I signed Calvin to participate in a study on Monday at the Cognitive Development Center but we had about an hour after preschool before we needed to be there. Monday turned out to be remarkably warm, for winter, so I decided we should visit a park first. I went to City of Boulder’s playground list and decided to try out Meadow Glen Park.

Meadow Glen Park is a neighborhood park. It’s a nice park to walk to if you live in the neighborhood. However, unless you’re specifically trying to tour all Boulder parks, it’s not a park you would normally drive out of your way for. It has all the basics but not much else. Calvin’s favorite piece of equipment was the Vertical Pipe Climbers:

In the picture above, you’ll also see there’s a red playhouse-type structure. I’m not sure what it is suppose to be called officially. It’s bigger than the normal playground playhouses. Outside, along either side, there’s a bench that can be sat on. Inside, there’s a fair amount of space and a couple small seats that kids can perch on.

One of the other unique features of this park is it has a sun dial. It seemed accurate to within a 1/2 hr or so.

The playground also feature several swings and traditional-style playground equipment. Unfortunately, the spiral slide was roped off with a note that it needed to be fixed.

The park backs up to City of Boulder open space on two sides. It’s not as scenic as Foothills Community Park but is still very relaxing. In addition to playground equipment there’s a small basketball court and the park connects to a path that runs beside the Empson Ditch. Once Calvin got bored with the playground he challenged me to several “races” across the bridge that spans the ditch.

I don’t think we’ll go back to this park, we still have a lot of parks left to explore. However, it did provide a nice break in the day.

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The past couple of weeks have been fairly snowy and cold. However, today’s weather was forecasted to be in the 50s and I decided we needed to take advantage of the weather and go to a park. After speech therapy, I took Calvin to Harlow Platts Community Park which is very close to Fairview, the high school Jaeger went to. This morning our backyard still had several inches of snow so I brought along a towel in case I needed to wipe off the slides. Viele Lake, adjacent to the park, was covered in ice. However, the playground itself was completely snow free and the slides were even dry!

The playground at the Harlow Platts park is pretty traditional and perhaps a bit on the old side. However, I don’t know if it really was old or if it was just so traditional it felt old. The equipment itself was in good shape. Calvin’s favorite feature by far was the tire swing. I probably spent 20 minutes pushing him on it and earned the honor of him telling me I made him go even faster than Kyle¹ I did have some minor qualms about how fast I was spinning him but he survived without falling off :)

The park also had a traditional play structure which the safety experts will tell us is for kids ages 5-12. Calvin climbed up the corkscrew and slid down the covered slide once but other than that ignored it.

They also had a play structure for 2-5 year olds. Calvin wandered around this a bit more because it was windy and this structure was sheltered better.

The tunnel made a nice escape from the wind.

Calvin tried the overhead glider but it’s still a bit tall for him. I lifted him up and pushed him to the other side but it was too awkward for him to really enjoy it.

The park has both bucket swings for smaller children and decent sized swings for older kids. However, Calvin didn’t stay on them long because it was uncomfortable with the blowing wind.

Calvin did enjoy playing a little bit with the pull-up bar.

There was also a decently sized sand pit which looks like it could be interesting closer to summer. There’s no provided sand toys but it’s a big enough area he could bring his shovel and bucket and spread out a bit.

Overall, this was an ok park. I expected more from it since it’s close to the recreation center but it didn’t really overwhelm me. It looks like there are some nice paths around the lake that might be nice for Calvin to ride his bike around.

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Tuesday we took an unplanned visit to Dakota Ridge Park because the weather was so nice it seemed wrong not to go to the park. While there, I talked to another mother who said that the Foothills Park was very nice. She inspired me to go check it out.

This is a “community park”, versus a “neighborhood park”, so it covers a fairly large area. I looked at it on Google maps and was able to guess where I thought the playground equipment would be. However, I wasn’t sure how to get to it. We entered the park but I decided to turn south which took us past a play structure by the community garden. However, it didn’t look large enough to be the playground equipment I had seen on the map. So, we retraced our steps and went to the north side of the park. Once we got there, it was obvious that the north side was suppose to be the main playground area.

The view is pretty impressive. As the name suggests, it hugs the foothills. It also looks like it has a lot of paved paths so it might a good place to take Calvin to ride his bike.

The playground area is divided into two sections. The bottom section contains fairly traditional playground equipment that contain hints of boatness.

Among other things, they had a periscope.

They also had ladders which Calvin thought were like the ladders on the fireboat we saw in Hong Kong.

In addition to the periscope, they had a lot of other panels on the equipment: several different wheels, “fan” panel ¹, gears, and a “spelling panel”.

