Parks

The city of Glendale has a lot of neighborhood parks. According to a realtor we talked to once they call them "tot lots". Many of the parks serve as flood control in case of a big rain. There was a nice park for the kids when we played disc golf too.

So when I knew the kids and grandkids would be here at Christmas time I decided we needed to go play at lots of parks. I started noting the locations of the parks as I drove around. And I came up with the activity name: "A Park a Day". Unique, right?

Sadie and Zachary would be here for 2 weeks. Calvin for about a week. I figured they could go to our little neighborhood park in the mornings and then all of us would go to a new park after their naps. The plan would have worked beautifully except the stomach flu came for a visit and knocked us down for about a week. Plus Zachary was NOT sleeping too well for his own reasons.

But we made the best of the situation and did visit several parks. Each one had its own personality. And during the Christmas visits we played on swings, ladders, bumpy slides, curvy slides, circular slides, steps, tunnels, animals on springs to ride on, teeter-totters, picture totem poles, dinosaur bones, soft cushiony ground, rubberized wood chip ground cover, sand, peek-a-boo holes, talking tubes, bars to swing on, bars to hang on, and bars to slide down, and so much more. And boy did they play!

Sadie, of course, was the fearless leader - her favorite thing was playing in the sand. But she did it all.

Calvin hadn't had so much experience but Evan helped him out and he seemed to enjoy the slides pretty well. Then he just liked to walk around and explore the park - usually taking a good amount of time inspecting the benches.

Zachary was not able to enjoy too many park features. But he did get to see lots of fun stuff. His usual activity was sitting by the steps and watching Sadie and Calvin (and Evan too) go racing by. He did love the swings! One day when the DeWitts came over and we went to play sand volleyball he must have played in the sand for 30 minutes or so. Nice.

So for those of you who like parks - come on over. Glendale has lots. They have some nice "splash pads" too for those who might come in the summer months.

P. S. Those of you who have so much snow and cold in the winter that they might want a nice place to go and get away from that - take note that these pictures are right at the end of December AND the kids aren't wearing jackets AND Zachary is without shoes. We have lots of beautiful sunny pleasant days to share with everyone. AND we'd love to share them with YOU!