Best Park Ever

This last weekend, my kids and I went down to the Valley to spend time with my mom's family, and we happened to come across the most amazing park I've ever been to that wasn't something you had to pay for.  I took a billion pictures and decided to share them with y'all. 

Clark on one of the rope structures--he loved these things.  This one was probably about 7 feet tall.  The kid has NO fear.

My beautiful Mom!!!  She was tired from a late night with little sleep (and chasing my kids all morning--she did that a LOT on this trip), so she stayed and watched our food to make sure the super-aggressive pigeons didn't eat it all and chatted with her new friend who was there with her granddaughter.

Kelsey, Abe, and Jack on a cool bouncy thing...the kids loved trying to jump from circle to circle around the whole thing--way harder than it looked!


Abe.  SO cool.

This park also has a splash pad.  Because it was cold outside for Mesa (in the low 60's), the splash pad wasn't turned on, but Maggie saw it anyway and made me put her swimsuit top on.  Hence, Mags is wearing a swimsuit top in this picture, although I was able to talk her out of wearing the bottoms.  The girl knows what she wants when it comes to wardrobe choices.

That silly girl.

Kayle and Kelsey, my cousins, were such good sports about playing with my kids the ENTIRE time.  My mom said that at one point, Kelsey came up to grab a drink of water and said earnestly, "Chasing these kids is exhausting!"

I hear ya, Kels....

One thing I especially loved about this park was absolutely no traditional swings.  So that meant no standing behind my kids pushing them for hours while they complain that I'm not pushing them hard enough, fast enough, high enough, or that I'm pushing them too high, too fast, or too hard.

Loved it.

Clark is a climber.  That boy!

A cool cement slide that Jack loved....

The view from the top of the tallest rope structure (I don't know what to call it--basically a maze of ropes shaped like the Eiffel Tower).  It was probably about 60 feet tall, and although I'm terrified (read: TERRIFIED) of heights, I promised myself that I would climb to the very tippy top.

And I DID IT!!!!

Once I got there, I of course took a selfie to prove it.

This year has kind of had some things happen that have basically kicked my butt, and it was really empowering to face a major fear of mine and conquer it....or, if not actually "conquer it," at least do something that made me feel brave even though I was shaking in my hot pink Nikes the entire time.  It felt awesome!!!  (Can you tell from my expression how excited/scared I am to be standing on an inch-wide rope 60 feet in the air?)


Jack followed me up about two thirds of the way, and then I made him climb down.  Probably about the only thing that terrifies me more than heights?  Seeing my children on those heights.

Isn't he adorable?


Clark loved this whole experience.  It really was just pure joy for all of us!


Starting out on the structure...

Me trying to give an idea of just how tall this thing is...This is pre-climb.

Really--whoever designed this thing must've been a genius.

"Mom!!  Take a picture!!"

The colors were really fun, too--this would be a great place to get family pictures.

And Mags had her own little mountains to climb.  These made me much less nervous than my boys climbing the massive rope ones, that's for sure!!

Of course, because my children could write the book on irony, they made it through the entire four-hour playing period without getting hurt at all.

Just as we were packing everything up and getting ready to go, Maggie tried to climb up the bench at the picnic table to get a drink, slipped, and hit her head HARD on the corner of the table....she has a massive goose egg from it still.

And Jack slipped and fell on the FLAT SIDEWALK as we were walking to the car and scraped his knee.  Apparently my kids can handle 30-foot complicated rope structures, 10-foot rock buildings, and monkey bars without an issue, but put them at picnic tables or on the flat ground and they will have PROBLEMS.

So there ya go.  Seriously, though, if you're in the Valley, the Riverview Park in Mesa/Tempe (I'm never really sure about the actual city boundaries) is AWE.SOME.

Go give it a look-see.