There were a lot of different climbing options to get into the structure including several rope ladder variations.

Calvin had fun playing on the lower structure but I think he would have had even more fun with a group of kids where they could have play-acted being on a ship. After a bit, we went around to the upper playground equipment.

This equipment was more contemporary, the same sort of things that the Dakota Ridge Playground has. I was initially skeptical of how non-traditional this style is. However, after watching kids play on it, it obviously offers a lot of upper body exercise. There was a little girl playing and it was amazing how, using just her arms, she was able to hoist herself all around the ropes and “hammocks.” Like the little girl, Calvin enjoyed scrambling all over the equipment.

While Calvin was enjoying the equipment, I wandered around to see what else was on the top level. There were a couple of swings including regular swings, bucket swings, and a molded bucket seat. Then I went over to where there appeared to be a covered slide that went from the top area down the bottom area. However, it was completely fenced in with no gate. Eventually, I realized that you were suppose to climb the rock wall to get into the enclosure and slide down. The slide was interesting in that it was a tube but had clear pieces interspersed so it wasn’t too dark inside. I called Calvin over and he got a kick out of climbing up the rock and then going down the slide. The sun was in a bad position so I was only able to get a picture of Calvin climbing up.

It’s a nice playground and fairly close to Calvin’s preschool so I expect we’ll visit this one again.

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The weather has calmed down a bit, at least for the moment. Boulder has great parks but, sadly, they don’t have water features nor a lot of shade. Thus, most summer days I was unwilling to drag myself to the park. Then, we had a lot of lovely rain that turned into flooding. Even I must admit we got too much rain. Several days after the flood the weather was in the lower 70s and sunny, perfect park weather. Unfortunately, every park we tried was closed due to flooding or the roads to the park were closed.

Today, we tried another excursion, this time to East Boulder Community Park. I also made sure to check ahead of time that it wasn’t on the closed park list and all the roads to it were open.

This playground is in a large park complex that includes a rec center, lake, dog park, tennis courts, handball courts, and squash courts (we have these in the US?). The playground itself is very nicely designed. Most of it is fenced in, probably to prevent the ducks from getting in, but it also nicely corrals the children. In addition, there’s a very wide variety of playground equipment for all ages as well as shaded picnic tables.

Before we entered the playground area, Calvin got distracted by the lake and the ducks. However, Calvin lost interest fairly quickly.

As soon as we entered, Calvin headed straight for the prominent reptile. He was going to climb up on it but the sun had made its surface fairly hot.

After the reptile, Calvin headed straight for the play area designed for 5-12 year olds.

This play equipment had a couple of unique features. One of them was the rollerslide.

Calvin managed to do fairly well on the roller log. He keeps getting bigger . . .

The equipment also had three different types of bridges: an arch bridge, belt bridge (basically reinforced rubber), and a “clatter” bridge.

It also had “enrichment” options such as the maze panel, tic-tac-toe, and bubble panel.

I was fascinated by the “spiral climber.” They were pretty big steps but Calvin managed.

Also, Calvin is hanging on better to overhead equipment. This is the trapeze horizontal ladder. He couldn’t manage to get to the next trapeze bar but hung on this one for a fairly long time.

Calvin briefly went over and explored the equipment designed for 2-5 year olds but found it fairly uninteresting.

There is also a “club house” and a contraption that looked like it was suppose to be hooked up to water. However, it wasn’t turned on.

Most of the surface material was sand. However, they had an official sandbox as well as a digger.

However, the highlight of the visit was probably the discovery of the “playworks” structure. At first it looks like just another piece of playground equipment. However, if you look closer, you can see it has various tubes running through the structure as well as tethered shovels to pour sand into the tops of the tubes.

The tethered shovels were good in that they wouldn’t walk away. However, they are a bit awkward to use. Fortunately, I had brought along Calvin’s shovel, pail, and dump truck just in case we discovered sand. This allowed Calvin to put sand in his bucket and lug it up, and then use his shovel to move the sand down to his dump truck at the bottom of the tube.

This is a very nice playground. I’ll definitely plan to visit it again in the future.

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One Sunday, a couple of weeks back, the weather went from being oppressively hot to comfortable temperatures with a slight drizzle. I jumped at the opportunity to go outside in reasonably nice weather and decided to take Calvin to the park.

Calvin had asked me the previous day if we could go to the “rocket park”. He meant the Scott Carpenter Park which is probably most famous for the 4-story rocket. When he was younger Calvin had to be coached up by daddy. However, now he blithely scrambles to the top by himself.

Upon first entering the park, there are two large metal discs that allow you to make echoes.

The rocket is the most prominent feature in the playground. However, it has quite a few different play areas.

