Blue Skies Park

Blue Skies Park is located next to my #1 desired school (Blue Mountain, for which we are languishing on the waitlist).  They feature a flight theme throughout the park, and the sidewalk has sandblasted images of a pterodactyl, a meadowlark, dragonfly and monarch butterfly, a Chinese dragon, Leonardo DiVinci's flying machines and unique signature, the Wright Brothers bi-plane, Amelia Earhart's plane and a Sci-Fi rocket.  This is a fantastic option for those who are learning to ride a bike - in fact, this is where I first learned to ride a bike, just last year.  Spencer is learning there too.  For adults, it is nice that it connects to the Greenway and has long, wide friendly spaces to wobble all over.  For kids, the same likely applies, plus when you get tired of trying to manage your bike, you can hit the playground.  There is a skate park, a roller hockey court, basketball courts, and a lot more.  There is a sand volleyball area, but it is not close to the playground, and the playground is coated in wood chips, so it is not really sand toy friendly.  (Wood chip toys are great, though.)  There is a lot of nice grassy area around the playgrounds, which is welcoming for sudden soccer games or tag. 

The playgrounds are modern, and there are two, separated by a nice big shelter.  One is more friendly for toddlers and one is definitely for older kids, but neither is extremely baby friendly.  If your toddler is under 2, they may not be able to manage the climbing and unconventional structures without a lot of help from you, and there are lots of gaps for them to fall through if they are unsteady on their feet.  There are also no swings (although there is a modern mini hammock swing that is pretty fun).  If your toddler is old enough to handle big stairs and an incline climbing wall to get to the slides, or has started their very imaginative stage, they will be in heaven.  There is an additional structure on the playground for younger kids that can very easily stand in for a pirate ship, airplane, rocket ship, etc.  We really enjoy this park, but it might be a challenge for those with very young kids.

I will try to start taking pictures of the parks when we are there, as there are sometimes not great playground photos, and the kind of playground that I am calling "modern" might not actually bear that name.