Cannery Park - 5.5/10

For months I have been wanting to check out this park, but for some reason or another something always came up. I think the fact that it is in Hayward had a lot to do with it.Its called Cannery Park and has these amazing water features which is why I was so eager to try it out. We all know how fond of water Holly is.The water area was really neat. The surface was the soft padded kind which we really like. The water kept the ground in the main play area cool, but it was too hot to walk barefoot anywhere else.Holly really enjoyed playing in the water with the other kids, and she actually ran underneath the spouts getting her hair all wet. I love the little grin on her face in this picture.One of the other kids had these little goggles which Holly picked up and decided to carry all over the park and swing them around.Here is little Mady, she is about 9 months old now. She is such an adorable little thing. She normally loves the water but it was pretty cold. There were a few times that Holly was shivering and I cuddled her in the towel but she didn't want to get out of the water, and in the sun it was super warm.Here is Benny snacking on a banana, he was so sweet, he wanted to share my watermelon and Holly didn't like it so we had a bunch together.Here is the little one sitting on the step, but that was one of the problem area's It was super slippery on these concrete steps, and with those huge stones nearby I was terrified every time she tried to go up or down.She sure did have fun though and I suppose it wouldn't be mommyhood without constant worry about scraped knees and tumbles down the stairs and slips in the water.I usually let the leash out a little more once we both get familiar with a new place and I see how confident Holly is in her surroundings, but I still tend to hover.Unfortunately I don't get a chance to hang out with the mom's in this group as often as I would like, so I don't know a lot of them very well, but I enjoy the chance to chat when we have the opportunity.I love that Holly is so into water. One thing that was really neat about this park was that there was this button you could press to make the water "go" again.I think it would have been nice if the water was a little deeper, her only opportunity to get wet was if she walked through the spouts.I love this little picture of her wet foot prints I tried several times to catch this but the sun was shining so bright that they often would dry before I could snap the shot.Holly ran over to the swing all the way at the other side of the park and had a blast. I think she uses the swing as a chance to decompress. She gets a chance to zone out. Overall we had a wonderful time.Slides - 0 - There were no slides at this park

Swings - 1 - There were swings but they were on the far side of the park.

Surface - 1 - Most of the park had bouncy turf which we really enjoyed. But there was the rock and concrete area that I wasn't thrilled about.

Shade - 0 - There was almost no shade at all, this was a huge drawback. So much sun, and so very hot. We ended up leaving after a short time because of the heat.

Climbing - 0 - There wasn't a lot of stuff to climb around on.

Parking - 1 - Very close parking at the front of the park.

Bathrooms - 1 - Yes. Though I don't remember seeing them.

Distance - 0 - It was pretty far away. More then a twenty minute drive.

Friends - 1/2 - On this particular day there were lots of friends for us to play with. But other then the kids in my mom's group, there were no other kids that came the 90 or so minutes we were there.

Fun - 1/2- Holly had a lot of fun and she loved the water and she is capable of playing in only the water for hours, but she gets distracted and wanted to run around, but the ground was hot, and the play structure wasn't toddler friendly, so there wasn't anything else for her to do.

Georgina's House

We went to an impromptu Play date scheduled through facebook of all places, at Georgina's house last week.
Georgina is from one of my Mom's groups, and I attended a Mom's Night In at her place a few months back. It was so much fun, and I had a chance to really bond with the other mom's.Georgina's little girls are older, I think around 3 and 5. Many of the kids in attendance were "bigger" She lives kinda far away in Fremont. But the gang was going to all be there, the group of mom's is a lot of fun, and the timing was right, so we drove down to see everyone. It was in fact the first time a few of them would be meeting Holly.Here is Holly playing with Mady, Teresa's little one.. I can't believe she is already 6 months old. Holly loves babies! She is hanging out with Benny, Mady's older brother here, he is about 20 months old now. He is such a sweetheart. Georgina's house is huge, there is so much room to run around and play and a ton of really cool toys. Holly was ready to get into everything.

And of course, as is her style, she wanted to be in the middle of all the action, checking out what the older boys were doing. I didn't actually get as much of a chance to chat and talk with the other mom's as I would have liked. I had to spend a lot of time Holly Wrangling.Holly was getting into everything, and since some of the kids were 3ish, they weren't quite old enough to be super careful around a "baby" This is understandable, because she acts like a toddler, technically she is, but compared to a 3 year old, she still can get knocked down pretty easy, Not an issue when there is one of them, but when there are like 4 of them, she is out numbered.

She also still wants to put everything in her mouth, so I have to watch her close. We still had fun though, even if it was a little overwhelming at times. Kids at 2 and 3 can really have a lot of energy, they are just faster at destroying things, then at Holly's age.Holly has so much fun with Hoola Hoops, she saw the older kids using them, and likes to make them spin and make cool wave formations.The little girls were much more subdued then the boys, much of the time, they colored, painted, did art, had Popsicles, and were really good about watching out for Holly.Here are Georgina's two girls and two of the other kids all taking a breather for a cool snack.Holly loved playing with this vtech laptop, and I will have to get her one. At first she imitated Mommy opening and closing it and pounding on the keyboard, and found herself a cool table and seat.But then I turned it on and she was fascinated, when she hit the keys there was a talking animation on the screen and that was so cool!Here she is hanging with the little guys, Peirce is about 8 months old I think, he has an older brother Aidan, who was somewhere running around.And little Mady took a little stretching break on the play mat when the older kids were off in the back room playing a game.Holly was so fascinated with her, and thought it was a new "doll". Here are Holly and Benny looking for trouble and trying to get into closed rooms.But they found something to distract themselves with easily enough. Holly got along with Benny really well, he wasn't too wild yet, and they are close in size so he can't quite trample her.There was also all kinds of yummy mommy and kid friendly snacks to eat. So we tried a few new things.Holly actually nibbled on some mini pizza's, but mostly at the goldfish and some cheese and crackers. There were even chicken Nuggets, but she was still too little for those, but Momma had a few.I even gave her a bite of my lemon tart, which she kinda liked. And there was fruit, which I let her nibble but she didn't really eat. And a juice box, which she of course got all over herself.In Holly's world, everything is an opportunity to play and explore. I love these liquid filled blocks, they are so colorful.We hung out for a few hours, relaxing and playing, and then it was time to go. We had a great time, and it was so amazingly wonderful for Georgina to host all of us at her place. We can't wait till next time.