This park is one of our favorites, although amongst my children, it is more commonly called the train park. We used to live right up the street from here, so we would walk here almost daily. I kinda miss being so close, but we still come here regularly. This is a great park for picnics, large gatherings, play groups, or just playing.
The first summer that we were here, neither of my kids could climb up to this slide on their own. There isn't really an easy path up, but once they do get up, it's a fun slide. There are also a couple of smaller slides that are much easier to get to.
The kids don't have any trouble getting up to the slide now. There are two ways to climb up, which were hard for little ones, but now that they're older it's not a problem. There is also that tube. When my kids were little they seemed to have a really hard time getting up the slope. I don't see other kids having quite as hard of a time with it as mine did. Now though they have lots of fun climbing up and down everything.
Deano calls these stepping stones. It took a while for them to be comfortable stepping across and going down and up, but now they have fun with it. Then the only problem is that on the far side, the only place to go from there are the monkey bars, which my kids are not quite old enough for.
This bridge made me so nervous when they were little, because the rail there is so high. When we moved to Green River two years ago, Andrew was only 15 months old, and he did take a tumble off the bridge. Now though, the bridge is central to their make believe games. Today Deano was telling me that there was a river running under it, and he had a toy helicopter that he dropped down into the river and it got swept away. Later it became the deck of a pirate ship and the wood chips beneath were the crocodile infested waters.
This train is fun. Deano used to be a little bit obsessed with Thomas, and so the train park was his favorite place in the world to go... here and the bridge that went over the actual trains. They always have to spend at least a little time on the trains, if not most of the time.
Now that they're getting bigger they like to climb up the sides and on top of this train car. It made me really nervous when they first started, but they do okay now.
There are lots of big trees along the back of the park which provide shade, a fun place to play make believe games, as well as a barrier between the park and the little ravine behind the park. A couple of these trees are decent climbing trees for older kids, although my kids get frustrated that they're not big enough yet.
One of the best things about this park is the pavilion. It's pretty big with a few large picnic tables. It makes for a good gathering place.
One of my kids favorite things to do here, which drives me crazy is play in the sand in the volleyball court. I don't like that it is so far away from the playground and the pavilion where I usually am. It's not such a big deal anymore, but when Andrew wasn't even two yet and he would always end up over there it drove me crazy. Now it's mostly just messy, they often come home from this park with sand in their shoes and their hair. Someday maybe we'll actually play some volleyball: what the big sand box was actually intended for. There is also a basketball court over here.
This park has a lot of grass... lots and lots of grass, which is another reason why it's good for large group things. I've been here several times where they have the picnic tables laid with food, and lots of people on blankets or camp chairs surrounding. I've seen big football games, ultimate Frisbee games, an Easter egg hunt, birthday parties, lots of stuff. It's a good park for that sort of thing.
I've enjoyed this park more this summer than past ones, mostly because my kids are older and I don't have to worry about them so much anymore. Next year though, Isaac will be old enough to fall off of bridges, so that'll be something to look forward to.
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