LAP Award

And this year's award for Least Attractive Park goes to....drum roll please...Kiwanis Park!!

I know I haven't been to all the parks yet, but I actually feel really safe handing out that award, even if it is a bit premature to do so. To begin with, I've driven by it a million times in an attempt to figure out where the park is at the intersection of North 1st Avenue and 6th Street. My best guess was the "greenway" that was now a gravel-way along the east side of the river, north of 6th Street. Just to be certain, we stopped at the Parks and Rec office.


There is no sign to take a picture at. Leah and Bo were both at camp, but I don't really feel as though they missed a lot by not being at this park visit. Fletcher would whole-heartedly disagree. He is still telling people about how he got to throw rocks in the river.





There isn't a lot else to do at this park along the bike trails. There are currently no benches to sit on, no grass to play on, and no landscaping to admire. It is definitely a work in progress. As the kids get older and we actually go for lengthy rides on the bike trails, I bet we will see this area transformed. When you look north along the river, you can see where Falls Park begins. They just haven't quite made it this far yet. Oh well. For now, it's a great place for throwing rocks in the river, if you're two years old (or 32 years old, in Bill's case). And someday, I bet it will be a peaceful and pretty little spot along the bike trails.

Jefferson Park

In case I haven't said anything about it before, I really dislike being hot. Jefferson Park will not be winning any awards as my favorite park, simply because it was unlucky enough to be visited on a 100 degree day. Ugh. It wasn't even fun.

First of all, even when I have another adult along, I still can't get out of pushing people on the swings.


There's no port-a-potty here, so I had to find Bo a spot in the bushes. While he was taking care of business, a mosquito took a big old bite out of the boy. You can't see it in the picture, but he swells up like it's nobody's business.


When it's that hot outside, all this fun equipment is too hot to even play on. Riding down the slides burns, burns, burns! Bill did blow bubbles for the kids to chase, right up until he thought he might fall over from being light-headed.



So, do I have anything nice to say? Yes. There is a recently added walking path, landscaping, and shelter in this little neighborhood park that make it a very attractive park. It is within walking distance of Inca Restaurant. Other than that? Not much to report.

Marion Park and Sertoma Park

I'm so mad at myself. Is there a way to get this to post before my post about Nelson Park and Drake Springs Pool? It's going to drive me crazy that technically, these two visits happened before that one. Granted, they were the same day, but these two were in the morning. Oh well. Movin' on with life...

I worked overnight on Saturday, July 22nd, so Sunday morning, that husband of mine took all four kids and went to a couple of parks so I could sleep in. That makes this post pretty easy. I don't really have much to say at all. I've been to both of these parks before, so it doesn't really mess with the idea that I'm supposed to be going to all of them, but I can't really tell you much about this particular visit. Just enjoy the pictures, I guess.

Sertoma Park

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me now?

I don't think they did anything at the Outdoor Campus that day, but of course, you can't forget that the OC and the Butterfly House are at the same location. The Outdoor Campus is free and offers lots of classes during every season for all ages. You can go in and see their small animals and look around the museum area. It's a fun place. I've never been in the Butterfly House, but both Leah and Bo have gone there on field trips and think it's neat. I just can't bring myself to spend the money.

Marion Park

I bet there's a story behind this one, but I don't know it yet. I'll have to ask the kids.

Nelson Park and Drake Springs Pool

This park visit has been a long time coming. It has been several years now that my children have been begging to visit this pool every time we pass the intersection of 10th Street and Cliff Avenue. I swear, though, every time, it is just crawling with people and it doesn't even look like it would be fun. Knowing we had to try it sometime, though, we decided Sunday, July 23rd, was the day.

It was absolutely perfect! The weather was beautiful, so I thought for sure the pool would be packed, but it really wasn't bad.

Unfortunately, we arrived just in time for a ten minute break. But I guess it gave us time to find a spot on the "grassy" hill. Note the quotation marks because the grass on the hillside was rather sparse. The big kids had a great time playing super heroes with their towels as capes and Baby G was rather proud of herself trying to stand up without assistance.

It was a riot to listen to them. They each had powers based on their towel, so I'd hear them saying, "Leah, with hula powers! Bo, with froggy powers!" I can't remember what Fletcher's powers were. Poor guy had the plain orange towel that day. Didn't stop him though!

Oh. And I forgot to mention that Bill worked on his sweet tan.

This one's going to be trouble. She won't be satisfied until she can keep up with the rest of them!

There was no need for us to discuss or go to a vote for what we would try first. Everybody agreed that the Lazy River looked like a great place to start! Even Grier loved riding along in the tube with me. Aside from a little bit of time spent in the zero-depth pool and Leah going down the big water slide a few times, pretty much our entire afternoon was spent on the Lazy River.




