11/10/2013 - Maplewood Park, West Town, 1640 N.Maplewood Ave.

Post #17

Link to panorama - http://pnr.ma/bFDdJF

This, I hope, is the most grossly tardy blog post ever... 5 months (and some change) late, and there is another to follow.  But the boys and I are back "on the park," and hope not to fall out of the habit as bad this year.

Maplewood Park is located, as the Park District website says, "three blocks west of Western Avenue, one-half block north of North Avenue," in West Town.

We were there on a day ill-equipped for water, so we have not rated it's wet facilities... but here is how the boys weighed in:

Máximo - ★★★, "I voted 3, three stars, because it had lots of climbing stuff that I liked, and I kind of liked playing there... and yeah."

George Carlos - ★★★★★, "Because, I had a lot of fun, I got to sit in that big chair (big swing chair, which is always a highlight for GC), got to play with you and, uhm, that's it, that's why I had five."

Before we left, Máximo and I had a "thread the needle," throw down.

Great park, I have nothing negative to say about it.  There's a big field for baseball and what not.  It's equipped for big kids and tiny kids alike.  The equipment is in great condition and it is sprawling enough that our tag-type games aren't restricted by limited space.

We've got slides!

Climbing apparatuses!

Stuff to jump and fall onto!

Cages!

GCVV makin a b-line.

 Decent toy-type equipment (e.g. periscope, gears encased in plastic [pictured below])... you know... toy-type equipment.

Toy equipment

 Not to be overlooked is the classic monkey bars.  A playground staple, these things are wonderful for exercise, as well as a way to be unreachable for those intermediate-expert climbers.  

Parks that don't have them should just stop frontin'.

Monkey bars.

Q-Bert lookin' box stairs.

 The presence of the "mushroom cap," stool things can show the newness of a park - Maplewood has 'em, and they're fun to run around on.

"Mushroom caps" visible behind George Carlos here.

A zen moment for my sons.

 The periscope actually worked, which is kind of rare in the city.

Periscope.

 All in all, a great park, not terribly over or under-whelming, but consistent, clean and well planned.

http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Maplewood-Playlot-Park/

12/01/2013 - Geothe School Playground, Logan Square, 2626 W Belden Ave.

Post #18

Link to panorama - http://pnr.ma/bCTcQw

Of the few parks we had visited before I started this blog, Geothe School's was the worst.  It was run-down, nasty, but close to my home at the time.

Here are some pictures I took in January of 2013 (not terribly comprehensive):

Hiding in the graffiti-insulated igloo.

Parkour

The rubber mulch under the swings was obliterated and there was even an AK-47 drawn on the slide, in Sharpie.

So we were psyched when they tore it down, and even more psyched to get a look at it (on 12/01/2013) and get to know the newer version of the park.

Though not perfect, the new park has much more to offer, especially for the school kids that actually have to play on it every day.  The entire park had not been completed in December, but we could see that it was far larger and definitely fit for consumption, at least. 

New equipment - including a yet to be destroyed periscope (they rarely work)

 It has some updated climbing equipment, which is always fun:

You can see that the rubber mulch is brand spanking new.

This spinning piece was a head-scratcher, but in a good way.  It was confounding and kept George Carlos and me busy.

It spins, which gives it a barf quality.

They have one of these slow corkscrew apparatuses:

We didn't play too long, and forgot to even speak to it's quality via our patented star review system.

But it was most definitely an improvement.

I'm sure it's open now, but the rest was shrouded in mystery back in December.

Nice job with the clean-up Geothe!

http://goetheschool.org/

09/08/2013 - Playground at Brentano Math & Science Academy, Logan Square, 2723 N. Fairfield Avenue (Fairfield & Schubert)

Post #16

Link to panorama - http://pnr.ma/ekEVrr

Sometimes I ask friends about what parks to go to, sometimes I pass parks and make mental notes about visiting them and quite a few times I have scrambled at the last moment to find a suitable park to discover with my sons, and yesterday was one of the scrambling days.

Had to use the outtake pic, it's more charming/character representative.

Having gone to Horner Park last weekend, and been more or less disappointed, I hoped that going to this school's playground merely because it was walking distance from Letizia's was going to yield better results (I don't know how) - AND IT DID.

We had a wonderful time at Lorenz Brentano Math & Science Academy's playground, or in the words of m'boys:

George Carlos - ★★★★★, "Mine was five, because it had a lot of 'quipment, and I got to play with Máximo and Daddy... and I got to learn my letters (pointing to a braille lesson piece of playground 'quipment)."  

Máximo - ★★★★★, "I give it five stars too, because there was a lot of equipment and I had a lot of fun playing."

(Georgie pipes in after Máximo is done speaking)

"Wait, I got another one.  Mine was fun because I got to go rock climbing the first time."

We had a wonderful time at this park.  The boys and I ran around and played on everything.  This place has an unique set-up, tons of equipment and a nice soft (and intact) rubber mulch padding everywhere.

Climbin stuff.

George enthusiastically sliding.

View from below.

The rock-climbing George mentioned earlier.

This thing.

The single helix.

http://brentanomathandscienceacademy.org/

09/01/2013 - Horner Park, Irving Park Neighborhood, Montrose and California

Post #15

Link to panorama - http://pnr.ma/cMIdNv

Lateness seems to be the trend with my blogging, but we do manage to go parkin' nearly every Sunday.  Two Sundays ago it was Horner Park up on north California (& Montrose).

M & G at the field house doors.

This park is HUGE, although we only really scoped the playground and main building, it's supposed to be one of the biggest (at a whopping 55 acres).

The ratings, boys:

George Carlos - ★★★★★, "I liked it because it really had a dead rat, I had fun and I met a new friend with a Power Ranger, that's why I called it five."

Máximo - ★★★ 1/2, "I'd call it 3 1/2, because there's a broken zip-line, and there wasn't that much, but there was a tire swing, there was some fun equipment and I kind of liked it."

Yes, there was really a dead rat, but I can't blame the park for that, and after the boys made a big deal out of it and showed all of the other pint-sized park-goers the body, it was removed/tossed away from the playground by another boy's grandfather.

Horner Park is named for a former governor, Henry Horner, who was governor of Illinois from 1933 until his death in 1940, and not (unfortunately) little Jack Horner of pie infamy. 

(statue stitched together in PS)

Detail of statue inscription

Though good information, a history lesson was not our reason for visiting Horner Park.

Upon our arrival we found some LOOT!  Which was a good sign until we stumbled upon the deceased rat.

M with loot.

 There isn't anything inherently wrong with the park, really, we just weren't feeling it, I guess.  Maybe I wasn't caffeinated properly, but I just didn't enjoy myself as much as I usually do on these trips. 

standard equipment

 Nothing struck me as terribly original in its design, layout or content.  There were plenty of swings (8 in all, I believe), but nothing to spark an exciting game or take us on a make-believe jaunt.

M and half of the park's swings.

GCVV and some sort of labyrinth-type of marble game that spun. 

Nothing blew our socks off... you know?

Máximo with socks still securely fashioned.

G-Bomb on a spring-motorcycle

Yours truly on the same motorcycle (at the request of young Georgie)

A decent tire swing.

Again, the playground at Horner Park isn't horrible, just underwhelming.  Máximo is probably closer to a fair review, especially since he pointed out the broken zip-line, which is, indeed, bogus.

http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Horner-Park/