2010 Playground Fest

INTRO
We started our 2010 Playground Fest today 05/16

I will log where we go and stuff. I decided to do this realizing that my mother makes awesome scrapbooks. What better way to give my son a lifelong memory then take him out a as many playgrounds around our area as possible, document it with pictures and turn it into a scrapbook? I thought it was a good idea so that's when I invented the whole #2010PlaygroundFest idea.

UPDATES
09/08 This might be it for Playground Fest. It's getting colder now and we about ran out of playgrounds to go to. I do know of a few places we could still go but they are very far away and not very close to each other. The next weekend Isaac is here is when the PT Fall Festival is on so we will definitely be there. By the time I get him again it will be October.

So in 114 days we went to 52 playgrounds. (actually half that because I only see him every other week)
So in 58 days we went to 52 playgrounds and got over 700+ pictures. That is crazy. Well I can say now that we did a lot of work. We know which playgrounds and parks are awesome and which ones to avoid. I guess we can start on the scrapbook now. I'll probably make a digital version out of this blog. I'll flesh out the descriptions and add pictures and get a verdict from Isaac on each other as well. We can be official 'Playground Critics' now. :D

08/23 I thought we had maxed it out last weekend but I guess I was wrong.
I got Isaac not soon after I got home and we took right off. The Westmoreland Fair was going on so instead of eating first I figure we'd go out and do our thing and when we ended up there we'd eat. So off we went I had plotted out Greensburg since that's where the fair was. We ended up hitting 6 that night including some good ones and probably the worst one yet. Then we went to the fair and rode some rides. They didn't have Walking Tacos which is what Isaac wanted though. :(
Saturday morning we woke up and took off early in the opposite direction. We went out far first and came back. My camera died right when it was time to eat so we stopped at Dairy Queen and got some food and took it home. We ate and watched 'The Secret Of NIHM' while the battery charged. I was prepared to call it a day at that point but I asked Isaac if he wanted to go back out and he said yes. So we hit the second part of the trip which was about 4 more before it started to rain. A total of 9 that day. We cleaned up a bit at went to Jim's to watch the Steelers game and Moddy got to meet Isaac. Needless to say she LOVED him!
Now on Sunday we were supposed to go clothes shopping for Isaac but my mom was too tired from whatever she did Saturday so that was off. I realized that after the past 2 days we had exhausted the list playgrounds I had. How could that even be? So in the morning I got on the computer and checked out some in an area we had yet to hit, Latrobe. I came up with about 9 more we could do and I didn't think we'd hit them all but I mapped it out anyway and we left. We did about 5 before we just became too exhausted to go on. We went home and called it a weekend. I think 20 playgrounds was enough for anyone. Next time he comes with me we're going to Virginia and hit a few more down there with Pappy! Summer is coming to an end and the 2010PlaygroundFest is almost over.

08/09 Man we went a little crazy this weekend. I thought we were in for the night on Friday but Matt stopped by with Maddy and we decided to go over to McCullough to play. That turned out to be a great idea. As much as I love doing this, it's really for Isaac and when we go to these playgrounds where there are no kids, it's really not that fun. McCullough always has kids plus he was with his buddy Maddy so that was great. Plus Daddy and Matt got to shoot some hoops while we were there.
Then, which will ever go in history as Playground Day, we hit 8 playgrounds on Saturday. Yes you read that right, EIGHT. I didn't plan it like that, it just worked out. My main goal was to hit Twin Lakes and Mammoth and then fill in a few of the in-between ones but damn. Some were super fun, some there was nobody at and were pretty lame. Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day. As fun as that was I think 4-5 max in one day is good from here on out.

07/13 I had the idea for the scrapbook to have the schedule on the first page and have each playground written in different colors. That way when paging thru the book the backing of each photo will be the corresponding color. EH!!

I also thought to make a google map with a pin at each area and print that out and put that in there as well.
See it here - > http://bit.ly/a7IhEY

PLAYGROUND LOG
* * * * *
10/20 Eliot Company Playground : 5/10
While looking for Geo-caches we found another playground we didn't even know existed

09/06 Oak Hollow : 9/10
Always tons of kids, weird equipment but lots of it and fun, in a huge park w other things to do

09/06 Bushy Run American Legion playground : 5/10
Close to home but not that great, small equipment and a swing set. There are hoops though.

09/05 Gordon-Barbour Elementary : 8/10
Another one that separate's the big kids playground from the baby one, cool drum thing and a jeep on springy things, you can tell this place is older because it is faded.

09/04 Dad's personal playground : 3/10
At least it's close to home.

08/25 Harrison Park Elementary : 9/10
We finally hit Isaac's school! This is one of the better playgrounds. The best part is that daddy himself help build this for Isaac and all the other kids by volunteering his time.

