Park-a-Day Summer Challenge

The Indianapolis Star has featured AngieSix's top 5 parks from the Summer Challenge!

A playground doesn't have to be brand new or super-fancy to be fun. It just has to have that one special element that makes it challenging or enticing to a kid's mind.

Read 'It really is like child's play' on the Indianapolis Star's website. Way to go Angie!

The Orange County Register has posted a great article highlighting one of our fellow Challengers: Michele Whitaker (aka playparks).

“The kids really soaked in all the benefits of a summer outdoors," Whiteaker said. "Wildlife sightings, stress relief, extra exercise, putting a priority on family free time, turning off technology, sharing adventures to new places, and getting to know our community better."

Read 'Local mom blogger takes on Park-A-Day Challenge' on the Orange County Register website.

Great job Michele!

Well, summer is officially over today, and the park-a-day summer challenge has been pretty much over for a few weeks, but I thought I would write up some notes on my experiences adding to (and subtracting from, which is just as important) the Map of Play. If I can get some of you to try my tips, hopefully I can multiply as well.

It's not too cold yet to get out to playgrounds with your kids, but winter is just a few months away, and rainy days that might not deter you in the summer can make an afternoon at the playground less appealing. Even when the weather is cold and wet, you can still contribute to the Map of Play and join me and two-time park-a-day challenger floridamom on the Playspacefinder 100 list (http://hello.kaboom.org/badges/badge-finder100) - I just got that badge yesterday.

Park-a-day challengers have probably visited many if not all of the playspaces near where they live, but you can find and add playspaces that are a bit farther away, without leaving your living room. And you may discover some that are really worth a trip just by themselves, or playspaces in locations that you will be visiting in the future. There are a lot of internet resources out there that can provide information about playground locations with details and descriptions that allow you to add fairly complete playspace entries, sometimes even with photos.

Some of the best sources are the web sites of parks and recreation departments. I added a lot of playspaces in my hometown of New York City based entirely on the information at the excellent New York City Parks Dept. website (http://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/playgrounds/) - it not only has a comprehensive list of playgrounds in the parks but provides information on facilities with maps of every park, and even photos for some of them. The larger individual parks also have support organizations like the Central Park Conservancy (http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/?park_quadrant=&map_feature=playground) and Riverside Park Fund (http://www.riversideparkfund.org/visit/Visitor-Information-Hours/?c=Visitor-Information-Hours) which have good lists (and often better descriptions than the Parks Department sites). In the Capital District (Albany-Troy-Schenectady-Saratoga) I found (via internet searches on the names of a few playgrounds I had already found) a number of excellent PDF documents with recreation master plans and reviews for the town of Clifton Park (http://www.cliftonpark.org/townhall/pdf/RecreationFindings.pdf) and the city of Albany (http://www.albanyny.org/_files/Recreation_facilities.pdf). One of the nice things about those is that you can use pictures from those reports, as they are public information paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Often there are local blogs that have lists of favorite playgrounds - one of the local starting points I used was Capital District Fun (http://www.capitaldistrictfun.com/category/playgrounds/) which had a spreadsheet of local favorites; others were MaltaMama (http://www.maltamama.com/2/category/parks%20playgrounds8d0c9dad52/1.html) and Small-bany (http://small-bany.blogspot.com/search/label/Playgrounds). Be sure not to plagiarize from blogs - if you quote from their descriptions, be sure to credit them (including a URL), and always ask permission before using their photos. You can often get photos that you can use from Flickr or Picasa - the Google Image search has an advanced option that allows you to filter only photos that allow reuse (under conditions) - if you do use those photos, be sure to credit them and put a URL in the photo description. Wikipedia is often another source of photos, especially for larger parks, and their photos are all Creative-Commons licensed for free re-use.

Those are all great ways to find information for adding playspaces, but now I will reveal my secrets for finding duplicate entries that can be removed. The removal process is unfortunately still pretty manual - you have to send an e-mail to webmaster@kaboom.org and it will take several days or even a week or two before somebody at KaBOOM! will take care of it, but it is absolutely worth it - it seems like the entire KaBOOM! staff will know your name if you send in duplicate reports regularly, and their compliments and thanks are positively effusive.

