Adventure Playground

Adventure Playground is in Huntington Beach, California and is only open during certain weeks in the summer. If you don't like getting dirty... don't go! If you hear rules and instinctively want to rebel against said rules... don't go as there are a whole set of rules to keep the kids safe. It's actually amazing that this particular family (a bit rebellious in certain areas... I won't mention names... didn't get kicked out. I must be maturing.) It is known as a mud park, but by "mud" they really mean dirty water. We came home quite dirty, but not nearly as muddy as I expected. However, our laundry really could have benefited from two washings.

Feature #1 - There is a pile of wood scraps with which to create forts, tables, chairs, whatever your imagination can fancy. Hammers are available to borrow for children of all ages and hand saws about as dull as a plastic knife are available for those eight and up. Each child will receive three nails. In order to receive more nails the children must exchange two bent nails or four pieces of trash. Tip: The park is spotless, so bring your own trash!

Feature #2 - Rafts. All of the children enjoyed the rafting feature, but Nathan especially loved rafting. I thought it was very sweet until I learned he was pretending to be a pirate. Anytime he bumped into another raft he would start yelling at them that he had captured their "ship" and now owned it. At this point I went from thinking that was super cute to pretending he wasn't my son. Maybe a distant relative who watched too much violent TV.

Feature #3 - "Mud" Slide. You don't slide down mud, but rather slide down tarps into dirty water. Kaeley went down several times. Her cool mother even went down twice! Even the three year olds had a great time when landing, sometimes over their heads, into the dirty pond waiting for them on the bottom!

Feature #4 - The rope bridge. I was rather nervous when I saw the three year old clambering across the rope bridge by himself. I really didn't want to brace the chilly water to save him, but it turned out he didn't need my help in the slightest.

After leaving the park we drove to Afters Ice Cream Shop. If you think my hips look a little wider recently you can blame Melanie Anderson for suggesting such a gluttonous sight seeing venture. I wanted to find the nearest farmers market to invest in organic locally-grown strawberries, but NO she twisted my arm and forced me to eat an entire ice cream doughnut sandwich all by myself! I'm a victim! 

Tip: don't buy these sandwiches for children. MESSY! Stick with cups.

Simon fell asleep in the car and slept... and slept... and slept! Once we got home I carried him up from the car and snuggled with him a bit, snoozed with him a bit, and tried waking him up three times before he finally rolled himself into the life of the living.

As our family likes to say: A day well played!