Heather Glen, Balgriffin, and Ballantrae

Today we promised the kids we would take them to the spray park at #5 Ballantrae Park. It was supposed to be right after lunch, but things got pushed back and we weren't able to leave until after dinner. The weather was looking pretty ominous:

But we rode on. The dark clouds continued to gather, so we stopped by #25 Heather Glen to spend some time and see if they would blow over.

 

Heather Glen has a little gear driven race car track that is pretty unusual among playgrounds:

And I was happy to see that they had a little trainer for a manual car transmission:

A three way slide gave us a chance to set up a race:

 

Which Henry won in a photo finish:

The skies were lightening up so we headed towards the splash park, past #4 Balgriffin Park. They have a frisbee golf course here:

But then things got dark again so we stopped at the playground:

Yet another three way slide:

We started to head for home, but rode past the splash park to think about what to do. Turns out, you can't go near a splash park, with kids in swimsuits, and not actually stop. So we did:

Henry and Kate have really progressed in their ability to enjoy water since their swim lessons at the Dublin Rec this summer. They both got soaked:

Sam, not so much:

But they all had a great time:

We toweled the kids off, wrapped the twins in a dry towel and bundled them in the trailer, and beat the rain home to a nice warm bath!

Three down, 27 to go. More than halfway done!

Shannon Glen Park (again)

Back when I was still a rookie blogger, we made a visit to #44 Shannon Glen Park and left without pictures. To rectify this issue, we returned tonight, camera in pocket. I had my Globe, Kate in the trailer, Henry on his bike, and Sam on his Strider. I think the Strider is cute when it's leaned up against a tree like this:

The unique feature of Shannon Glen is this sliding trolley:

The kids like it, and I have to admit that I do too! Not just fun, it's good for the abs too. Yeah, that's it... it's just good exercise.

We stopped to check out some ants that were feasting on a sucker stick:

Then we were on the way back home. We made one quick stop to check out the lightning struck tree in Avery park:

Some thoughtful park worker carved a viewing hole in the tree:

Then it was on to exploring the creek:

None down, still 30 to go.

Indian Run Meadows with the Cousins

Cousins Greyson and Jackson are staying overnight with us, so right after dinner, we hit the road:

There's still a lot of construction along the Avery road bikepath, so we cut through the Trabue Nature Preserve. Of course, we had to stop at the pond:

Loading up, Sam said his favorite part so far was relieving himself in the pond. I won't show that picture! But that boy sure has some range.

We were quickly on the road again, heading for the evening's destination, #28 Indian Run Meadows Park.

 

This is one of the kids' favorite playgrounds, mostly because it has two well-separated play structures that make for an exciting Monster game. This time, we also played with swords. And jumped off stuff:

 

Is it wrong to ask your kids to jump off something for a good blog photo? I didn't realize blogging would present such ethical conundrums.

Another issue I wrestled with was a Krampus frame going for only $425 on ebay. A great price, but it has some issues that I'm not sure I would like (short head tube, slacker front end). Maybe some more 29+ frames will come on the market soon. In the meantime, I let the Krampus go with only one bid. Not too much remorse here. Not much. Now maybe a new town bike frame, on the other hand...

One down, 30 to go.

Twins and Park Place

I got home later tonight so we only had time for a quick spin. Henry is at my parents (with his cousins, he may never want to come home), so it was just me and twins. We headed out on a mission to find a new playground, that I kinda sorta remembered was on Park Place, maybe out near #39 Post Preserve. I was riding my Globe, trying to decide if the aluminum frame "planes" at all for me at all, so I didn't mind the extra time wandering around the neighborhood. Sam and Kate encouraged me shouting, "faster! faster" as we sped along:

(it's really hard to take a picture of your trailer while riding hard)

After some time, we gave up and circled back to Post Preserve. Sam had been there, but not Kate, so he showed her the ropes:

This is really a pretty nice playground:

 

Kate, as always, loves to rock:

But we were already past our usual bedtime, and I wanted to make one more stop before home, so we didn't stay long here. We ended up at #38 Park Place park, which we've been to before, and that turned out to be the park I was looking for in the first place (I didn't realize this until I checked the map back at home)

The interesting thing about Park Place is that it's a twin of #38 Bishop's Run Park. 

And here I was with the twins... this was actually my backup plan for tonight's theme.

Sam in the Monster base, waiting for a heroine to rescue him:

Kate made the rescue, she's fast!

The jury is still officially out on the Globe. It feels OK, but as the low bike on the totem pole and me feeling crowded with bikes, its days are likely numbered.

One down (and one duplicate), 31 to go.