Thursday, April 25, 2013

Big Kid Park

We have several "tot lots" in our neighborhood, one of them is a short walk from our house and it's the one we typically go to. There are a few swings and little wood structure that you can climb on and that has a slide. Hunter loves it. I love it because it's usually empty or not very crowded when we go.

There is however, another larger park about 2 miles away, right next to our pool. It has lots of swings, a sandbox, a couple slides and many wooden "forts" to climb in.

 
I took Hunter there once last fall before he could walk so we mainly just did the swings but I had been wanting to take him back now that he can walk and the weather is nice. So we went last Saturday which was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.
 
I was nervous at first because I knew it would be crowded with "big kids" and I worried about Hunter getting knocked down or hurt somehow. We did the swings first and Hunter was in heaven watching all the "big kids" run around. Finally he wanted down. At first he was hesitant to go anywhere, due in part to being overwhelmed and having the ground covered in small rocks and pebbles which made it tricky to walk.
 
I took his hand and led him over to the wood walkway which was easier for him and after a few minutes he was off and ready to explore. I played the roll of helicopter mom and was always right by his side, shielding him from the big kids who were running around like maniacs. 


Staring in awe at all the kids and all the stuff to climb.

Nervously peeking around the corner.

Finally brave enough to climb up one of the forts.

Looks like baby jail.

"This is awesome mom!"
 
We only stayed about 30 minutes and I think next time I will try to take him early in the day before it gets too crowded so it's not so overwhelming and scary (for me, not him). But he had a great time and as he gets older I know he will love going here.

5 comments:

Fiona said...

Oh wow! How awesome that you have this (and other little parks too) close to home. Hunter is going to love having that as he grows. We only have one park in our town and it is falling to pieces. So sad. Excited to take Lids to parks like this when we go to visit family in Canada at the end of the summer! So fun!!

Stephanie said...

What a nice park! A little guy like Hunter would have a heyday there! We are thinking of taking Connor to swing for the first time this weekend. How old was Hunter when he used a swing for the first time?

Venassa said...

That park looks amazing! I'm pretty sure we have one like that around here that I'd love to take the girls to. It's hard to find a good park for toddlers. The one near our house is perfect, except there seems to be a lot of teens around yelling and stuff. Another one we went to, the steps to the slides and such were all so high off the ground that even I had to lift my legs really high to climb, let alone toddlers. But seeing the kids have so much fun makes all the fear of them getting hurt so worth it.

HickChickBritt said...

I just found a park like that a couple of towns over from us. It is awesome. Ours is pretty big and it was pretty busy, and I may or may not have lost Hayes a couple of times. In my defense I did have my step son with me too and he kept saying, "Brittin look at me!" haha
Mommy fail.

Anonymous said...

it's always a little daunting to take your younger kid(s) to a park that is filled with older (and rougher-playing) kids. i was also nervous but now that kayla's older (nearly 5) i'm more relaxed beacuse she now has more control over her actions/limbs etc LOL