The Summer Mission

Our Summer Goal is to check out every single one of the City Parks in Allen, TX and there are a lot of them. We are going to rate them from 1-10 with 10 being the best!

We began last Tuesday at the Allen Station Park. First we drove through this large green space to check out the "big kid" areas--there is a skateboard park, a BMX track and baseball fields--very cool for olders. We found the playground area and the kids immediately began climbing. There were two different areas, but the problem was that one was too big for a 4 year old and the other was too baby for him. He fell pretty badly from the monkey bars on his stomach knocking the wind out of him and I thought maybe even breaking a rib by the way he was acting, but thankfully all was well. So, we left fairly quickly. But, it was quite a trek from the playground to the parking lot. Therefore, we give this park a 2. Not a very good start.

The next visit on Wednesday was a little bit closer to home--Quail Run Park. The day was gorgeous and we took a picnic lunch. The best part about this park was the 1 person merry-go-round. Cavett LOVED it!!! The only thing this park lacked was shade. This park gets a 9!

Friday we headed to the city Natatorium. Very cool indoor pool set up with a lazy river, playground-ish area, hot tub and giant slide. Some draw backs however--after having your own pool, your kids tend to be very comfortable in the water but life guards aren't comfortable about it.

Our first lifeguard encounter was in the lazy river when I was told I had to be within arms reach of both of my kids. Uh, excuse me....have you met my kids? (They also both had on life jackets.)

Second life guard encounter, Cavett began taking off his vest after leaving the river. He was at a place where he could touch and was going to put it back in the bin. The life guard told him he had to keep it on while he was in the pool.

Then our 3rd encounter which put me over the edge was when a guard stopped me and asked me about Kendrick's life jacket. "Is it Coast Guard approved?" I didn't know. I took off the vest and Kendrick freaked out because he knew that meant swimming was all done and HE wasn't. Turns out the vest is not, so we had to wear one of their jobs that pretty much isolates all movement and they become bouys in the water.

Now, I understand that they are doing their job and trying to keep everyone safe. My complaint is that I wasn't given a list of rules or told about any of these before we even went in. We weren't given a tour, nothing. Poor management, I think. It would have been nice to be saved from the embarassment. However, the smiles on my kids faces while they were playing were priceless and worth every bit of the hassle.