One of the most effective tools for finding duplicates is the State/City Playspace Browser (http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/countries/US/states), another link to which you can find toward the bottom of the playspacefinder page, right above the leaderboard (where your username should be featured after adding all those playspaces using the tips I gave above :-). If you select a nearby city it will give all the playspaces in that city, sorted alphabetically. I found seven or eight duplicates just looking at Niagara Falls, NY (from the Playful City, USA link) and just now, in Brooklyn, NY (http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/cities/2010) I found two entries for Lafayette Playground (although those are not duplicates - just different locations with the same name). However, Nuestros Ninos seems to be a duplicate, also the two Lindower entries with similar addresses that Google puts in different parts of Brooklyn due to misinterpreting Mill Ave as Mill St for one of them.

Geographical location errors are a frequent source of duplicates, another is the occasional "failure" (which actually succeeded) when adding a playspace - I have created some duplicates myself that way. The little map that pops up when you add a playspace should reduce the number of geographical errors, but they still occur. You can even use that map to spot other duplicates near playspaces you are adding, by mousing over other pins that are close together, especially ones with the little (+) magnifying glass on the pin. Another technique for finding duplicates when adding playspaces, is to search for the playground name - this can reveal other entries with misplaced locations in the general area.

I haven't reported these Brooklyn duplicates, so anyone of you who reads this can do it and get the practice/karmic credit - add a comment to this post if you do, to avoid duplication of effort). I'll briefly walk through the process for Nuestros Ninos. The first step is to open up both playspaces and make sure they really are duplicates - in this case the addresses are identical, which pretty much confirms it. Make a note of the two URLs (especially the playspace number, e.g. 90462 and 98633 in this case) and note them in your e-mail to webmaster@kaboom.org.

Now you need to determine which is the better entry and try to migrate any data from the weaker one that isn't present in the better one. Really the only data you can migrate are the address, description, amenities information (remember my trick of appending /amenities/all/edit to the basic playspace URL to see/edit this all at once), and photos (which you need to download at the higher resolution you get if you click on the little pictures - be sure to copy the descriptive text for the photos too). A lot of times the duplicates will have some of the same photos and/or information, so hopefully you won't have too much work. If there are a lot of photos or other data on both entries, it may be better to let the KaBOOM! staff try to merge the entries using their internal access to the playspacefinder database - just note that fact with the relevant URLs in your e-mail.

Once you have determined the weaker one, you should edit that playspace to add "(duplicate)" or something similar to the playspace name. This makes it clear to the KaBOOM! staff which is the weaker one, and can help prevent another playspace editor from the wasted effort of making a duplicate duplicate report.

Occasionally the duplicates won't have any information (like photos, ratings/reviews, fans, comment posts) that can't be removed by editing - in this case you can just re-purpose the entry for another nearby playspace that you would have needed to add. Just change the name and location, edit the description and amenities lists to match the new location. You won't get the added playspace count, but you will get immediate gratification on the "delete" and save the effort of the KaBOOM! staff.

For larger parks (e.g. Central Park and Riverside Park in NYC) there may be a playspace entry for the park itself as well as individual entries for playgrounds and other facilities in those parks - these aren't really duplicates (as long as there is just one entry for the park itself and each facility).

When you are done, you should have an e-mail that looks something like this (because you will always find one more duplicate right after you send the first e-mail with a whole bunch of duplicates :-):

One more:

http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/62958-gluck-park-duplicate
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/63008-gluck-park
- second has better amenities list, the first's one photo is also present in the second

On Sep 20, 2011, at 23:50, Alexander Dupuy wrote:

Following the link from the USA Today article on playful cities (Niagara Falls was the only one in New York) revealed a number of duplicates:

http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/63033-70-th-st-park-kies-duplicate
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/63053-70th-street-park
- the first (63033) entry has just a single photo and rating (duplicate of the second)

http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/62960-gill-creek-park
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/62981-gill-creek-duplicate
- the second entry has just one photo and rating,

http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/63026-hyde-park
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/63046-hyde-park-duplicate
- both have photos and ratings, but the second only from one user

Well, this was very long, but I hope people will find it helpful, and maybe, just maybe, it might get me upgraded from "Novice" to Student or Scholar of Play or something. I certainly still have some things to learn - perhaps playparks can tell me how she gets those hyperlinks and bold text in her posts to this forum?

