Mommy's favorite park

Yes, this is my favorite park - mostly because there's so much Hazel can do by herself, I get to sit and relax on a park bench. There are a few exceptions of course - the swing, the blue spinny thing, and when she wants to walk on me. That's right, I said walk on me. At the end of the following yellow tunnel, there are stairs to a circular slide. Hazel can see through the stairs and likes to "walk on me" while I stand underneath. Peeking through the windows in the tunnel.

Slides aren't that fast, because Hazel doesn't know how to pick up her feet yet. So she often walks herself down the slide.

Hazel likes to keep her play area clean, so she pushes the woodchips down the holes in the platforms.

And throws them to the ground.

We have several new playgrounds in the area, and they have some pretty neat features. Hazel's turning a crank to make the fly spin. Why a fly? Who knows... there are pictures of dinosaurs under the rock steps and turtles carved into the slide.

Hazel's favorite feature (and proof that she's a little ocd like Mommy) is this nifty wall. One day while we were there, Hazel ended up with an audience of nine jr-high age kids. One by one, they all crowded around to watch her slide the balls into their place. They were asking her how old she was and saying she was so smart. It was pretty funny to watch, and Hazel loved the attention, of course.

It's a little difficult to climb into the rocking airplane without help.

And it doesn't look like it was worth the effort this day.

And this is the blue spinny thing. Hazel rides it on low, low gear - one finger horse power. Is this somehow safer than a merry-go-round? Maybe their thinking is that only one kid gets hurt when they fall off at full speed.