Summer Park Adventures - Keep your shoes on

Today we decided to try out two parks- one I had chosen from the Abbotsford Parks Guide list, and the other a concession to the five year old who didn't think my park sounded very interesting.

Hougen Park, 2887 Cole Road , while absolutely beautiful, was definitely underwhelming for the kids. The guide says they have a playground, but it's just two swings and two old see-saws. Then further down the park, two more swings, and two more old see-saws. After playing on the one set and having lunch, Caius gave the park a 7/10, because at least it had a playground, while Addie declared, "Every! Park! Is! Good!!!". After walking to the other playground, Caius upped his mark to a 10 because apparently a park gets a higher mark if it has a blue swing, particularly one that 'goes real high'. As Chelsea noted on my Facebook page, it did have its fair share of goose poop, but that seemed par for the course as it's right on the water.

Upside: It did have unlocked washrooms (hooray!) and it would be a great place to come and walk the trails, read, or drink a Starbucks in leisure (non of which I decided to do with 3 in tow). The scenery is amazing (let's hear it for the Designer!!), and we saw lots of cool different kinds of birds. Also, you can drive up, park, and have a picnic at a table without walking anywhere, so that's convenient.
Downside: Not much of a playground. Can't swim in the eewy water, and the park runs right alongside it, so if you have a toddler whose a bolter, it'd be a bit nerve wracking, I'd think.

Spud Murphy Park,  Hillcrest Dr & Langdon St was fantabulous for my kidlets. It's a newer park in the Clearbrook area, quite close to the Safeway. There's a small spray park (it's no Mill Lake, but it has its own charm), a climbing web/carousel thingy, a few swings and baby swings, and a sand area. They loved the sand area because it also had water that would run down the troughs and into the sand, allowing for all sorts of cool projects. It also has one of those mini excavators in the sand area.
Upsides: Spray park and play equipment, lots of shade, rad sand area
Downsides: No bathrooms, perhaps a limited appeal for older kids? Although when we were there, plenty of kids up to around 10 years old were happily zooming on the carousel and running around with Super Soakers. Also, I hate to say it, but it's always a good idea to check the ground before letting the kids loose. We used to walk through this area a lot, and it's not the best..

Caius gave it a 95 out of 10, and Addie gave it a "Twenty-hundred" out of 10.

                                               The kids having a blast in the sand    
                    (with apologies to the random boy who got caught in this photo...)