Here were my goals for this summer:

• Create a "park inventory" spreadsheet detailing the 200+ parks on my blog and which ones I've added to KaBOOM's Map of Play. This will help me keep track of which parks are on the Map of Play (some of my listings were complete, some were missing photos from a bulk upload, some were new to the map).


• Visit at least ONE new-to-us playground a week, especially focusing on the ones missing from my index for South Orange County. (We ended up visiting 20 new parks in 12 weeks.)


• Post a new playground to my blog every weekday in August. These posts take 3-4 hours when you include the time to: choose a park, PLAY at and photograph the park, upload and edit the photos, find resource links to city websites, sometimes create video slideshows, map it on my blog's playground map, write the blog post, and add the park to KaBOOM. So with 23 weekdays in August -- that made for at least a 70+ hour commitment just for the last month of the challenge.


• Play outside every day - whether we visit a playground or not. There were many days that we hung out at playgrounds that are already on the map. We also spent a lot of time with free play in our community pool and just playing in the yard.

Here are our Top 5 Playgrounds from the Summer Challenge:

Arroyo Park in Newport Beach
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/98919-arroyo-park
I tend to like playspaces that are right in the middle of everything, but don't feel like they're right in the middle of everything. This one is next to shopping and a major university, but most people don't know it's there. The basketball court was gorgeous!

University Community Park in Irvine
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/9623-university-community-park-and-adventure-playground
I love the all-ages appeal of this playground. It also has a boulder to climb on and lots of spinning and climbing apparatus. A big boulder arch is the well-used centerpiece.

Ocean Breeze Park in Laguna Niguel
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/98870-ocean-breeze-park
Ocean Breeze Park is a peaceful spot where the kids can play and the parents can see them from afar. I like that the covered picnic area and basketball court are so close to the play areas.

Eisenhower Park in Seal Beach
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99669-eisenhower-park
One of my FunOrangeCountyParks.com reader's picked this one, because: "It's always nice and cool and there is so much to do. Walking around on the pier, shopping on Main St., the beach right next to the playground, and our favorite coffee shop is there, too. It's wonderful!"

Harry Dotson Park in Stanton
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99668-harry-m-dotson-park
I don't know Stanton very well, but one of my reader's suggested this park. It's beautifully maintained and I think it's a great example of how to run a first class play place in a less affluent neighborhood.

[I second Angie's thank you's to Kerala and Jason. Always a pleasure to work with KaBOOM! You made it easy and definitely made our hard work/play feel appreciated. Big applause to those challengers who really did tackle visiting and mapping 50-100 new parks this summer! That's amazing!]

Thanks!

Here are our Top 5 Playgrounds:

1. Cyntheanne Park: We love this park because it's unlike any other playground around (it uses the EVOS Play System) and it's challenging for even my 9-year-old.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/96641-cyntheanne-park
2. Oaklandon Play Park: The one and only wooden park we found this summer! A great park for hide and seek, and if you're lucky a train or two will go by!
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99578-oaklandon-play-park
3. Founders Park: The newest park of the bunch (like less than a month old!). This one is a hit because it has lots of "boulders" to climb and jump from, along with sand play.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99578-oaklandon-play-park
4. Brooks School Park: My 9-year-old said it best: "Lots of things to play on and so much room to run! And it has a creek. And a snow-cone stand, even though you never said 'Yes.'"
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/16998-brooks-school-park
5. Dr. James A. Dillon Park: Our favorite spray park. Lots of shaded places for parents to sit, and a fairly innovative playground adjacent to the spray park if the kids need a break from the water.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/3928-dr-james-a-dillon-park

The worst playground? Hands down the one in our neighborhood, Harrison Thompson Park:
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/17007-harrison-thompson-park

It's just a bad combination of old and cookie-cutter. There are lots of kids who use the ball fields at this park, so something as simple as a merry-go-round or a large spinning disc would be great. Really any piece of updated equipment would be nice, but something that would allow multiple kids to play on it at once would really enhance this playground.

