After yesterday’s rain, today dawned bright and sunny and warm enough, I decided, to either go for a walk or to visit the playground. Bella cast her vote for the playground and so that’s what we did. Bella helped me pack up some snacks after breakfast (Bella said she could eat them sitting on the bench at the park.) and we all piled into the car and set out on an adventure.
I knew I’d seen a beautiful tree-filled park with a spiffy playground somewhere on my travels last fall; but I couldn’t remember where exactly it was. I looked at google maps and found a likely candidate and we set out, led by my trusty GPS to find a nice place to play. The park was not the one I’d remembered. It had a pond and many trees and a collection of soccer fields; but no real playground. We walked around for a bit in the stroller to see what was there but as I explored down a likely looking trail that followed some disused railroad tracks, Bella kept asking about a playground. So back to the car and back to the GPS to find more candidates. I had to transfer the sleeping Sophie from the stroller to the car seat but a flutter of the eyelids was her only movement as I strapped her in.
The next park was a bit hard to find. The GPS led us to a dead end street. The actual park entrance was on another street. This park seemed to be a collection of little league baseball fields. The sign indicated there was a playground but as the whole complex was behind a chained and padlocked gate, I assumed the playground was only for use during baseball games. On we went to the next park on the GPS’s list.
Once again the GPS led us down a residential street and not to a park entrance. Or so I thought. A second glance showed a small lane leading to a pedestrian gate with a small playground beyond. Not the one I’d remembered, but good enough. No parking lot, but I parked on one side of the lane and I hauled out the stroller and strapped the sleeping Sophie in as Bella ran for the slide. Sophie slumbered on as I pushed Bella on the swings and watched her run.
After Sophie woke up and I pushed her in a swing for a bit, we had a picnic lunch sitting on a bench, much to Bella’s satisfaction. Then Sophie crawled around in the bark mulch.
If you are thinking of planting on your lawn I got this tip from a gardening show I used to watch.
Put some potatoes in a bucked. Go to the middle of the laws and hurl the potatoes out of the bucket. Where a potato lands plant a clump of daffodils. When they emerge the selection will look natural. I have always loved the English woodland garden look but I don’t know if that will be practical with young children since the sap from daffodils is poisonous. Some miniature silver birches in a clump would look great too.
Oh I like the potato idea. I think, though, much as I like the woodland garden look, we’ll probably just do them around the edges to give the kids room to run and play.
Good to know that daffodils are poisonous. Maybe I’ll plant them in the front instead of the back where there are less likely to be little ones exploring with their mouths….
I’ve found that an inexpensive way to get bulbs is to buy the pots of blooming bulbs at the grocery store or garden center when the blooms are gone or the season (such as Easter is over). Just plop the bargain bulbs in the ground and enjoy them next year! I have several Asiatic lilies that have been blooming for over 10 years that I got for just a couple of bucks.