We have had fun going to different parks this summer, both in Minneapolis and in St. Paul. Since it is no longer just James and I running around, we're not going off into the woods like we would probably do nor are we riding the bike and trailer as much either. We tend to stick more to parks with good playgrounds and plenty of shade. A gem of a park is just down the street from us. Highland Park is a pretty big park with two golf courses, a disc golf course, an aquatic center (with water slides that James and I will have to check out later), and a great playground. To James, Highland Park is known as the Tubey Park.
This playground has a lot going for it.
- A separate play structure for little kids
- Plenty of things to climb on.
- Lots of shady trees for us to lay a blanket under
- Bathrooms and a drinking fountain close by
- Picnic tables/shelter
- A BIG BRIDGE that we can walk over to see the vehicles going up and down Montreal Ave.
- A big tubey slide, a really big tubey slide, and a little tubey slide.
Drawbacks
- When it is busy, it is really busy, especially if there are summer camps going on
- Safety features make it a little hard to see what kids are doing up in the large play structure.
This park went from being pretty good last year to one of the best this year. Last year, James would go up and down the big structure but was kind of small and only just barely held his own when there were bigger kids running around. He also wouldn't go down the slides. They were too scary. A week or two ago, a little girl went down the big tubey slide with him, and later a big kid went down the bigger tubey slide with him so now he thinks they're great.
Here he's telling me that he is being brave going down the bigger slide.
As I mentioned, the bars and panels on the big structure do make it kind of hard to see the kids inside. This morning, James started crying for some reason. I asked some moms, who seemed to all be at the park together, to keep an eye on Thomas and I dashed up the steps to find a sad James crying up at the very top. He was eventually able to tell me that some big boy (or boys) hit or pushed him. We came back down and sat in the grass for a while. After hugs we talked about how most kids we meet are pretty nice (like the little girl and big boy who went down the slide with him) but sometimes there are people who aren't so nice. A few minutes later a mom brought her son over and tried to have him apologize to me and to James. He was a snotty kid who was pretty sassy to her too. I appreciated her thought, but wasn't too upset to see her take her son away for a while.
Time to play Find the James. He's up there. I trust him pretty well when we're at parks, but when there is so much to climb on, it can take some time to figure out where he is.
One of the bonuses about this park is the big pedestrian bridge that links the part of the park we were at with the part on the other side of Montreal Ave. James loves to go on the bridge to watch the cars and trucks going up and down the hill. I like the bridge for the view of the river valley.
"Look daddy. A big truck!"
On the other side of the bridge is a part of the park that is usually pretty quiet with lots of picnic benches and a very little play structure. It's a nice place to be outside for a bite to eat. Not far beyond the pavilion in this picture is a big dome that is home to Circus Juventas, a local circus school. They put on shows several times each year. I don't know much about them, but I hear their shows are pretty good.
This park is, by the way, where Sarah and I have hosted our past two pie contests. We're planning our third annual pie contest for mid to late September. It is really less of a serious contest than an excuse to visit with friends and eat an absurd amount of pie.
I'll have to do better than this fail-pie. It just didn't set very well.
Sad pie. Happy belly.
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