How Wee Travel Saved my weekend

I am about to digress slightly away from my normal beaten track here, but I feel the need to babble on about my weekend.

A while ago I agreed to house sit for my folks, who live near to us here in Victoria, but it was Thursday before something of critical importance dawned on me. Our 1.3 year old daughter ‘S’ isn’t famed for her sleeping skills at the best of times but recently she has taken a serious dislike to her pack and play, which is what she has to sleep in when we go anywhere. So here were my choices for the weekend:

• Put her in the pack and play and have her moan, screech and flap about unhappily all night
• Have her sleep with us, which would mean no sleep plus a good kicking, scratching and screeching for my husband and I
• Unscrew her crib- which is no easy feat- and reassemble it up at my parents’ house

I was starting to panic when a friend suggested Wee Travel. A bit of handy googling and I ended up at http://weetravel.ca/ where, to my delight, I saw that I could rent a crib. A beautiful, pristine folding FULL size crib. I got in touch immediately.
Less then 48 hours later I stood amazed at my parents house as I watched ‘S’ snoring away peacefully. No complaints, no fuss, no painful assembly. She slept all night. Anyone who has had two children within three years knows the precious sanctity of a decent nights sleep, so for that, Wee Travel, I owe you my weekend!

Launched in Vancouver by sisters in 2005, Wee Travel Baby Equipment Rentals has now added two more locations, Toronto and Victoria. They provide a full range of hard-to-pack baby accessories for hire, including car seats, strollers, cribs, playthings, highchairs and useful accessories that will make any visitor comfortable. Now I’ve done my fair share of traveling with our kids and have never used a service like this before now, so it seems ironic that I ended up testing them out for use at my parent’s place, only 7.5 minutes drive up the road. But Wee Travel’s Victoria owner Jennifer, made the whole thing so easy for me that I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Wee Travel also has formed partnerships with a whole bunch of useful and relevant organizations such as car rental agencies and hotels. They also have an exclusive partnership with a beautiful Vancouver vacation rental suite. Making it as easy as possible for their clients, Wee Travel items can be reserved on the phone or online, and you can choose to pick your rental items up or have them delivered. On top of all of that, they rent or sell the CARES child airplane harnesses and sell the super-cute Trunki kids Luggage.

I was so excited about the whole crib/sleep thing this weekend whilst house-sitting that I got sidetracked and forgot to paint. Yes, I forgot to paint. However, Wee Travel gave me the luxury to get distracted because if ‘S’ had been in that pack and play, I’d have been a whole different person this weekend!

Leeds Park Playground- Saanich

Leeds Park is one of those tiny little parks that's completely surrounded by houses and unless you had a reason to go there, you probably never will. However, if I lived there, I'd be thanking those exact circumstances and the fact that someone decided to build a teeny little playground right there. You can get to it right at the end of Leeds Place and there is limited parking but I doubt it ever gets very busy.

My photos aren't great because they were taken on the phone, but we discovered this great little playground after taking a wrong turn one night just before dusk. My son, who was fed up of accompanying us on grown-up errands all day took one look out of the window and yelled "PLAYGROUND!" So we were pretty much committed.

On a gravelly sand base, this playground is a little gem with two climbing towers connected by a tunnel. There are two straight metal slides, a low one for the little ones and a high one that is actually one of the steepest slides that I have seen. There a various options to climb up and down and a great activity wall feature. There are no amenities but I have the feeling that the clientele can probably all run home if they need a drink or quick trip to the loo.

I don't know what else to say about this playground other than if there was one of these within throwing distance of every child's home we'd have healthier, happier kids.

Howryod and Onyx Park Playground- Saanich

Squashed between Howroyd Ave and Onxy Place there is a piece of grassy land with a small playground on it. It's probably one of those parks that you would never see unless you lived nearby or had a reason to pass, which we did on Christmas Even after dark when we realized with a jolt that we'd forgotten to buy Bailey's. My dad and I cut through the park on the way back from the liquor store and I vowed to visit it in the light to review.
So that's exactly what we did on Boxing day. It was bright, sunny and cold and so we wrapped up warm in mittens and multiple layers and hit the playground.

On a base of gravelly sand, this is a surprisingly well equipped playground considering it is small and tucked away. There are swings- a toddler swing and a big kid swing, a nice high mental slide, a metal seesaw and a climbing frame car.

There are no facilities here except for a bench and a picnic table, but it's a decent sized grassy space and enough to play with to wear kids out before nap time. Our infant girl, S laughed and laughed in the swing and after sampling all the other equipment, pre-schooler, 'A' found a big stick and proceeded to happily draw lines in the sand for a long time. At last, a good use for sand, which as you know is not my favourite!

Eleanor talking about things to do in the rain on Real Parenting show

Craigflower Park Playground- Victoria

Craigflower Park Playground is the 4th playground on the edge of the Gorge that we've visited. You can access the small car park from Gorge Road W just before it joins Admirals and the playground is a hop, skip and a jump from there.

It's not a huge playground, but the equipment is in good shape. There are the usual double big kid, double toddler swings, a metal seesaw a whale bouncy thing and a teeny tiny climbing structure. The climbing frame is really just a low one-platform tower with steps up and a short double metal slide. This is all on gravelly sand.

The real attraction of this little playground is not the equipment, though it is often crowded in good weather; it's the location. Perched on the top of the Gorge, there are sweet views, grassy areas, trees, lovely landscaping and of course, the fabulous Gorge Waterway path that winds all around the water's edge. There is a lot to see and do and even the occasional event or festival to visit. And when you're there, make sure to top off the visit with a quick play at the playground!

Rudd Park Playground- Victoria

Rudd Park is one of those parks that you could drive past over and over and never really have any reason to stop- unless you play baseball, play soccer, have a dog, or of course, want to visit their playground. Located between Irma St and Whittier Ave, and Harriet Rd runs a long the far end.

The playground is an older construction with wooden beams, metal bars and plastic trim. There are two structures, one for small kids that features a ramp, low turret with two platforms, two activity walls a short plastic slide and two toddler swings.

The bigger kid structure features climbing platforms, two slides- a wide metal and a curly plastic, two big kids swings and a bunch of older-school metal climbing options. This is all on a base of sand that is sculpted out of an enormous grassy area. There are a couple of old fashioned digging machines and a seesaw.

There are washrooms and picnic tables and shade close by. Street parking is easy and there is a parking strip on Irma very close to the playground. This is not the most exciting of parks but has good solid facilities which are in good condition.

WildPlay Ticker winners!

Congratulations go to Robin who won the 3 passes and Andrea who won the two passes. We all hope you have fun at the new park!