Flat Branch Park

The last park I am blogging about from Jess's visit is Flat Branch Park, which was actually the first one we visited.  Jess's first full day here was Thursday, and my playgroup had planned to meet up at Flat Branch Park, which has a free sprayground area.  This was the first time this summer I had attempted to take Naomi to play at a sprayground, so I was still hopeful that she would have fun.  But of course, she wanted nothing to do with the sprayground.  In fact, as we were walking on the sidewalk toward it, Naomi started shaking.  I was walking a good 5 feet behind her, and I could see her hands start shaking as we got closer to the sprayground.  Poor girl... I have no idea why she is so afraid!

There was a small (very small) playground area at the park, but it was pretty lame.  Naomi maybe went down the slide twice, and then she was done.  We took a few pictures, walked around a bit, and that was that.  I will say this about the park though--it is one of the prettiest parks I've been to.

We rated it as follows:

Attractiveness-- 4.5 stars
(Flowers, the cool bridge, landscaping, gazebo, stream... it was really pretty!)

Ease/Safety--  4 stars
(Because the park was so tiny, it was pretty easy to keep an eye on Naomi and follow her around.  We didn't give it a 5 because of the stream--the sidewalk went right up to the stream, so it would be easy (and tempting) for kids to run into the stream and play, but there were signs by the edge warning people not to touch or play in the water because it was so full of bacteria.  So that definitely takes the safety rating down a little.)

Playground Equipment Variety-- 1 star
(As I said, the playground was tiny and pretty pathetic)

 Fun/Coolness Factor--  3 stars
(I think Jess & I originally decided to give it a 4, but I just don't think it deserves that high of a rating.  It does have the sprayground, which is cool, and the neat bridge, and a gazebo, but that's really it.)

Parking-- 1 star
(There was one teeny tiny parking lot, which was full when we got there.  The only other parking we could find was metered parking, because this park is downtown, just a block or two from the main downtown street.  I never have change, so we had to drive to a store to get change.  Then I wasted 3 quarters paying for parking... definitely not worth it.)

Composite Rating-- 2.7 stars

So... not the best park.  Although if you wanted somewhere to take some cute pictures or if you wanted to play at the spraygrounds, it would definitely be a good place to go!

Cosmo Park

Cosmo Park is the biggest park in Columbia.  And, lucky for us, it's just 5 minutes away from where we live now.  It's got a few playgrounds, one of which is HUGE, and then a ton of other stuff.  In fact, I think I'm just going to copy & paste the list from the website because it's so big:

7 picnic pavilions
Telephones at park entrance, soccer concession, Antimi Shelter, Rainbow concession, L.A.Nickell Clubhouse
Antimi Sports Complex - 4 lighted fields - 250' fences, 2 lighted fields - 200' fences, 2 T-ball fields - 110' fences
Cosmo Fitness Trail
Bear Creek Nature Area (leash-free area for dogs)
Cosmo Nature Trail
Columbia Skate Park
Bear Creek Trail Trailhead Access
2 - Fishing lakes (Nickell Lake and Antimi Lake - see map)
4 - Football fields
2 - Football/Lacrosse fields
12 - Horseshoe pits (lighted)
L.A. Nickell Golf Course - 18 holes
L.A. Nickell Clubhouse
Off-leash area for dogs
Steinberg Playground
2 - Playgrounds (1 at Rainbow Softball Complex, 1 near Nickell Shelter)
Rainbow Softball Center - 6 fields
Rhett's Run Mountain Bike Trail
Remote Control Car Track
Roller Hockey Rink
19 - Soccer fields
8 - Tennis courts (lighted)
7 - Volleyball courts (6-sand, 1-grass)
5 - Restrooms (open April 15 to October 15; Nickell/Lamb restroom open year round)

Yeah, it's huge... 533 acres... definitely one of the coolest parks I've ever been to. 

Jess & I really only spent time at the big playground. Based on our time there & the extra information from the website, this is how we rated Cosmo Park:

Attractiveness-- 3 stars
(It was pretty, but nothing fantastic or really special.  But it's such a huge park that I wouldn't expect them to have awesome landscaping over every inch of the park.)

Ease/Safety--1.5 stars
(This rating was mostly based on the big playground, because that's where I spend my time with the girls.  Because the playground is so huge and has so many different levels, separated by slides and stairs and ladders, it is nearly impossible to keep an eye on your kids, especially if you are pushing a stroller.  With a stroller, you can't even get to all of the levels, so I mostly avoid Cosmo park unless I am only taking Naomi or someone else is coming with me.)

Playground Equipment Variety--  5 stars
(I think if any playground deserves a 5, Cosmo Park does!)

This is a picture of the huge playground... you can't see some of it because of the trees, but it's still a cool pic.  I took this from the Columbia Parks & Rec website, here.

Fun/Coolness Factor--  4.5 stars
(The only thing that I can think of that Cosmo Park is lacking is some kind of water--there is no pool or lake or sprayground like at some of the other parks, so I feel like it can't quite get a 5.  It doesn't have everything.)