Even I got a chance to try the water slide. I honestly don't remember the last time I got to go on one. I remember watching with envy as people would go down the slide at the public pool in Lex, but I always seemed to be pregnant or holding a baby (or both) during the summers there. It's not like we go a lot of places with water slides, but even if we do, the kids always seem to want Dad along for those kinds of things, so I usually stay back with anyone who's too little to go. It was a big day for me. : )

The only bummer of the day was for poor Bo. He patiently waited his turn for the slide, only to be sent back down the stairs. He couldn't have missed the 48" mark by much, though. At his kindergarten check up a couple of months ago, he was 47". I told him it will be something fun to look forward to next year, but that doesn't really make it feel any better in the here and now. Oh well. Nothing another trip around the Lazy River won't fix!


And when we got out to take our sign picture, Leah just thought it would be lovely to take a picture by these flowers too.


I also want to say in this post, that the lifeguards and pool manager at this park had a great thing going on. As we were walking over to the Lazy River, I didn't catch exactly what was going on, but I turned to look when I heard the yelling. A young man in the pool was yelling, I think at the lifeguard, and she simply put her hand up in the air. Immediately, another lifeguard did the same, and within moments, the woman I assume was the pool manager was there and dealing with the boys who were causing trouble, so the lifeguards could go back to supervising the other swimmers. I never heard any yelling on the part of the staff and other than the fact that I heard that swimmer shouting, you never would have even known anything was going on. It was all dealt with so quickly and quietly. As we were leaving a short time later, I saw those same young men speaking with a Sioux Falls police officer in the parking lot. Thanks for keeping the pools a pleasant and safe place for those of us who don't (usually anyway) cause trouble!

Just a view of the zero-depth pool area. I didn't take any pictures of the kids actually swimming here, but it was fun. The Lazy River was just funner.

Falls Park and the Plazas

This post is actually from two weeks ago, but holy cow, I've been working a ridiculous number of overnights lately and I just haven't had the energy to visit parks and write about it. Plus, a friend introduced me to Pinterest and it's become a real problem in my life.

Anyway...On Thursday, July 20, we had the privilege of checking several destinations off of our list with Auntie Lindsey, Steph, Ashley, Jack, Great Aunt Jane, Great Aunt Elli, and Grandma Lou Lou. We met up at Falls Park a little before 10am (for free parking) and caught the Trolley straight away. As I was about to take pictures of everybody getting on the trolley, I noticed my battery light flashing, so I had to conserve power to be able to take pictures at the signs. Sorry for the lack of photographic evidence for such a fun-filled day.


Thankfully, the air conditioner was working on the trolley that day. Almost this same crew rode the trolley one day last summer and we were not so fortunate on the air conditioning. Have I mentioned that I'm extremely heat intolerant? It didn't help that I was 7 1/2 months pregnant on that day last summer either.

We requested a stop along Phillips Avenue and started out on foot to find three plazas that are listed on the SFPR page as parks. If they're on the list, we've got to visit!

We had to veer off of Phillips Avenue to find Fort Sod Plaza, but it's right down by the Great Outdoor Store. It was difficult not to want to cross the street and check Fawick Park off the list, but that was not on this day's agenda and I didn't want to tire anybody out before hitting all of the "required" stops. If my memory serves me correctly, Fort Sod Plaza is located at the site of the first fortified structure in the Dakotas.



Back to Phillips Avenue and headed north. Just past the Diner is the Phillips Avenue Plaza. We've been to this one tons of times because my kids always love to see the sculptures here and maybe they kind of like the water too.

The sun was a little bright, I guess.

Just a little sculpture stop.

Moving right along, we went north a couple more blocks and reached the Pioneer Plaza at 8th and Phillips. There wasn't a sign here, but we went to the fountain thinking that would be the most likely spot. I took a picture of the other side of the intersection just to be safe, but it was hot and the poor kiddos were tired. I wasn't about to drag them across another busy intersection for a picture. And, in the meantime, I have confirmed with SFPR that the corner with the fountain and the path leading down to the river is, in fact, Pioneer Plaza.




Rather conveniently, for all the tired little legs, Pioneer Plaza is a trolley stop. So we parked ourselves on the benches and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the trolley to come back around.

Back at the Falls, it was time for lunch so we decided to give the new cafe there, Utopia, a try. It was fine, but it definitely wasn't fabulous. It was a little overpriced for the kind of outing we were on and unlike the trolley, the air conditioning was not in top form. I might go there again for a cold drink, but probably not for lunch.


All in all, here were the stats for the day:
4 parks checked off the list
2 tired mamas
2 tired grandmas
2 tired aunties
6 tired (but happy) kidlets. : )

Worst. Park. Day. EVER!

