Riverside Park

 

There is no road access to this park. You have to walk in. There is a path down the hill fairly nearby, but where's the fun in that. Usually when we come we park on the island and the kids bike in. When we went this time though the river festival was going on, so we thought we'd avoid the island and park a little ways on the other side and take a walk to the park. Little did we realize that the river festival included stops all along the river on the green belt, and the park was right in the middle of it all. I guess it wasn't the best day to come, but we went anyways, and even stopped at some of the stations along the way. 

 

 

 Here at the park, there are a few nice trees, and a nice place for a picnic. Unfortunately with other stuff all around, it was hard for the boys to focus on lunch, and I almost had to beg them to play on the playground so I could get some pictures.

 

There's nothing really all that unique about the playground itself, just your typical playground stuff. Usually when we come though, the highlights are the bike ride and throwing rocks in the river, both of which we skipped today.

As usual in a park with sand, this was their favorite part, and where they spent the most time... at least when they were at the playground. Today though, there were just so many other things to do and see, you would have thought I was punishing them by making them play on the playground. 

Just beyond the playground was a little obstacle course showing how fish have to swim upstream, avoid predators and junk, gather food and oxygen, and then bury their eggs in the sand. The boys could see it from the playground, and it just looked so exciting that it's all they wanted to do. 

Right by the playground there was another station that had a bunch of animal furs, etc. displayed. Dean I think enjoyed that one. Both on the way to the park and on the way back, the boys had to stop and look at these fish. 

None of these extra things are usually here, but it made for a fun trip to the park anyways.

Pioneer Park

 I have not been to this park before. It just seems like it's primarily meant for the people living in this neighborhood. It is a public park though, so here we are. It turned out to be a fun little park. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just small, and quiet. 

They had fun climbing on this,

 swinging on this,

 

climbing up this

 and sliding down this.

 

  

Of course any time there is a wheel, the entire playground becomes a pirate ship.

There were those monkey bar things that my kids are too small for as well as a couple of big wheels that Deano kept trying to hang on. They're just too small still. It won't be long though before they'll be hanging on them. 

 

They spent quite a bit of time in this tube today. It's the same as the one at Indian Hills park, so I don't know why they were so excited about it this time; 

 

maybe because I let Isaac come play in it with them,

 

and maybe because I let Deano take pictures with my camera for a while. 

 On one side of the playground is a basketball court, and on the other three sides are little grassy hills. Deano kept trying to roll down the hill, but I don't think it was quite steep enough.

Century Park - Rock Springs

 I had been meaning to take my kids to more of the water in parks in Rock Springs this summer, but I really just hadn't gotten around to it. Some friends were going to go to Century Park in Rock Springs, and I agreed to go, even though I was sick and a little bit miserable. I only ended up being there for about 20 minutes before they closed the pool and we all decided to go to Blairtown pool instead, but this is what we did for 20 minutes. 

 The pool is just the right depth for Deano, and slightly too deep for Andrew, but staying on the steps he was just fine. until they decided to start emptying the tank for the water slide and the pool got a little deeper. At that point my boys went to play on the playground instead. The water slide was closed today, but it looked like it would have been fun. We'll have to come back next year when it opens again.

 

These slides were pretty steep. Deano never did go down them, although Andrew braved it once. I think there was a smaller slide on the other side of the playground, but my boys never really went over there.

 I'm not really a fan of this thing. It just seems like it would be so slippery when kids have been playing in the water, It's the same as the one at the splash park, and I don't really like it there either. I haven't seen many kids slip though, so maybe it's an unfounded fear.

 There were several different things to climb on, and those are always the things that my kids go for first, especially when they only have ten minutes to play.

I've stopped writing these they day we go to the park, and honestly, I don't remember what else was here. I think there was quite a bit of grass, and several trees. We'll definitely have to try this again next year.

Medicine Bow Park

I like this park, I'm not sure why we don't come here more often. And, as we discovered when Daddy drove off with car seats in the back of his car, it's within walking distance.

These have been termed "wiggly stepping stones" by my boys. It's a fair description. They don't try walking on them without holding on to my hands, but they like to sit on them and wobble around. 