Parking--  4 stars
(They have lots of parking spread out throughout the park, but I couldn't give it a 5--the park is just too busy and too popular.  I won't even go to this park on the weekends because it's complete insanity.  The one and only Saturday I tried to go with Naomi, they actually had people directing traffic as you turned into the park.  I went around the roundabout and drove right back out again.  That kind of craziness just isn't worth it to me just to play at a playground.)

Composite Rating-- 3.6 stars

For such an awesome park, I feel like it should have a higher rating, but the low ease/safety score really brought down its average.

And finally, here are some of our photos from when Jess & I took the girls!

Aleta was exhausted & fell asleep in the stroller pretty quickly.

Naomi absolutely loves the swings.  90% of our time at the park is usually spent on the swings.

Some of the playground equipment...

This part is cool--it's like a deck area with a few different slides & some other toys, and then the deck area goes along other parts of the playground as well.

More of the playground equipment.

Knocking on the little "window"

Really long slides... Naomi loves these, but I get too tired to run up those stairs a million times.

 

Stephen's Lake Park

I kept forgetting to charge my camera, so for most of my adventures with Jess, we had to use hers, which means I don't have any of the pictures yet!  So my blog posts from the past week are going to be a bit out of order since I can't blog about most of our fun until I get the pictures from Jess.

Columbia has an amazing park system.  Until recently, we were not taking advantage of this.  So Naomi and I have been trying lately to visit some of the different parks and take advantage of everything they have to offer. There are about 70 different parks/trails/community centers listed on Columbia's Parks & Rec website.  On this park map, taken from the website, you can see all of the parks here in Columbia.  Every dark green spot is a different city park, and the big brown area at the bottom is Rock Bridge Memorial State Park.

While Jess was here, we came up with a Park Rating System to help us rate the parks and decide which ones are the best.  We rated each park from 1 to 5 stars in 5 different categories:  Attractiveness, Playground Equipment Variety, Ease/Safety, Fun/Coolness Factor, and Parking.  Then we averaged the scores together to come up with the park's composite score.  For attractiveness, we rated the parks on how pretty the landscaping and layout was.  Playground equipment variety is pretty much self-explanatory.  With ease/safety, I was rating the park on how easy it is to get around the park and watch your children to make sure they were safe.  For me, that included how easy it is to get around the park with a stroller, since I have Aleta.  For the fun/coolness factor, we rated the extra features of the park--what did they offer in addition to playgrounds?  And for parking, is there enough parking, and do they have parking close to all of the most popular features of the park?

This past Tuesday, we visited Stephen's Lake Park, which I think is now my favorite park in Columbia.  It has 3 different playgrounds, one of which I had been to before with the girls.  We only took the time to see one of the playgrounds on Tuesday, so there is still one playground there that I haven't seen yet.  Stephen's Lake Park also has a big lake with a free beach/swimming area and free spraygrounds, which Jacob and I unsuccessfully tried to take Naomi to last summer, and she cried and screamed the whole time we were there.  (By the way, Jess & I attempted to walk by the spraygrounds when we were there on Monday, and Naomi got so scared when we were still 20 feet away that she started whimpering and crying in her seat in the stroller.  I don't know how I'm ever going to get her over this weird fear she has!)

Naomi really liked this thing... you hit the keys & it plays the note.

Naomi made some friends at the park.

She wasn't quite sure what to do with the climbing wall.

Stephen's Lake Park also has a few pavilions (including an indoor pavilion), an amphitheater, 2 waterfalls, a sledding hill, an island and boardwalk, an open playfield, and 2 hard-surface walking trails--one around the lake and one around the entire park.  We walked around the trails a bit and walked out to the island on the boardwalk in addition to playing at the playground.  We also passed an $80,000 discovery garden project that is still under construction.

Jess & I were pretty strict with our park ratings... no park gets a 5 in any category unless it's totally awesome and we really think it deserves it!  After much thought and deliberation, Jess and I gave Stephen's Lake Park the following ratings:

Attractiveness--4 stars
(It was definitely a pretty park, especially the lake area, but it wasn't the most amazing park ever.)

Ease/Safety-- 4 stars
(At the playground, it was pretty easy to follow Naomi around with the stroller and make sure she was ok.  Because of the big lake, there are definitely areas where your kids could fall or jump in, so we didn't feel it deserved a 5.  But of course, at any park, you have to keep an eye on your kids!)

Playground Equipment Variety-- 4 stars
(With 3 separate playgrounds, they definitely have a lot to choose from, but it wasn't a 5.  We did give one park a 5, but you will have to wait to hear about that one!)

Some of the playground equipment we played on.

Fun/Coolness Factor-- 4.5 stars (We decided on 4 originally, but I upped it to 4.5... I can do that, because this is my blog!  With everything the park offers, I felt they deserved 4.5.  It's a pretty cool park!)

Boardwalk/Island

Boardwalk/Island

Spraygrounds/Beach area

Another shot of the island

Spraygrounds--this picture was from the website, here

Parking-- 4 stars (They had good-sized parking lots by each part of the park, and we didn't have any trouble finding parking.  I am betting on weekend summer days, however, it can be tough to find good parking by the lake/spraygrounds.)

Composite Rating-- 4.1 stars!.