Grijalva Park

Welcome to Grijalva Park!

A parent at M's school recommended Grijalva Park a while back, and when I first googled it, the description went on about a new sports complex, so I kind of wrote it off as a ball field. But I was so wrong!! What a cute park!! The park has huge expanses of green, and really well maintained play structures and gathering spaces.

It is also pretty convenient to our house. We could bike there and we saw several families who did just that.

engineer-in-the-making?

The playground had a tot lot and a structure for bigger kids. It also had a bridge perpendicular to both that separated the two. Kids if all sizes ran back and forth across it. There were swings for kids large and small, too.

Next to the playground there was a sand volleyball court (which M had a great time hitting balls to himself in) and large grassy field where a family was practicing soccer moves.

Oh, there is a large sports field, too, but it is fenced off and can only be used with advanced permission. It adds to the green feel of the park... But you can't actually use it. For our purposes, we had plenty.

I can't wait to go back!!

racing around the fenced-in field

soccer/volleyball

Eisenhower Park

the tot lot

I really wanted to love this Eisenhower Park. We have driven by it so many times and I looked longingly at the big duck pond and expanse of green space. We finally decided to go check it out Memorial Day weekend.

Yeah, Memorial Day weekend. So the park was packed - which is fine with us, except that it was also fairly trashed. I am not sure if it is always this way or just the result of a busy weekend.

The park is SO big. It has great green space to run around in. It doesn't have a ton of shade and Monday was HOT. There were several shady places, but they were pretty well staked out for holiday gatherings. The playgrounds were nice. The duck pond was scummy and had trash floating in it. But the ducks were fun to watch. I didn't see any swings.

more of the tot lot

Also, there were a couple of small, dedicated parking lots for the park, but they were all packed, and the neighboring shopping center had up a fence between it and the park (presumably) to keep

Our toddler had toy envy, and we weren't sure how to handle the situation. Normally we just tell him the toys aren't ours and encourage him to play with the ones we brought or head back to the playground, but my mom was with us and encouraged us to see if the other kids (er, parents) would share. So we let him borrow a ride-on toy we came across that didn't seem to have an owner in the immediate vicinity and kept an eye out to see if anyone claimed it so we could ask permission. Eventually one little girl stared me down and tried to tell me (I think... we were literally not speaking the same language and I had to think back to my high school days to ask her if the toy was hers) that the toy was her brother's. How does your family handle toy envy?

big kid play structure

Anyway, I can't say that we will be planning to return to this park, but one day we may have to give it another try...

How to Find a Park Near You: Shaffer Park

ride on animals

Our Sunday morning plans went bust (our dog picked a fight at the dog park, so we promptly left, tails between our legs), but we wanted to find someplace to get our energy out between rounds of unpacking boxes. We didn't have a lot of time, because, those boxes were still a' callin' and we certainly hadn't researched a backup plan with all the craziness going on lately.

The Tot Lot

So I opened up the maps app on my smartphone (which I have lived by since moving here, learning my way around and getting directions from here to there), found our current location, zoomed out a little and looked for a patch of green. There were two rectangles relatively close by, and one was named Shaffer Park. We weren't sure what we were going to get, but we have had pretty good luck with this method before, so we steered the car a few blocks away and found this little gem of a park.

There were two play structures, one for big kids and one for littler ones, each with their own swing set, and plenty of mulch padding. There were picnic tables and a covered shelter, lots of grass and shady trees, and a baseball field that was not being used at all. And the best part was that it was less than 1.5 miles from our house - so in the future we could walk, or better yet RUN, there, get a break while M played and then walk/run home.

baby swings

There are an abundance of parks in our area (to make up for the fact that no one seems to have much yard), but I can't help but wonder if this method would work in other areas too? Granted, sometimes, you really just end up in a big green field, which isn't bad if you happen to have a ball in the car (and we always seem to have a couple different sizes). But sometimes you get a real gem that you would have never found otherwise! I do a lot of asking around for suggestions, and following of a few local outdoorsy-parent blogs and Facebook pages for activity ideas, but have still found a good percentage of parks with this simple method of living in the moment (and capitalizing on technology). What can we do from where we are right now?!

What's the best park or activity you've stumbled upon? And how did you end up there?

Tot Lot structure

lots of green space, and a baseball field

the bigger kids' play area

Snow in Wrightwood, CA!