I also posted a round-up on my blog: "Top 5 Playgrounds in NE Indianapolis"
http://justlikethenumber.com/2011/09/top-5-ne-indianapolis-playgrounds

Thanks so much Jason and Kerala for such a fun and inspiring project to be a part of! It definitely won't end here for us! It's been so fun learning about where and how others play, too. What a pleasure it's been getting to know everyone.

Here's my first Top 5 on my blog: Top 5 Mom Highlights from KaBOOM Park-a-Day Challenge

I will put up a list of my 5 favorites for the press release tomorrow. I just need to finish adding them to the map.

We explored a few new places and then some places we were familiar with. My top 5 parks are:
1. Medway Community Centre Park and Splash Pad - there is something for everyone at this park and it is a new facility located in an up and coming part of the city. http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99305-medway-community-park

2. Alexandra Park - This is a park in Strathroy Ontario that functions as a major play area for the community. We found this park fun if you want to play on equipment or in the sand. http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99075-alexandra-park

3. Blue Beach in Grand Bend - Located in walking distance to the park in the wonderful community of Grand Bend. Lots of activity for everyone and comfortable seating for the parents. http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/98935-blue-beach

4. Heron Haven Park - Located in southwest London this is a small new park for families. It is very compact making it easy to keep an eye on your child. http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/98935-blue-beach

5. Stoneycreek YMCA TreeHouse - Although you have to be a Y member to use this facility it is perfect for those wet days or when the weather conspires against playing outside. My daughter loves it and regularly asks to go back. http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99292-stoneycreek-ymca-treehouse

We reached 50 playgrounds today!

Here's 5 of my favorite Calgary Playgrounds:

Prestwick Pirate/Castle Playground – This playground provides such a wonderful imaginative play backdrop. It has two large play structures – one shaped like a pirate ship and the other like a castle. I haven’t seen anything else quite like it.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/96548-prestwick-pirate-castle-playground

Nellie Breen Park – This park has been created as a real community space where people of all ages can congregate. Much of the equipment is designed so that it can be used by people of many different ages and ability levels, just in different ways. The carpet-like flooring further enhances its inclusive design.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/96605-nellie-breen-park-playground

Valleyview Park – This is a beautiful park with two excellent accessible playgrounds. There is a spray park and preschool playground inside a fenced area allowing for a lot of safe freedom for even the littlest kids. For school-aged kids there is a large playground within sight just up the hill. Both playgrounds have a type of equipment that is uncommon in Calgary and allow kids to take age-appropriate risks.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99111-valleyview-park-5-12-playground
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/99110-valleyview-park-preschool-playground-and-spray-park

Springborough Playground – This playground has something for everyone. The largely accessible flooring and ramps make it really appealing for early walkers and the large climber is set up so kids can move around without having to touch the ground. It also has a really popular large spinner which is really easy to turn.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/98879-springborough-playground

Helicopter Playground – This helicopter themed playground is big and has a lot of variation in the equipment. It will appeal to children of all ages and has largely accessible flooring.
http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/playspaces/96527-helicopter-playground-parkdale-west-hillhurst

This is an interesting blog from someone who is doing the park-a-day thing in a big way. I'm not sure if there's much chance she'll finish all 207 playgrounds in Manhattan this year, but she's bagged (and blogged) 35 so far since July 6 and will probably keep going long past Labor Day.

http://nycparkhopper.blogspot.com/2011/07/long-story-short.html

We had a great time this summer exploring parks! I created 3 "Top" lists. Top 7 Bay Area Parks, Top 5 Water Parks, and Top 5 Accessible Parks.

