Frog Park Part One - 6.5/10

We have been hearing about this great park in Temescal for ages and I never knew where it was or how to find it.Then one day I heard someone call it Frog park. . . This gave me a new search parameter, and Woo Hoo I found it! It seems as of the writing of this, the web page is not working... Upon researching further, I found that there were two Frog Parks in Temescal. It stands for "Friend's of the Greenway" There is a path with a creek that goes for several blocks between the first and the second park. These pictures are from the Mini-tot park. It is actually located just behind banana's and on the weekends they have a Farmer's Market near by at the DMV.You can follow the path and the creek and walk over to the other Frog park, which is designed for bigger kids. (That will be in tomorrow's post)Holly really enjoyed herself on this particular afternoon, especially the slide which she did several times, and having her Daddy to play with.She was able to do a little bit of climbing on the platforms. The park was all made with wooden play structures and reminded Joel of a park in Gainesville that he loves.We found out that it is the same designer as that park, as well as dreamland. There was one draw back of the park, and that is that there are no swings.Holly was able to entertain herself int he sand box. I think she had fun seeing this familiar toy in a new place.What is also so cool about the park is the intricate details every where like this little fish on the front of the play boat.Holly took an opportunity to spin the wheel, but it was like a flash and she was off to the next thing. There were several slides she could go down, but we held her had because they were a little steep in the incline.There was also some cool stuff for imaginary play that the older kids would enjoy like this nifty Saloon and bank combo. there was even a "teller" window.The park was also decorated with these beautiful individually hand made tiles from local kids.There was so much to look at every where you turned. This little mosaic sea horse was on the wall of the sand pit. it was pretty deep to get down in there, but she didn't mind and was very occupied.We had a lot of fun and decided that it was early enough for Daddy to take the stroller and walk over to the other Frog Park with Holly and I would meet them, so we got to try both out which is great.Slides - 1 - There were at least two that she could climb to and climb up and that we could help her go down.

Swings - 0 - No, sadly there were none.

Surface - 0 - I really want to give this a higher rating, but the tree Bark is my least favorite surface type, and even though I love the wooden structure, it isn't too hard for her to get splinters climbing. there was sand, but it was dirt sand rather then gravely sand.

Shade - 1 - There was a lot of trees and shady areas in the park.

Climbing - 1 - There was a lot of interesting things for Holly to climb on. There were many different levels to the structures and even the rocks on the creek when she gets older is something she could climb on.

Parking - 1 - The parking was not a dedicated lot, but some street parking. We had no problem finding a spot, but it was empty the day we went, so on a warm summer day it might be harder.

Bathrooms - 0 - No, there are no bathrooms as part of this park.

Distance - 1 - We are just a few minutes away here. Most likely not more then ten minutes as long as we don't hit a lot of street traffic, but its pretty close.

Friends - 1/2 - I think it would be a good place to meet friends and a lot of fun, but the time we went there were not any other kids playing.

Fun - 1- Holly did indeed have a lot of fun, climbing, sliding, and in the Sand Pit. It was definitely fun.