Graduating to a More Challenging Playground

It all started with the junior play slide, a Craigslist find. My then 1-year-old twin boys had already been toddling for two months and I could see our future and it looked like this. Though they were still a little too young to be set loose at the playground, I thought I'd let them practice climbing and sliding in the comfort of our own carpeted living room. But that tiny 2 foot slide seemed to loom over my tiny tots like a giant tower. We hovered over our boys as they played on that slide, fearing the inevitable tumbles.

Around the time my boys turned two-and-a-half, they had long since learned how to slide down that first slide. In fact, they began using that slide for everything but sliding down properly; they climbed backwards up the slide, vied for the highest perch, jumped endlessly off the top and toppled the whole thing over so they could use it as a balance beam of sorts. That's when we we decided to move the slide into the garage for storage.

Outside our home, we headed for Silicon Valley parks. My boys spent a brief couple of months as blanket babies before running off towards the playground with nary a backwards glance. We then hit up all the enclosed playgrounds and that was great for a while, but now, at nearly age 3-and-a-half, my boys are ready to graduate to a more challenging playground. Everywhere we go, the playgrounds are pretty much the same: safe but boring. You know what I'm talking about, the chunky plastic slides, the bucket swings hung up so high that there really isn't any swing at all? They're all just different configurations of the same playground.

So we set off to try out new playgrounds. Something with a bit of an edge, something unique but still relatively safe. I read one review on Yelp (can't remember which playground) where the 30-something reviewer laments the loss of those old-style playgrounds where jungle gyms made great hiding places. "There's no hiding in the layout of today's open play structures, " he complains. Personally, I pine for those vomit inducing all metal merry-go-rounds, the kind you had to push with your hands and feet and then hop on once you got it spinning. (There's one at Campbell Park, for those interested.)

We make day trips to these more unusual playgrounds, time traveling back to the parks of my childhood. A favorite is Dennis the Menace park in Monterey, which we usually visit before or after taking in the aquatic exhibits at the wonderful Monterey Bay Aquarium. There are still a few metal slides and long wobbly suspension bridge - this park is excitement all around.

When in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, we spend a couple of hours at the newly renovated (2007) Koret Children's Quarter where a towering "spider web" entices older kids to scamper to the tip top, while we adults look on, whispering a collective, "holy moley" at the sight of all those fearless climbers. I can't wait until my boys are a wee bit older so they can have a run down the park's original concrete slides which are still standing. Have cardboard, will travel!

My latest discovery was serendipitous, the result of a backwards glance on the part of my husband as we were leaving the Coyote Point Museum one Saturday last year. We quickly zipped back around into the park, turned left after the toll booth (bring $5 cash) and followed the road a ways until we were at the base of one of the most amazing playgrounds my active boys have ever stepped foot in, Magic Mountain Park. Wow, all I can say is that we (Oh, yes, moi aussi) slid down what I later Googled and discovered to be the longest tube slide in California - 55 glorious feet! Kids were heading down that thing atop their jackets for added speed! I was having a great time until I noticed a sign that said "Kids 5-12 only" - double oops. No one in my family resides within that age group!

I imagine when my boys are older, decades from now, that perhaps they'll head for the not-so-secret secret slides of San Francisco (aka The Seward Street Slides) for some cheap thrills. I better go check out these slides myself, just to be sure they're fun safe. Mom's Day Out, anyone?

So for those of you who are tired of the same old, same old at our local playgrounds, where else do you go? Do you have a favorite Bay Area playground that is super fun, perhaps one with a more vintage feel? And most of all, it's got to be FREE.

Got any ideas?

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog Post. Akemi also blogs at Chalk and Cheese Chronicles.

Comments

[Cheryl Wenzel/New Mom Central]

Have you tried Oak Meadow park? Here's a description taken from the website:

The gem of the Los Gatos parks, Oak Meadow Park is centrally located. A large 12 acre park featuring a large grass field, large playground area with a real, decommissioned USAF T-33 Jet, bocci ball courts, BBQ and picnic facilities, Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, W.E. Bill Mason Carousal, access to Vasona County Park, and the Los Gatos Creek Trail.

And here's the website address:
http://www.losgatosca.gov/index.asp?NID=910

The jet is the highlight of the park for most of the kids, especially the boys. My kids love the carousel and I'm looking forward to taking them on the train one of these days.

[Akemi/svtwinmom]

We love Oak Meadow, it's among our regular rotation of parks. I'm sure I'll run into you guys one of these days, Cheryl. Wave to me as we pass each other!

[MommyTwinGirls/Linda D]

My girls still love the train and carousel at Oak Meadow Park. Climbing that jet is fun, too, but can get crowded. I'm also still looking for "older" kids parks. That Magic Mountain Park sounds like just the ticket. Hope people come up with more suggestions....