Grove Park - 9/10

Here we are at a new park with Aidan, Alley Rose and Samantha. Aidan and Sam go to school with Holly so it is always a treat to see them outside of class. Alley Rose was in Sam's class last year and in class with Holly over the Summer. Aidan and Alley don't get out of school until around 3:00 and normally Sam is there till 5:00 but for 8 Mondays this Fall Sam was taking a Special OT Class at Samuel Merritt and afterward she was ready to Play, Play Play. We have been to a few of these now, Sometimes Camden and Camille come too, I think they were here on this visit, though there aren't any pictures of them.

So Holly and I would typically go to lunch after I picked her up and then head over to this park. It is called Grove Park and it was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time playing in the Sand, climbing, jumping, and running around. Aidan pushed Holly on the swing which was really sweet and following Alley Rose's lead the little guys jumped off the pillars into the sand, Holly torn between caution and impulse Jumped, but only from the lowest pillar, she was very cute. Alley Rose and Aidan have a new baby sister and Holly was of course gushing over her, she loves babies. We had a fun afternoon.

I'm not sure if i rated this park yet so I will do so now.

Slides - 1 - Yes, there are several. This park actually has two playgrounds the "big kid" one and the gated toddler one, both fun and both with slides

Swings - 1 - Yes, both Baby and Big Kid swings

Surface - 1 - Sand and Bounce turf. There is a grassy area near by and some sidewalk. The Sand is pretty nice

Shade - 1/2 - I haven;t been here in the summer so I am not sure how hot it will get, the playgrounds are not in the shade but the table and seat area between the two does have trees and shade

Climbing - 1 - There are climbing walls and bars to climb on besides the pillars

Parking - 1 - Street parking so far has not been a problem but its not a lot.

Bathrooms - 1/2 - There is some type of rec or community center right there that I assume has a bathroom though I have not had to use it and assume it would be locked at night

Distance - 1 - This is about 1-2 miles from our house

Friends - 1 - There have been other kids there on the various visits, it is not over abundant, but we have never been there alone, plus so close to our place it is convenient to invite friends to.

Fun - 1- It was a lot of fun, we enjoyed ourselves.

I was surprised by what a great rating this park got, as it is not my favorite. Don;t get me wrong it was a lot of fun but it isn't one I think of immediately like in the top 10 but it actually rates higher then some parks I go to more often. I was recently reading a blog from someone in LA who rates parks and uses a Uniqueness scale, I am thinking of this summer revisiting all of the parks and re-rating them, maybe making a collection or special blog or App with the info and I am thinking of adjusting my scale, as obviously distance might not be a useful measure for anyone who doesn't live at my house. This other person also used a 5 star rating in each category giving more flexibility, like for a category like slides, there were two they were fun but some parks have like 8 including twists, tunnels, bumps, ect. and that park would get the same rating as this one using my scoring.