Jaycee Park. Urbandale Parks Challenge = Completed!

We did it! We've completed Urbandale's park challenge: visit 32 parks in 90 days! I'm happy we participated because it got us out of the house when we were feeling lazy, and it pushed me to see new parks of the larger Des Moines area. 

Jaycee Park is nice for how easy it is to get to the playground. I parked directly in front of the playground, and this is how it looked from the car (no zoom):

What that means, to me, is that this is an ideal park for when I just want to pull over somewhere and

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Lakeview Park

We're nearly done with our Urbandale Parks Challenge. Lakeview Park is our 31st Park, and so we have just one left after this! Lakeview Park has a trail that goes in a loop around a small lake. It branches off connecting to the sidewalk along Aurora Ave, the neighborhood behind the lake, and to the local middle school (where we parked).

As we drove by, we saw a sculpture on the west side. We walked about halfway around the lake, along the east side, and we never found the playground. It must be on the west, but away from the main road.

The kids were happy to play on the oversized Adirondack chairs that make the rounds to different Urbandale Parks. They love it when we find them! And these ones came with beautiful views of the lake.

Along the lake is an open-air shelter with a unique, modern design. I snapped a picture because it looked like a great spot to have a picnic. The shelter is first-come, first-serve (no reservations taken).

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Sunflower Park (30 Parks Down, 2 to go!)

Sunflower Park is a forested area north of Douglas Ave, off of 92nd Drive, and it has a trail that follows along North Walnut Creek. You can find the trail head near the dead end of 92nd Dr. 

We took a funny picture by the warning sign at the trail head. I asked the kids to look scared! But even though we were playing around, the warning was serious. More on that in a second!

It's clear that you can't access the creek on the waterfall side. I tried to get a picture to show the creek after the little waterfall (below). It does look shallow and slow, but there are fallen trees all over the place. So, this might not be the best park to use for creek access.

We walked up to the first bend of the trail, and I started to hear a creaking noise.

I looked over, and there was a tree that had roots pulled from the ground a bit. It was leaning, and I worried it could fall. With all the trees that had fallen over the creek, the warning side at the trail head made sense! I didn't take a picture of the tree (maybe I should have). Instead, I just told the kiddos we were ready to move on to our next park.

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Laura A Ward Park

Laura A Ward Park is a small park off of 100th St, just north of Douglas Ave. For visiting purposes, it's really just a short trail that runs along a lake. There's no playground and not much shade, but it is beautiful! The birds were singing. It's a lovely stop for what it is.

When we got to the end of the trail, we found another sign for the park as well as a sculpture.

This was park #29 in our Urbandale Parks Challenge, so we're getting close to the end! Three more parks to go!

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Golfview West Park

We've officially visited a lot of parks in the Des Moines area! I would say that the park we visited this evening, Golfview West Park, is among my favorite parks for kids to play. It's surrounded by shade, but enough people are walking, jogging, and playing basketball that it still felt safe and busy! The playground is designed to look like a fort, which works well with the forested area and little creek.

There's also a neat and slightly challenging rope bridge for the kids to cross, and Jo liked playing in the fort area below.

The kids played for a good while. I enjoyed all the birds singing and flying low under the tree canopy. Seriously, great park. We all enjoyed ourselves!

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Bestland Park

Bestland Park is park number 27 in our Urbandale Parks Challenge. That makes 5 more parks to go, and we have 3 days left!

Bestland Park sits between a neighborhood and a cornfield. It's a very open park, which probably makes it nice for the homeowners to see out from their houses and be able to watch their kids at the playground. The downside is the lack of shade! For a hot summer afternoon in July, this was a poor

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Meredith Park

Meredith Park is a small but pretty area along the trail that runs parallel to Meredith Drive. It was a quick stop for our family, since the kids are mostly interested in playgrounds. Plus, it was the hot part of the afternoon, so patience levels were running a little low.

I'd say this would be a good area for kids to run around, except the close proximity to such a busy

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Sylvan Ridge Park

We're getting close to the end of our parks challenge. I admit, I find myself longing for a rainy day now as an excuse to not go driving around town, but I can't give up now! That's probably why this challenge really is so great. It gets us out of the house! Sylvan Ridge Park is park number 25 out of 32 in our Urbandale Parks Challenge. Seven more to go!

Almost all of these pictures are of Jo. Oliver told me he's tired of pictures. Ha, poor kid.

Sylvan Ridge has better than average playground equipment, in my opinion, and a huge area for running and playing. A downside to the park is, while we were there, there were a lot of wasps on one end of the playground. I was a bit nervous with so many flying around, but, thankfully, none of us got stung (so maybe I'm just a worrywart).

OK, so now it's time for me to cover another important detail about this park. It has a Pokestop and a gym. My family is hooked, and we've been playing it on Andrew's phone. So, let's just say we spent a lot of extra time at this park to find Pokemon and gather up more Pokeballs.

