Les Gove Park - Auburn

We were invited to join another two families at a new-to-us park last week.  It was a really cool park.  The kids loved it.

It had swings, including one of Josh's favorite kind.  I think he feels more secure in them.

It had two of these swings, which are really cool.  They are so big, you can almost lay in them.  Four people can easily fit on each swing.  This is Sam and his friend Nick.

I even took a turn on the swing with two of my friend's kids.

There was a seesaw that seated two people on each side.  By this point, my friends were thinking I was nuts.  I can be a bit goofy.  : )  (BTW, this seesaw is NOT made for adults; it's a painful ride.)

The park has a big natural-looking sandbox with sand, rocks, and a fake river.  The 3 year olds were suppose to read and abide by the sides that said, "Please don't put sand in the river."  Yeah, right!  Josh spent most of his time here with his friend Leif.  We returned to the park a few days later and the river was dried up.  I wonder how often that happens, and how often the parks department fixes it.

The playground also had a rope web low to the ground for crawling on or under.  It's above artificial turf which is great fun for sliding down the hill.  Don't ask how I know...or maybe you can guess.  There is also a small slide going down the back side of that hill.  There are two longer slides going down another hill with ramps leading up to the top of the slide and roof-like material you can climb up on either side of the slide...think of a steep roof with two slides on it.  There were drums to bang on and a push merry-go-round that's at floor level...so no major falling off risks.

Not far from the playground is a water park.  On a hot day, it's perfect for cooling off after getting hot playing at the playground.  Most kids go back and forth.  Mika is a great big sister.

The babies had a great time sitting in this one-inch deep puddle.  Maddie thought it was perfect for bending down and slurping up the water.  Ewwww!  The two on the left are my friend's twins born just three days before Maddie.

It was a good day at the park.  So good, in fact, that we returned just a few days later on Madelynn's first birthday.  We just had another play date with our friends; the party's this coming weekend.

Here's the birthday girl. The year has gone by fast!