Park visit #3 actually happened the same day (immediately following) park visit #2. If you missed #2, scroll back about 4 posts. (So -- this visit was *almost* two weeks ago.….insert clearing of throat here).
Moving on -- park visit #3 was "Roosevelt Park". If you're local, this park is basically at Broadway & Magnolia -- east of the railroad tracks. I personally had never been to this park, but Luke had several years ago when he visited with a friend. Amazingly, he vaguely remembered the visit.
For our visit this day, we packed our lunch from home. But, when we first arrived, the kiddos had no interest in lunch as they wanted to check out the equipment.
Look closely in the pic to see Luke & Kate. It was a rather chilly day in late May, relative to Kansas; therefore, both kids were actually wearing pants.
This park has a small shelter for eating -- would be great on a warmer day than that particular day.
After eating but before playtime continued, I *made* Luke & Kate take the obligatory park picture.
Then, they returned to play!
Aanndd -- no blog post or park visit (or any other happening in our life) would be complete without Kate crying...I think, in this pic, she had just fallen or something. Who knows??? So many exhausting tears with this girl...(And -- the smile I seem to have with her in these crying pictures, in all truthfulness, may possibly be somewhat fake. Sometimes, I'm completely compassionate with her tears. Other times, I'm annoyed. Just being honest here....BUT, when I'm old and more gray than I already am, I'll want to remember. Hopefully, I can chuckle at that point).
And, as Luke & I have been attempting to do at the end of each park visit...the "good" and the "not so good" about each park...
The Good:
***Fun equipment for kids probably 5-6 and up
***Sheltered eating area, albeit small
***Large area for playing soccer or football with friends
***Tennis courts
***A little ways off from Broadway (a *busier* street for our little fair city; a huge LIKE for Mamas of kids like Kate who like to run off quickly)
The Not-So-Good:
***Not great equipment for younger kids like Kate
***No noticeable restrooms
***Not a huge amount of shade (but more than in some other areas)
My only other *beef* (remember -- I'm from Kansas), and I'm WELL aware this can happen anywhere, was that some older kids showed up unsupervised and obviously bored seeing how, at this point, school had been out for a whopping two days (Ha!). I had to ask two of them to please quit throwing the "chips" that were the protective ground cover underneath the equipment. (One piece had hit Luke, and I'm not sure they even realized it). I also witnessed a 5 year-old make a foul gesture at another kid. (Use your imaginations here, folks). Fortunately, both Luke and Kate are young and sheltered enough at this point in their lives that they didn't even notice. In all reality, besides being annoyed, I was honestly sad that the 5 year-old was there with NO adult supervision and was making gestures like he did.
These two incidents were enough to make me not want to visit this particular park too often even though Luke liked it. I also must remember that, perhaps when Kate is a wee bit older, this park would provide awesome opportunities for our family to be Lights for Christ -- to kids who might not otherwise hear the Good News of Christ.
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