This thing spins. If spinning didn't make me so dizzy these days, I totally would have tried it, it looks like it could be fun. Space training comes to mind for some reason.

These are fun to climb, and then they spin. These have been a favorite of Deano's for a while now, but I don't think Andrew has even tried them.

Then there is the teeter-totter. How many true teeter-totters are there anymore? The boys love it. 

There are lots of random things to climb.

I'm fairly certain that those are supposed to be hand holds, not somewhere to sit... especially since every time he gets in there, he gets stuck. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but there is a clear rock climbing wall just to the right of where Deano is. My boys haven't gotten very far up that wall and haven't really been all that interested. There was a bird that flew into it while we were here though. Probably not the best idea to make it clear I suppose, but it does make park visibility pretty good so I can still watch my kids playing when they're on the other side of the wall.

This thing rocks back and forth, and is pretty fun.

Andrew calls this the "giant top." They stand on it, and it spins. If they get the weight distributed right, it just keeps spinning.

On the other side of the park there is a big "spider-web." I don't particularly like that it is so far away from the other playground, so I feel like I either have to keep moving, or else can't keep as good of an eye on my kids. The boys do love it though, and as they get older, they get better and better at it. Deano was having fun being spider man.  

 

There is a pavilion with a picnic table by the spider web that could provide some shade, as well as several large trees, although I don't think the trees were very strategically placed for sitting to watch children play, I guess they're fine though.

In the past we have come and let the boys ride their bikes on the sidewalk around the edge of this park. I like that this park has so many unique things to do. Green River has some very unique parks, but many of those ones don't have much grass; this one has lots.

Overlook Park

 

 Overlook Park... Hey look there's the river. The name describes it well enough. It is a little tiny park area that overlooks the river.  It's hiding behind Jaycee Park, and I would never have known it was here. 

There is a little gazebo with a picnic table, a little bit of grass,

 

 there is a nice bench for sitting on and looking at the river

and in case you get bored, a little reading material on some historical stuff.

That's all there is to it.

There is enough here to keep kids occupied without food for about five minutes... which is exactly how long we spent here, which was okay because we had Daddy and Isaac waiting for us in the car.

It's not a great park if you want to take kids and go play, but it is a nice little secluded picnic area that I could see as a good date night or something.

Logan Park

  

We've driven past this park several times, but we've never actually come, although when passing it, my children have asked to go here, but it was always when we were on our way somewhere else (often hoover park). It's a fun park though. Not one I would want to go to on a hot day though. There is no shade, and no where really to sit down. It's a lot like Andrew's and Astle Parks in that way. 

Looking at this from a distance, it looked like something fun to climb on, but I didn't realize that the whole thing spins. Deano calls it the Spinny Tower... which is a pretty good name for it. This is where the kids spent most of their time. I got on it for a bit, but I got dizzy pretty fast. How come I used to be able to spin for ages without feeling dizzy at all, and now even just looking at it makes me a little dizzy?  I must be getting old.

According to Andrew, this is the up-and-down-inator (watching a little too much Phineas and Ferb maybe?) It was a fun teeter totter like thing. The kids liked it a lot, and I had fun on it too.

This thing rocked back and forth in a fun way, both kids played on it for a bit, but went back to the spinny tower pretty quickly.  

They were calling this a trampoline, and it kinda looks like a trampoline, and they were jumping on it like it was a trampoline, but it didn't look particularly bouncy. Either way, they enjoyed it, and anything to get them to wear themselves out faster, I'm all for. 

There are a couple of these dish swings, they squeak really loudly if there's more than about 50 pounds on it though (Isaac plus Andrew, alone they were fine). I feel kinda bad for the people that live right on the other side of that fence, that swing must drive them crazy.Individually though the kids were able to swing on them without too much noise, and they had fun.

We've seen this around at other parks before, and my kids are never really interested in it for more than a minute or two, but maybe one of these days they'll give it more of a chance. 

It's a fun park to go to on a cool evening or maybe in the weather gets cooler. I wish there were a bench to sit on or something. I sat on the fence for a bit, but it's kinda rickety in places. I was a little surprised at how many cars were driving past on this seemingly quiet neighborhood road, but I guess I shouldn't have been, because I use this street as a shortcut too.