Post #14
I was recently (thankfully) taken and introduced to Tecalitlan Restaurant (Chicago & Wood), and noticed this park sitting behind it, abutting the abandoned lot next to the restaurant. Naturally, I used this discovery to passively choose my next jaunt with the boys.
Located at Rice & Wolcott, Commercial Park was the perfect end to my weekend with the boys, especially since it was hot out and this park is water-equipped.
That being said, the boys rated it pretty high:
Máximo - ★★★★★, "Uhm, it was pretty fun, I liked the worm that was coming out of the ground, I liked the equipment and I liked the water thing."
George Carlos - ★★★★★, "I wanted to do five stars too... because, it was fun, I got to go in the water park and get all muddy, that was fun. AND, and, I just wanted to say that the last part, for five stars, is... [really long pause] Máximo going into the water."
The boys both shouted with glee from the car, as soon as we pulled up, Georgie having seen the water and Máximo the snake:
 |
| I barely got the "sign" pic taken before they made a break for it. |
The snake is actually quite cool, and it's body curves around the park, coming up at another point, and remaining a feature through the artistic design of "painting" its body by the presence of different colored soft-ground cushion playground ground (there has to be a name for that stuff - Google?) playground rubber mulch.
 |
| The snake. |
 |
| Detail of one of the snake's mosaic eyes. |
 |
| George atop the body of the snake (snake-colored rubber mulch visible on ground). |
In the picture above, behind George, you can see where a fence divides a really nice baseball diamond from the rest of the park. I'm not sure how it is utilized, but it was empty yesterday (on a Sunday at noon, rather).
The water equipment is underwhelming (not bad, just not super-creative - I'm being a choosy beggar, actually, because it was heaven-sent): one central post with four different heads coming off of it; each sprays a differently shaped stream of water.
 |
| The aquatic attractions and the rare sight of a still-dry Georgie. |
Another couple of things to mention about the water is that there are a few spots where it is sort of standing and blackening the concrete and/or rubber mulch with slippery mossy stagnant water. This is kind of gross and could cause a slip, but the kids didn't even seem to notice.
 |
| Some scuzzy standing water visible here (I didn't really take a pic of it). |
The dry equipment was really nice some run-of-the-mill stuff, but in great condition and a wonderful mix of newer and classic-style obstacles.
 |
| They had a "this thing." |
 |
| Every playground has to have some web action these days. |
 |
| Slides, of course. |
 |
| They have 3 or 4 different styles of monkey bar and hanging implements. |
 |
| Rock wall stuff. |
 |
| Also the wonderful smaller kid versions of everything. |
 |
| There's this - look at the joy in this one - no concern for car seats. |
 |
| We popped our shoes off and went nuts here, "I fiple-dog dare you." ("Fiple" is a made-up multiplier, chosen simply because of its pleasing sound.) |
On the subject of dogs:
 |
| I felt the need to mention this, if you have a dog. |
All in all, a great park; definitely worth getting into a car and taking a stroll over to. I'll side with the boys on this - five is fair, although maybe I'll knock a half off for the garbage and recycle cans that were filled to overflowing and swarming with bees... did I mention that?
No comments:
Post a Comment