Since we moved to CA we have expressed an interest in seeing snow. Back in NC we would expect to see a couple of inches 1-3 times per year, and now that M is the age to really play in it, we didn't want to deprive him (ourselves?) of the experience. When you say "snow" around here, people instantly start jabbering about Big Bear, which I am sure is great for skiing and other winter sports, but this time of year requires snow chains on you tires, has a long windy road to get you there implying you should stay a while once you arrive, and reservations are already booked up. So I had asked all the parents I'd met at work to suggest a kid-friendly snow place, since we didn't plan on skiing, just making snow angels or something. Twice, Wrightwood came up, so we planned on this weekend. We were starting to worry that we'd missed the snow season, but then this cold, rainy weekend came up, and Wrightwood got 12-15 inches of snow Saturday night, and kept on Snowing into Sunday.

Luckily for us, this meant that the roads were still pretty open (meaning we didnt' need chains... because we don't - yet- own them, nor do we know how to put them on...)  but there was plenty of snow for us to play in, and it was actually falling, too!

When I googled Wrightwood, I got a link to the Mt. Hardware store (not to be confused with Mountain Hardwear, the gear/clothing company...), which looked like a great place to start: we could get a sled and any other winter essentials we found we needed, but also some advice on where to get the most appropriate snow. They suggested the city's Elementary School, about a block down the road: Perfect. The whole playground was covered in snow, which made the familiar that much more snow-seasoned for Mason.

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Boysen Park

We had a weekend packed with house hunting as we look for a good rental home (way more difficult than I had anticipated). So between visits and errands, we found time to get some sunshine, get some energy out, and visit some parks. One of which was right under our noses! Less than a mile from our current apartment, but in a direction we rarely go, hubby remembered this as it was nearing dinnertime, but we needed a break. This is Boysen Park, named after Rudolph Boysen who invented the Boysenberry (which later came to make Mr. Knott and his berry farm so famous) and was also a parks superintendent here in Anaheim.

the big kid structure - really tall!

seeing the big and little space shuttles

The park is really cool, especially for a little boy who loves airplanes. In fact, we had to hear "Air-pane! Air-pane!" all the way from the parking lot, across the large grassy field to the playground. There is, in fact, a retired airplane that has been cemented into place in a mulch bed. Kids can climb on the wings and into the cockpit. In addition to the plane, there is a spaceship structure with climbing walls and ropes, and a big twisty slide. There is also a smaller version for smaller kids, complete with three steering wheels. 

I will say, that this park was also crowded on a Saturday afternoon. I think there were several family events going on, and there were even a few suspicious gentlemen playing with the tiniest dice I have ever seen. However, it was still daylight, and we could easily see our car and we felt totally safe.

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A perfect trip to the park!

We have been to Irvine Regional Park playground several times, but this time all the pieces finally fell together perfectly and it was just a relaxing morning.

Even on a weekend it still seems a little crazy to make some breakfast, squeeze in a Skype call with our parents, and all get dressed (not even showers!), especially after a night of interrupted sleep. So we all welcomed the trip to the park as a nice break. Somehow we arrived with water, snacks, sand toys, a kickball, the camera, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and two coffees. The weather was warm. There were some other families there as well and M even shared his sand toys. He had a great time climbing up the stairs and sliding down the slide. Over and over. Digging in the sand. Chasing after his ball. Swinging along side the other kids. Daddy and I soaked in the sunshine and leisurely sipped our coffee (those of you with small children may appreciate what a rarity it is to enjoy your cup of coffee without fear of small hands threatening it at every moment).

Maybe M is just approaching the age where he can explore this whole play area with minimal assistance from us. In other words, the leash is getting longer.  Or maybe we just got tired of helicoptering and are finally give him his space... And its relaxing.

This is a short post, but I'll call this park hour a Kairos moment (thank you, Momastery for this term). :)

Citrus Ranch Park

Citrus Ranch Park in Tustin, CA

What a cute lemon-themed park. There are two play structures: one massive one for big kids, and one smaller one for toddlers. Both are surrounded by sand. The park also has a swingset. And probably the coolest theme are the walking trails through the lemon grove right on site. Over 900 lemon trees in rows on a hill, with a gazebo on top. This lookout point names two peaks you can see in either direction.

The park also ties into horse trails and sidewalks.

We had a great time test-driving all the slides and things to climb on!

It looks like a great place to have a birthday party, with the covered picnic tables, grills, and lots of open concrete space. There was even a yoga class meeting there on the weekday we visited.

The park does have some odd stainless steel commodes in the bathrooms, but its nice to have bathrooms.

This is definitely a favorite park!!

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