Top 7 Bay Area Parks
1. Adventure Playground in Berkeley. Fantastic park based on the concept that children should be left alone with materials and encouraged to build and create their own play space.
2. Howarth Park in Santa Rosa. Incredible community park that, at 152 acres, you could come to several times and still discover new things to do.
3. Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos. Wonderful park to picnic at, paddle board at or ride the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. No shortage of activities here.
4. Castro Valley Community Park in Castro Valley. The best park in Castro Valley with the most amenities and an awesome water play area to boot!
5. Central Park in San Ramon. In April of 2010 the play area was renovated and now there's an amazing new play structure. The water play area is terrific too.
6. Central Park in San Mateo. Beautiful downtown park with a great play structure and the most wonderful train
7. Koret Children's Playground at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Koret is considered to have been the first playground built in the US. It underwent a $3.8 million renovation in 2007 and is absolutely beautiful.

Top 5 Bay Area Water Parks
1. Robert Livermore Community Center Pool in Livermore. Fabulous place to take the little ones for water play.
2. San Leandro Family Aquatic Center in San Leandro. Great water play structure for the littles and it has a small water slide.
3. San Ramon Pool and Aquatic Center in San Ramon. The best aquatic center I’ve ever been to.
4. Silliman Family Aquatics Center. Indoor aquatic center for year round fun.
5. Aqua Adventure in Fremont. All the amenities of a great big water park without the great big price.

Top 5 Bay Area Accessible Playgrounds
1. Matteo’s Dream in Concord. This playground was spear-headed by a mom out of love for her son. It’s beautiful what can be accomplished when a community comes together.
2. Roberts Regional Recreation Area. Part of the East Bay Regional Park System. Home to the only specifically designed Barrier Free wheelchair accessible children's play areas in the Bay Area.
3. Cambridge Park in Concord. Cambridge Park is a certified Boundless Playground.
4. Ryland Park in San Jose. Bright play areas with train themed wheelchair accessible path throughout.
5. Everett Alvarez Park in Santa Clara. Both the big kid and tot play structures are wheelchair accessible and there are lots of activity panels.

We'd love to see other people's Top Lists!
Brenda

Top 5 local playgrounds? Share your picks! Please take some time to review all the playgrounds you have explored over the past few months, and choose your five favorites. Include:
- The name of each park/playground
- A link to the entry in our Map of Play (we hope it includes at least one photo!)
- A sentence or two about why this particular playspace made it on the list.
- BONUS: Is there a clear Worst Playground? How could this playground be improved?

How long does it take you to enter one park into the map. I find it's taking me 15 minutes when I post photos, comments, and a rating. Is there some shortcut I'm missing? (I think I read someone was going to post 22 in one night! That would take me 6 hours.)

I've posted a review of my 7th week of the Park-a-day challenge on my blog http://www.calgaryplaygroundreview.com/2011/08/kabooms-park-day-challenge-week-7.html

We've had a couple of light weeks as life caught up with us. My daughter spent a week at day camp at our local Y. She specifically asked to go to camp and while there she participated in hikes, running on the track, crafts, playing at the playground and swimming in the pool. This swimming seems to have been the catalyst required to get her to do bobs in the water.

Our second week was spent camping and it was done at the wide open space know as my in-laws. No playground but a trampoline that became her own personal play area.

Gordie and I were on the local Breakfast show yesterday talking about 3 great playgrounds people here may not know about. I was also able to mention Kaboom's Park-a-Day Challenge.
You can see it here Youtube Video.

We were also featured in a small article in a free local paper Metro News Article

It's getting to be that time of year isn't it? That time when Summer slowly starts moving to its end. Schools will soon be opening their doors to students, and at the same time, the Park-a-Day Summer Challenge will soon be closing. BUT NOT YET! We still have a new question for you to answer:

What did you learn this summer that you didn’t know before?

I've posted a review of week 6 of our Park-a-day Challenge on my blog http://www.calgaryplaygroundreview.com/2011/08/kabooms-park-day-challenge-week-6.html

We did it! We reached our goal! Right now we are sitting at 102 parks since May, and the kids still want to do more! I think the challenge we set out to tackle has been a great one for all of us. And we already have an idea for next year, to change it up a little. Looking forward to it. :)

Pictures of all the parks we've visited are in the album on the Monster Cookies facebook fan page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monster-Cookies/150378655022050

Homework. Sports. DVD's in the SUV. Iphones, iPods, iPads, Nintendo DS. Does your child ever get bored anymore?