08/22 Legion-Keener Park : 9/10
It's like Little Knights Kingdom!! 100% original awesomeness

08/22 Baggaley Elementary : 6/10
Standard stuff, nothing spectacular, one side of the school was the baby playground, the other side was the big kid version

08/22 Mt View Elementary : 9/10
Big, wooded area, nice standard stuff plus and lot of unique extras

08/22 Burger King playplace : 4/10
small area, can get food

08/22 Maxwell Elementary : 8/10
Standard stuff, nice area

08/21 Sheridan Terrace Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, nice and new also with a weird enclosing fence, I don't understand the purpose of that

08/21 North Irwin playground : 4/10
Merry go round and tire swing and that's about it

08/21 White Oak park : 6/10
Big area but spread thinly, most of the stuff was older, pluses for the merry go round and the train though

08/21 Stewartsville Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, nice and new in a weird enclosed area behind the school

08/21 Sunrise Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, big area, nice but was lacking something

08/21 Level Green Elementary playground : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area, the old caterpillar thing from Harrison Park looks to have found his way here

08/21 Woodland playground : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, a few things we've never seen, surprisingly better than we expected

08/21 Trafford Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/21 Monroeville Community Park : 7/10
Nice park, big area, lots of stuff, equipment was kind of weak, nice disc golf course (for beginners)

08/20 West Point Elementary : 9/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, tire swing, climbing wall, cool monkey bars, big area, everything seemed really nice

08/20 East Hempfield Elementary : 1/10
2 swings and a slide, worst playground ever, we pity the poor kids that have to go to this school

08/20 Amos K Hutchinson Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/20 Pearl Carroll Memorial playground : 5/10
Several mini-playgrounds strewn throughout the grounds, a few cool things but the main attraction here was the pool

08/20 Stanwood Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/20 Fort Allen Elementary : 7/10
Standard stuff, big area, other kids

08/12 Bovard Elementary playground : 6/10
Sliding thing was broke, standard stuff, nothing spectacular

08/12 Hawksworth Apts : 4/10
Unique stuff but old and beat up

08/09 Jack Town Park : 5/10
Small area, not much equipment

08/07 Norvelt Elementary playground : 5/10
Nice area, not much equipment although it is new, too far away

08/07 Mammoth Park : 10/10
Huge area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, big slide, awesome merry go round, fun for all

08/07 St. Clair Park : 6/10
Not very big, not much stuff, at least it's close

08/07 Twin Lakes Park : 8/10
Huge area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, digger, too many people with dogs

08/07 Thomas Lynch Field playground : 9/10
Huge area, lots of kids, lots of other stuff to do, equipment is very unusual though

08/07 Dr Robert F Nicely Elementary playground : 7/10
Nice sized, friendly environment, standard equipment

08/07 Hempfield Park : 7/10
Big area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, ground always seems wet there though, must not be good irrigation

08/07 Pedora Park : 5/10
Not very big, not much stuff, too far out of the way

08/06 McCullough's Boundless Playground : 10/10
Big area, lots of kids, nice equipment, pretty standard but there is a lot and some of it is unique, sand pit w digger, close to home

07/28 Warrior Wonderland : 8/10
Big area, lots of kids, nice equipment, pretty standard but there is a lot, close to home

07/27 Wolfe Field playground : 2/10
Old and run down, no other kids, no swings on the swing-set

07/27 Jeannette McKee Elementary playground : 5/10
Dirty, lots of garbage, no other kids when we visited, seems like it was not put together properly

07/24 Chick-Fil-A playplace : 4/10
Small, other kids, can get food there

07/24 Boyce Park O'Block playground : 8/10
Nice, seemingly brand new equipment, other kids, seemed like most of the stuff was walkways to other parts, a little different than the standard stuff, also located in a huge park with other stuff to do

07/14 Penn Park : 8/10
Nice, newer standard equipment but there were a lot of unique things strewn about, ringing bells, race cars, other kids

07/14 Manor Park : 7/10
Standard stuff, big area, other kids

07/09 Adlai E Stevenson Elementary playground : 7/10
Nice equipment, no other kids at the time of visit, had a cool piano that really played so that was unique, cool looking climbing thing but playing on it was awkward

06/26 Keystone State Park playground : 8/10
Nice, newer equipment although it is the standard stuff, other kids, right by the beach and in a huge nature park

06/13 Irwin playground w Little Knights Kingdom : 10/10
Enormous area, tons of varied equipment, custom equipment, no cookie cutter playground here, tons of other kids, top notch playground!!

05/30 Romas playplace : 6/10
Small area, indoors, not much equipment but had coin operated machines, nice climbing wall, other kids, can order food there

05/30 Trevillains Elementary playground : 8/10
Huge area, tons of varied equipment, no kids there when we went

05/29 Shenandoah Crossing playground : 9/10
Big area, lots of different equipment, other kids to play with, digger and sand pit

05/16 Altman Park : 8/10
Nice equipment, other kids to play with, solid playground

05/16 Christian Fellowship Church playground : 4/10
Not much equipment, no other kids to play with, area was filled with crazy shredded tire stuff

* * * * *

Yet to hit

Metzgar Elementary School
New Derry Elementary School
Loyalhanna Elementary School

Blue Spruce Park and Playground

VA
Grace Adams Davis Memorial Playground
Washington Park