One new playground in Everett, two in Renton, THREE in Kirkland, one in Kent and one in Seattle. My story and photos are in The Seattle Times!
Totem Lake in Kirkland: Looks a lot like one of our other favorite playgrounds, Surrey Downs, and it has an elevator too! Also, why is the Eastside so clean and shiny? The playground is next to a big shopping center with a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and movie theater with a Salt & Straw in front.
North Kirkland Community Center: Outer space-themed playground! This one isn't big, but it's really cool. Get a little astronomy lesson in with your playground time.
Junita Beach in Kirkland: Literally 3 minutes away from the community center with the space playground. Everything's right by the parking lot, so you don't have a long schlep to the beach. Super clean, and brand new bathhouses. I can't even look at Golden Gardens anymore.
Forest Park in Everett: This place is enormous! The playground goes on forever, and then you get to the spray park.
Sunset Neighborhood Park in Renton: I didn't exhale until both my little monkeys were safely back on the ground again. The top of that thing is level with a FOUR-STORY BUILDING. I was so scared I couldn't even look; they thought it was awesome.
Loyal Heights in Seattle: This is the only one that is kind of meh. I was all excited (it's only 11 minutes from our house) but when we got there, it was overrun with rowdy summer campers. Any mom would have told a kid who was acting up to KNOCK IT OFF, but the college-age counselors tried to reason with him. See those kids hanging off the edge of the big slide? Yep, both of them hit the mulch a nanosecond later.
West Fenwick Park in Kent: It's a life-size Chutes and Ladders! Which has been the reigning board game in our house for the past four years in a row.
Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton: Saved the best for the last. This park has a massive playground, and when you're done with the massive playground, you can go explore the massive rest of the park. We found a Kidd Valley right in the park, and ate an impromptu lunch looking over the water. Perfect summer day.
Joseph, eager to read the newspaper because there's a story with him in it. We stopped by the library to check out the playground story in print.