What was supposed to be a super fun Tour de West Side Parks with my friend, Emily, and her kiddos, was by far, my least enjoyable day so far. Well, let me back up. The entire day wasn't exactly a bust. It did make for a fun story and we do love spending time with our friends.

But, have I mentioned before that I have a strong dislike for heat and humidity? It's really more along the lines of complete loathing. I realize that I am not exactly the most sweet-natured person to begin with, but I can usually at least keep myself under control in public. The heat seriously turns me into a fire-breathing beast (that sweats like a pig). Ugh. I hate being hot!!

Grier was asleep in the car and actually stayed in there, with the AC blasting, the entire time we were at this park.

The morning started out pretty funny actually. By the time we met up by the sign at Memorial Park, it was already in the 90s. We spent 20 minutes or so enjoying the playground.

Later in the day, it would turn out that I had forgotten several important items (i.e. swim diapers and an essential piece of my swim attire), but I did at least remember to bring water bottles for the kids and Fletcher thinks his is like the greatest thing ever.

Next, we loaded up the minivans and headed to Bakker Park.


Trey and Bo were the only ones brave enough to leave the small circle of shade this tree provided and try out the playground. I guess I followed to try to get a few photos, but I quickly retreated back to the shade.

Emily says this is one of their favorite parks because it has a good playground and lots of room to run, but it's easier to keep track of the kids here than it is at some of the bigger parks, like Sertoma.

At least we can always count on Emily to provide treats. If it wasn't for the Chips Ahoy! we might not have been at Bakker Park for more than 5 minutes. As it was, the cookies provided about ten minutes of activity.

Mmmm...Chocolate chips.

The cookies also provided Porter's only reason to leave the comfort of their air-conditioned van. He made a quick dash over to Emily to grab a cookie and then headed straight back to the van. He and I would definitely make great summertime buddies.

Next stop: Emily's air-conditioned house for lunch. This was easily the most enjoyable part of the day for me. Emily and I were able to chat while the kids played. Did I mention her house was air-conditioned? Aaahhhh...It was nice.

But alas, the pleasant lunch hour came to an end. Ever since Grier and Ryker were born last fall, Emily and I have texted or called each other frequently to share our "it's horrible in the moment, but we know we'll laugh someday" stories that come with having so many kids. When we're together, we frequently look at the crew of 8 kids between us and just laugh. There are a lot of kids and there are definitely a lot of "we'll laugh about this later" moments. Monday afternoon at Kuehn Pool was definitely one of those times for me.

First of all, the thermometers in the minivans said it was more than 100 degrees outside. And standing on that glaring concrete, with the reflection off the water, it was awful. I forgot the shorts that I usually wear over my swimsuit bottom if I haven't had time to shave. So, I couldn't get in the water for the first 30 minutes we were there, until my sister arrived with a pair of athletic shorts for me to borrow. Poor Grier, while I was dripping with sweat by this point, that poor girl was just turning red, even as we stood in the little bit of shade I could find. Lindsey arrived approximately 30 seconds before 10-minute break was called, so I changed shorts as quickly as I could and dipped Grier and myself in the pool so we could at least be wet during the break. It barely helped. We stood in the shade. We were miserable.

When the break was finally over at 2pm, Leah and Bo kept asking me to watch them go under the water or doggy paddle. I had to pretend that I was watching because my eyes were having some kind of reaction to the pool chemicals or something. I seriously couldn't open them for as long as I was in the pool. I was wearing my sunglasses, so I don't think they realized my eyes were closed. : ) Poor Grier kept rubbing her eyes too. Hers even stayed red for several hours after we left the pool.

By 2:10, I couldn't take it anymore. The sun was beating down, Grier was fussy because her eyes hurt and she was completely ready for a nap, my eyes were stinging and watering. I know it probably doesn't seem like anything that awful to a normal person, but even thinking about it now, I feel like I might lose my mind again. I finally just told Auntie Lindsey she could keep the big kids in the pool for about ten more minutes while Grier and I got the car (and more importantly, the air conditioning) started.

There are no pictures to commemorate our time at Kuehn, but I'm still checking it off the list. I tried. And sometimes that's just all you can do. Well, sometimes that's all I can do.

Even Emily had to leave by the time Lindsey and the kids came out to the van. Ryker was ready for a nap and I had ditched out on what was supposed to be a super fun day and left her at the pool with no adult company. Now I'm just banking on the fact that Emily is the truly sweet-natured one in our friendship, so I'm hoping she'll forgive me and we can have a do-over with more west side parks and another try at Kuehn Pool. But Emily, can we please try it on a day when the mercury is below 100?