Earlier this week, we asked, "Do your kids get enough boredom?" on Play Today. For our week 6 question, we want to know:

What has boredom inspired your children to do -- either on or off the playground?

Thanks to everyone who answered last week's Question of the Week about their favorite playgrounds! We featured some of them in our blog today: What sets a playground apart from the rest? Our Park-A-Day Challengers share their favorites.

I found this article from a blog I enjoy following and thought you all might find it interesting: Top Things To Look For In A Great Playground

Trying to catch up this week and get information from the parks we've been visiting uploaded. I switched my blog from Typepad to Wordpress last month and I grossly underestimated just how much work that was going to be, so I'm pretty behind. I've enjoyed reading everyone else's post, and might have just a *teeny* bit of envy for some of your cool playgrounds! No matter how busy life gets, though, we always make time to play :)

Last week was busy and my daughter really surprised us at the park. On Thursday evening my daughter and I picked my husband up from work and then headed to the new park/splash pad at the Medway Community Centre. This is the opposite end of the city from our home, but we had heard a great deal about it and decided to try it out. The entire time we were eating dinner our daughter talked about how she was going to play on the playground equipment then go get wet at the splash pad. This from a child who hates getting water over her head and in her eyes. Once dinner was finished she made a beeline for the splash pad, spent 45 minutes running through it, figured out the buttons and didn't complain when she got her face and hair splashed/wet.

The Medway park area has something for everyone including a skate park. Located between the community centre which runs lots of activities and has a skating rink and the Canada Games Aquatic Centre it is the perfect location for west end London families to go have fun.

On Saturday my mother-in-law took my daughter to the community pool in Dorchester. While there my daughter played on the equipment at the playground and then went swimming. The one thing that surprised my mother-in-law is that while the wading pool was open the splash pad was closed but once the wading pool closed the splash pad opened. This didn't effect them as they swam in the regular pool.

My review of our week 5 of the Park-a-day challenge is now up on my blog! http://www.calgaryplaygroundreview.com/2011/08/kabooms-park-day-challenge-week-5.html We went away for an extended long weekend and didn't manage to get to as many playgrounds as usual. I guess I'll really have to step it up this month if I want to hit 50!

In our quest to hit up every park in biking distance of our house we have stumbled on some gems like this new play structure in Pier Park in the North Portland Neighborhood of St. Johns. We followed paths through old growth trees and just kept finding cool things like a frisbee golf course, basketball courts and picnic tables and then we found this play structure deep in the park. It felt like we had mined a great treasure. Have you found a place like that in your exploring?

Here's a couple pictures of Gordie's favorite park that I talked about in the post below.

The past two questions of the week have asked for your opinions. For this week, let's go back to the truly important opinions-- your children's. Week five's question is:

Do you or your kids have a favorite playground so far? What sets it apart from the others? (Post a photo to the group if you have one!)

Just got word KaBOOM is building another playground in our city next week! We're going to make that, our park of the day and go for a visit and take some cool pics. Can't wait to tell everyone about the awesome experience that is KaBOOM!

Finally have my week 4 review up on my blog http://www.calgaryplaygroundreview.com/2011/08/kabooms-park-day-challenge-week-4.html
We visited 3 accessible playgrounds last week!

It has been a very busy week again. Last Thursday we decided to go meet my husband for lunch then spend some time playing in the park. Gibbons park was fantastic for this as it was a 5 minute drive from his work and our daughter got to make some new friends.

We're trying to meet up with a friends so on Friday night we headed to the Stoneycreek branch of our local YMCA where our daughter played in the Treehouse. My daughter loved it and while she ran around on the play structure my husband played on the dance mats. Really hoping this humidity would go away so we can stand to be outside.

Lastly on Saturday and Sunday our daughter was camping with my parents at Woodland lake were she got to play on two different playgrounds. In particular she likes to go down the slide on the big playground. She also got to fly her kite around the big playground which made her very happy.