Biker Boy

For Father's Day Kyle got some bike clothes like he always wanted. OK, I admit it was a bit before Father's Day and Kyle tried on and purchased them himself. But something like bike clothes they HAVE to be there to get them in the correct size, right? Right?

So for Father's Day he took the girls for a quick ride which they enjoyed very much. They called me on the phone when they reached the bay and I chatted with the girls while Kyle drove them home. At one point, the call got disconnected, but the girls were clever enough to call me back.

Driving the Car

While we waited outside of Fry's for Meghan and Dad, Adelaide had fun adjusting all the car's settings and trying to drive. While Addy kept herself entertained, I experimented with the camera to see if I could get a shot of myself that didn't look terrible. It is mildly unfortunate that when I look back through my saved pictures I never have any of myself. I don't want my children to wonder what I looked like when they were young.

When Meg and Dad came back, they had something fun for us.

So despite the late hour we went home and watched Toy Story.

Rengstorff Park - The Big Slide

So at Rengstorff Park there is a big concrete slide that you ride cardboard down. I generally don't allow the girls to play on it because we never have cardboard. But the other day a group of young girls (probably 4-7 in age) brought some cardboard and were riding down the slide. Meghan watched them for a minute, then fetched a piece of unused cardboard and tested it out. After that, she would do nothing else and out slid all the other little girls.

Bubbles

Blowing bubbles is one of the few things we can do on our tiny patio. Since Meghan loves to be outside much more than I do it is something that she does a lot.

Chilling Together

Serra Park

At first glance, Serra Park seemed like it was a perfect park. Fenced off from the road, swings and playground equipment, a pretend town and steamship, sprinklers and even a little creek to play in. Plenty of shade, but enough sun as well. But then as we played there I realized that this park was designed by someone who had heard of how to have fun as a kid, but never actually done so.

The giant steamship and pretend town has nothing going for it. You can walk up the one set stairs and then walk on the top deck. Yippee. No slides, only one wheel to turn, no pulleys or a million other things that you could put on the equipment for the kids to actually do. Yes, I know the whole "Kids have lots of imagination so you only need to supply the place" argument. But it obviously didn't work. My girls walked up there maybe once, looked around and came back down to play in the sand. In fact, I saw hardly any kids playing on the big steamship except the older kids who took over the playground with their nerf war.

The playground equipment they do have is small, but its better than nothing. Except the slide is metal (ouch, burn). And for some reason all the swings swing crooked no matter how hard you try to get them to go straight.

And this was my biggest pet peeve. The cutest little creek with stepping stones and just the right height of water to play in without fear of your kids drowning. But what does the sign say? No Wading. Good grief. Why have a little creek if you're not going to let kids wade in it?

The sprinklers were fine, if a little weak. And there were lots of shaded, pretty paths to walk. But that was about all this park had going for it. And it had sand. You can't go wrong with sand.

Perhaps it would be lots of fun with more friends to play with but that is true of any park.

739 The Dalles Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA

Washington Park

By special request, another park review!

Washington park is near the library. We go there every time we go to the library. It is a very nice park. There is a fenced area for young children - we play here most of the time so I don't have to chase the girls all over if they wander a little further from me. It also has bigger equipment outside of the fence - a medium one and a big kid one. The only thing that bugs me a little is the water spout that kids can turn on inside the baby play area. There is ALWAYS one kid playing in it and making mud and personally, I don't often feel like my kids getting muddy. Its usually not a problem because Meghan spends most of the time finding rocks for her treasure box and Addy will swing until the cows come home.

840 West Washington Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA

A Short Weekend Visit

Kyle's family came to visit over the three day weekend in May. Since it was only a short visit we had light entertainment. We took a trip to the park.

Have I mentioned before that Kyle thinks playgrounds are for him?

We also took a tour of Google.

Here are the kids in the Google Ball Pit. We also found the tube slide that goes from the 4th floor to the 3rd floor of one of the Google buildings. It was way fun. I even went down even though I was 8 months pregnant. I couldn't get out by myself at the bottom but it was an awesome slide.