There’s a sand area that I think is suppose to be moon-crater-like.

Calvin enjoyed scrambling up the rock.

Even though Calvin is comfortable with the biggest structures now, he still likes scrambling through the little toddler tunnels.

There’s also a couple of space-themed spring riders. This one is a two-seater that he convinced me to hop on with him after the picture.

All-in-all, it’s a very nice park. The only slight downside is it’s so popular it can become mobbed.

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While visiting the Reading in Spires Little Library, Calvin wandered over to play at the playground equipment. This park had almost nothing indicating its name or purpose. However, based on the a sign advertising “movies in the park”, I eventually decided it must be a Holiday HOA created park. Unlike our HOA, there were no nasty signs telling non-residents to leave immediately¹.

The playground isn’t large but has a nice selection of things to climb.

Kompan “Triple Shifter”

They had several large rock-like sculptures that I thought Calvin would enjoy climbing. However, we mostly hid under the larger one avoiding the rain.

The plaque on one of the rocks says it’s by Monolithic Sculpture Inc. This appears to have been a Boulder company at one point.

Landscape Structures “SpringRing Bouncer”

We didn’t spend a huge amount of time at this park. However, that was mainly because I wanted to go see the next little library. Calvin probably would have had fun for another half hour if I had let him.

As we were walking back to the car, I noticed one of the surrounding buildings is guarded by gargoyles.

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One the way home from the Arapahoe Ridge Park we stopped by Christiansen Park. This park is more of a neighborhood park in size. It has a nice structure and some swings but nothing that makes it overly unique.

Calvin immediately became enthralled with the chalk hopscotch markings that had been left on the sidewalk.

The playground equipment had both a double slide and a spiral slide.

These are the first dinosaur spring riders I’ve seen.

Calvin enjoyed hanging upside down on the bike rack.

Calvin particularly enjoyed the sliding pole. He went slid down it several times. However, the last time he got a friction burn and decided it was time to go home.

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We haven’t gone to the park recently because it’s been beastly hot (i.e. above 80 degrees). Last week wasn’t too bad but I spent much of the week wandering around to various libraries looking at their ILS (catalog system). Fortunately, mom was around to watch Calvin since preschool had their summer conference and was closed Wednesday-Friday. This morning I took mom back to the airport. When I arrived back home I was shocked to see it was still in the 70s. I had planned to do USEFUL THINGS but decided we needed to grab the opportunity to go to the park while the weather was bearable.

Today I decided we’d go to Arapahoe Ridge Park. I saw a post about it on 8Z Real Estate that sounded interesting¹

In some ways, the park is very traditional. It actually has a real merry-go-round which I didn’t realize still existed in any Boulder parks.

What really makes this park stand out though is the rock cave and tunnel system. It’s a man-made structure that has numerous tunnels kids can wiggle through as well as a large cave area that can fit quite a few children. Most parks we’ve visited have one or two mothers with their young kids. However, when we arrived at this one there was a swath of older neighborhood kids who were hanging out in the cool cave area.

The tunnels were fun looking but definitely sized for children, not adults. One father was playing tag with his kids. He did manage to wiggle through the tunnels without getting stuck but his kids had a definite advantage.

Calvin enjoyed clambering on top of the rocks.

Calvin called the little cave a house.

The park also has an older-style playground which apparently use to have a slide but, according to the 8z site, was removed because it allowed the kids to go too fast. What remains is a tic-tac-toe feature, which Calvin got me to play with him, and 3 steering wheels.

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Today we visited a park that Jaeger use to play at when he was a child: Park East.

This park also benefited from the 2011 Capital Improvement Bond. According to Jaeger’s mom it’s a great improvement. Sometimes I wonder about how Boulder spends its money but I love what they’re doing to the playground equipment.

This playground is definitely more traditional than Dakota Ridge Park.

Calvin enjoyed spinning around on their stand-up spinner.

So did Nana.

He also briefly enjoyed the “turtle” spring rider.

However, I think his favorite playground feature was the ring-a-bell panel. I was a little disappointed by it because there weren’t enough tones to play any sort of song. This didn’t seem to bother Calvin.

The playground had several swings. They had a couple regular swings, a couple of toddler bucket swings, and then an odd molded plastic bucket swing. My best guess is it’s for people with disabilities but I’m not entirely sure. Calvin tried it out but didn’t seem very excited by it.

A couple of the older park features still exist such as the shelter, though it has a new wheelchair ramp up to it. Also, there’s a couple of trees that fascinated Calvin because they were surrounded by a foot or two of concrete.

There was also a little climbing wall and rock that Calvin scampered on.

All-in-all, it’s a nice little neighborhood park but probably not one I’ll go out of my way to visit again.

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