Evers Park

 Evers Park, more commonly called the Splash Park. Its a little surprising how few people know that this park isn't actually called the splash park. There are a lot of other events that get held at this park throughout the year and whenever I see Evers Park, it always takes me a minute to figure out that it is the splash park. 

During the summer months, this is frequently the most crowded park around, but I very rarely see anyone here in the winter months. It just doesn't have quite the same appeal without the water I guess, although there is a nice playground, pavilion, bathrooms, and lots of good trees including a couple that have some good potential as climbing trees. It was very crowded today. When we first got here, there was a huge bus load of kids that left a while later, but even after that there were way more kids there that I would have preferred.

 Last year, Andrew spent much of the summer staring at the water wanting to go play, but he just couldn't bring himself to get in. He did some of that today,

 but he did eventually make it in!

 

 Deano went right into the water, played for quite a while, then eventually moved on to the playground. This thing always makes me nervous when they're climbing up it after being wet and slippery, but they've never fallen yet, so maybe I should just get over it.

 They always seem to prefer to swing on the bar above instead of just sliding down.

 They both love this zipline thing. I wish they didn't always need help getting up though. It's getting hard to lift them up with one arm while holding Isaac with the other arm. Today this random little girl decided that she needed to help push Deano along.

 I think Andrew was just as overwhelmed with all the people as I was. Everywhere he went there were people in his way, or he was getting in his way. A couple of times I wondered if he was intentionally blocking the paths.

 This little cave underneath attracts a lot of kids. I peaked in at one point and saw at least seven kids crowded into this small cave. I wonder if they're maybe trying to escape the heat? or if it's just a fun place to be?

 I thought this was kinda funny. Kids were literally climbing over eachother on this playground. It was a bit ridiculously crowded today. I guess that's what happens when we go to the splash park on a nice day after a cold spell. I guess everybody was eager to get out.

 The kids normally spend quite a bit of time climbing on and playing around this train, but they didn't much today. It's normally a favorite attraction. Deano kept gathering rocks into a water bottle he found, then climbing up and dumping the rocks back down. I don't know why that is so fascinating. When Andrew did eventually make his way over to the train he jumped off of it, and a little girl probably about the same age as him tried to catch him... it didn't end well, and we left shortly after. 

 Easily my least favorite part of this park (besides the crowds today... it's not always this crowded) is the river. Again, the river brings mosquitoes, but it also draws kids to it. One time last year on another crowded day like today, Andrew lost interest in the splash park (since he was too scared to get in the water anyways) and he wandered off. I eventually found him down by the river. It was terrifying and could easily have been tragic. Today I heard several kids today asking their parents if they could go down to the river. Most said no, but I did see several kids heading that direction some with parents, and many without. It's not so scary when there aren't a lot of people here because it's easier to keep my eyes on my kids, but when there are a lot of people, I always worry. A couple of times last year when Daddy came with us, we did take the boys down to the river and skipped rocks and caught crawfish. It is a fun little river to play in, it's easy to forget how dangerous it can be too, especially for my little non-swimmers. Gratefully though, today the boys seemed to have forgotten about the river, and I am perfectly okay with that.