November 11: Deanna's Playhouse

With my parents living in Holland, MI, I've driven past Deanna's Playhouse numerous times, but never really noticed it.  I wasn't aware of what it was until I discovered the link on grkids.com (one of the best sites!).  Deanna's Playhouse is a FANTASTIC place!  Grandma Smits met us there to explore the 15,000 square feet of toys, music, crafts, snacks, and so much more.  I was so impressed with the different areas of play and so were the boys.  They even had an area for infants/young toddlers with age-appropriate toys.  Of course, my boys immediately found the trains, but shortly after we arrived they had a story time.  The book, Mouse Paint (I think that was the title) was about three mischievous mice mixing paints to create different colors.  Koen and Brielle were the lone listeners (Ty was playing trains), and Koen received his own book to create at home (which he did soon after we arrived home).  

We were one of two groups there that morning which was so nice.  The kids could run and play wherever they wanted and I could easily keep tabs on them.  Of course, the staff said the weekends and winter days tend to be much, much busier. 

The neat thing about Deanna's Playhouse is its connection with the non-profit group Life Services.  They have a huge number of resources (brochures and check-out materials) to help parents and families...everything from encouraging reading to safe car seats. 

September 30: Frog Hollow Park



Frog Hollow Park



Even though I'm posting this a month after we visited the park, the boys saw the pictures today and wanted to go back, so already you know it was a great visit!  I'd heard about this park from numerous sources and decided we should try it out.  Yes, we do have a park right down the road from our house, but sometimes a new environment with new toys is just plain exciting!!! 

Frog Hollow Park is hidden right around the bend from Metro Hospital just off M-6, so it was just a short drive.  The afternoon was a beautiful autumn day -- sunshine with a bit of a breeze.  We spent over an hour exploring and playing.  Despite its popularity it wasn't extremely busy, and it was easy to keep track of the kids even if they were in different spots of the park.  We'll wait until next spring, but we'll definitely be return visitors!



Brielle sat back and enjoyed the sunshine.




Our little monkeys...





September 2: Bounce Party!

Another field trip with friends from church!  This outing was to Bounce Party which is conveniently five minutes from our house!  We've driven past it many, many times but this is the first time we stopped to play.  We went during an open-to-the-public session, but it wasn't very busy and the kids loved running around and playing in the inflatable toys.  It took Ty a while to get used to the feeling of walking on the blow-up runways, etc. but by the end he was extremely comfortable and having a blast!  This will be an excellent place to go during the winter months when we need to burn some energy!  Another perk is that adults can play, too!  I had fun jumping on the "trampoline" with Ty and some of the other kids.

Since we were a little late, we were only able to play about an hour even though the open play time was an 90 minutes.  Can you believe of the four moms who were able to meet at Bounce Party that not one of us remembered a camera???  It was disappointing, but it gives us a great reason to go back!

July 8: Playworld

We have visited Playworld in Grandville, MI  a few times, and the kids love it!  For one relatively low rate you can stay as long as you'd like.  They have a number of things for the kids to climb in, slide down, and explore.  Ty isn't quite as brave as his older brother when it comes to some of the larger play pieces, but he still manages to have a great time!  This particular visit was with our cousins, Evan, Annika, and Henry...all visiting from out of state. 

It can get busy (especially when a daycare group arrives) which makes it difficult to keep track of your kids, but overall it's a great experience.  Some parents let their kids go play while they sit and read a book etc., which bothers me a little bit.  I guess I may be a bit more protective of my kids, especially when bigger, unsupervised kids are ramming around.  It obviously bothers me more than it bothers my boys since they always have a great time.

June 11: Special Day at the Center Point Mall Play Area

For our first "Special Day" we were going to visit the viewing area of the Ford International Airport (off Kraft Avenue north of 52nd Street). It's a great spot to watch aircrafts take off and land as well as let the kids run around on the grassy hill. We've done this before, usually with a picnic lunch and friends, and the boys really enjoyed it, but the threat of rain made me reconsider. We ended up going to the Center Point Mall play area with some friends from church.

We arrived at the mall in a downpour. Good decision to avoid the airport! This play area is usually quiet, but I think the mix of rain with the end of the school year prompted many parents to head to the mall with the kids. It was BUSY! The boys had been there before and love running, climbing, sliding, and jumping around the play area. The extra number of kids didn't seem to bother them. There are other malls in the area that offer play areas, but I like this one because it's fairly easy to keep an eye on the kids as they run around...no big obstacles to block my view of them. Which means that when Tysen decided to play the part of the bully by sitting at the top of the slide and yelling, "No! No!" to anyone who tried climbing the stairs to use the slide, I could take care of it immediately. Since the kids were listening to him, I just know he's going to be a great leader someday...we just have to work on those leadership skills.

The difficult thing about Special Days is they have to come to an end at some point, but we will return again, for sure.