower patch that kept her entertained for a while…
And when she had exhausted herself with flower picking, she bounced on Papa’s tummy instead.
With it nearing dinnertime, we headed back up to the hill to our car.
The best ending to a busy, fun-filled day? Deciding that stopping at Cactus Club for dinner is the way to go. Yay for a night off from cooking!
For a little trip down memory lane, you can see how we celebrated Gracen’s first real Easter here and see how we spent last year’s Easter Sunday here.
♥ Happy Easter from the Kossowaras! ♥