Funny story about this Pokemon gym:

When we first arrived, it was blue. We're red, of course, because that's the kids' favorite color. So, Andrew and Oliver set out to battle. Right as they were won, a teen rode up on his bike and stopped near a picnic table and pulled out his phone. He battled and turned it back to blue. Oliver and Andrew battled again and turned it back to red. The kid looked around, a little surprised that someone was playing along with him. He saw us, and then he hopped on his bike and left. Just then, another teen rode up on his bike. He turned the gym to yellow! Andrew and Oliver decided to do one more battle before we left. Then, as we were leaving, we saw the previous kid ride up on his bike again. We assumed they were going to continue battling over blue & yellow. So, if you're a PokemonGo fan, this park seemed to have a very active gym!

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Lynner Woods

Lynner Woods is the 24th park in our Urbandale Parks Challenge. We're officially counting down now!

We found Lynner Woods fairly easily with the address of 72nd and Hickory Lane in Urbandale. Unfortunately, what we didn't see is that there's a trail! Near the Hickory Lane end of the wood, there really is just a bench for sitting--no visible access into the woods. We incorrectly assumed it was just a preserve then, and so we went back to the car to find another park!

After getting back home, I pulled up Google Earth and examined the area better. As it turns out, if you turn right onto Hickory Lane, then left on 71st Street, there is a short trail that leads from the dead end there into the woods.

I wish we'd found the trail while we were there. I love walking through trees, so we might need to make another stop there sometime.

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Rocklyn Park

Rocklyn Park was the next stop on in our Urbandale Parks Challenge!

There are a few really great things about this park. One, there's a parking lot for easy access. Two, there's a nice, shaded pavilion. Three, the playground is a bit accessible for wheelchairs because it has a ramp that leads from the sidewalk up to the equipment.

I love that this is an accessible park for kids with mobility disabilities, so I really wanted to like this playground. Unfortunately, there just wasn't much for the kids to really do. They got bored quickly and asked to go home. Still, I'm glad I know about this park because it definitely would be a good destination for groups with small children, as well as children or parents who use a wheel chair.

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Colby Woods Open Space

I thought Colby Woods Open Space was a stunning area, though we never actually did find the playground! It was difficult to find access to the open space, and so we parked at Creekside Church on 82nd Place in Urbandale. There was a trail that ran on the east side of the parking lot and into the woods.

I recognized this statue from the Urbandale Parks and Rec website, so I knew we were in the right area.

A little free library!

We went left at the fork in the road by the statue and wandered down the shady trail. It was peaceful, but all of a sudden I heard a loud noise and something jumped out of the bushes! I jumped about ten feet in the air and laughed at myself when I saw it was a fawn. So cute!

We crossed the bridge over North Walnut Creek and came to another fork in the trail. We turned left and wandered a bit but didn't see the playground. I worried I would lose my way back--I guess I should have brought breadcrumbs to leave a trail ;-) I'm wondering if we'd gone a little farther on that trail, if we might have found it. Oh well! We went back to the statue. On the way, I passed a woman walking her dog and asked if there was a playground in the area. She said she was only familiar with the playground equipment at the church.

We wandered on the trail, past the statue, for just a few more minutes. When we didn't see the playground equipment around the bend, we decided to just head back to the car and drive to another park on our Urbandale Parks Challenge list.

So, we didn't find the Colby Woods Open Space playground, but we did enjoy our time wandering the trails!

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Lions Park

Lions Park is located directly across Aurora Avenue from the Urbandale Aquatic Playground. So, we decided to stop there for lunch! There were plenty of picnic tables, including some under a covered shelter (which can be reserved).

When the kids were full, we headed over to check out the park! Just minutes before, it had been bustling with a few day care groups, but they must have left on a lunch break. The park was moderately well shaded, and none of the slides were too hot when we arrived around noon.

The best feature about this park, in my opinion, is that is has playground equipment for a wide range of age & ability. In addition to a standard-sized playground (above), there's a small playground for little kids (below).

Then there was a jungle gym that looked so cool! I'm sure even bigger kids would have fun climbing on some of this stuff.

Another cute feature is the parent-and-baby swing, so parents can swing with their little ones.

Bonus picture of a Minion garbage can we found:

Lions Park seems like a great place for a group gathering, or anyone who has (or is caring for) kids of varying ages. I've noticed there aren't many parks that are good for toddlers and big kids, but this is one of them!

Urbandale Parks Challenge: Aquatic Playground

I couldn't find much information online regarding the Urbandale Aquatic Playground, and so we didn't quite know what to expect when we visited our 20th Urbandale park today as part of the Urbandale Parks Challenge.

The aquatic playground is actually at their public pool, and there's a $4 entry fee (kids two and under are free with a paying adult). The admission allows kids to use the outdoor aquatic playground and the big pool with diving boards.

The swimming pool is indoors, but there are doors that open out to the aquatic playground. There's not really shade over the aquatic playground, but many of the pool chairs are shaded if the kiddos need a break from the sun. Also outside is a small basketball hoop for kids.

The kids loved the water, and it was shallow enough (maybe about 18 inches deep in the middle) that I could sit on a pool chair and observe while the kids played. It was zero entry, so that was nice for little kids to be able to get in and out relatively easily. There was also a lifeguard on duty, so that made it worth the entry fee! The kids splashed and "swam" for about an hour.

I thought it was a great find. It's a small enough area where I didn't have to worry about losing them, and I really appreciated the extra set of eyes on the kids as the lifeguards kept watch. This is a good choice for a parent who is juggling more than one little kid but wants to go to a pool-type place.