MOuting: Wildwood Park

Kids and creeks go together. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--I love creeks. When I was growing up, my favorite outdoor places to play always had a creek. The playtime possibilities in a creek are endless! That is one challenge of living in eastern Washington--the lack of creeks. It's so dry here. When we visit Missouri, we soak up all of the moisture--creeks, puddles, dew, rain, mist, and humidity--it's pure balm to us desert parched people.

After naptime on March 20th, we loaded up the seven rambunctious cousins and drove to Wildwood Community Park for some exploration. When we looked this park up online, the website made no mention of a creek. All we saw was an awesome playground. That was enough to peak our interest. It was a randomly hot 82 degree afternoon (two days previously it was over 30 degrees cooler--classic Missouri springtime weather right there). The park was crowded, but our seven kids jumped right into the herds of sweaty-cheeked children while Em and I sat on bumpy decorative landscaping rocks in the shade.

The whole playground area was covered in the spongiest, bounciest surface I've ever felt. Amber thought she had to take off her shoes to play there, like a trampoline. 

 Rose and Dan, climbing this awesome rope triangle thing.

After about an hour at the very fun playground, we took a walk on the wild side and discovered a tranquil creek running through the woods nearby. There is something for everyone at a creek. The big boys went on a long-range exploration off out of sight downstream while the moms stayed with the littles who were happily throwing rocks into the water. 

It was another hour before we left the park. I couldn't help but notice the difference in the kids' play between when they were on the playground and when they were at the creek. At the playground, it was more of a competitive, frenzied, semi-desperate/distracted type of vibe. The kids were running in every direction like ping pong balls, trying to get onto a certain play structure before the dozens of other kids did. It was high-energy and sporadic, and kind of stressful. My introverted Jay actually lost interest and kept to the sidelines to avoid the fast lane of stampeding children. That's when we found the creek together. Down at the creek, the kids were much calmer--not necessarily quiet, just calmer. They lost that playground-born desperate competitiveness and slipped into a much more natural type of play. It was the kind of play where they experimented, took risks, created, and explored rather than racing around trying to take control of the best swing or slide. 

Yes, I am biased since I always prefer calmer places to the crowded crazies. But even the ping pong ball kids shifted gears at the creek. It's a more sustainable, more engaging way to play. At the playground, the kids kept pausing to tell us they were thirsty, hot, or tired. But down by the creek, they played independently for an hour and we had to call them home nearly a dozen times before they were all assembled to head back to the van. Once again, Mother Nature wins the day! Mother Nature and Chick-Fil-A, that is--we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner on the way home. After eating, the kids flocked to the tiny play place inside the Chick-Fil-A, and instantly flipped the switch back to wild/crazy/competitive play once again. Maybe it's a proximity thing. Small spaces=bounce around faster, wide spaces=spread out, mellow out. Space, trees, rocks, and water=quality playtime.

Take me back! There's a Styx song about that...