Summer playground tour, 2010: top 5

This was definitely the summer of playgrounds for us. With our move and Jon's new job, we decided to stay in the city for most of the summer so we hit the playgrounds hard and had a great time. One of my favorite things about the city is the abundance of playgrounds. We had a great time exploring and discovering what might be our favorite NYC summer playground yet!

the countdown:

#5: Hecksher Playground @ 59th street. Usually a good time had by all, except when there are 5 camps there and I'm by myself with the 2 boys - luckily, we went with a friend this time! It was fun to see Gabey really get into the water features this summer.

#4: Cornwall Park at grandma's house. Our go-to playground stop when we're visiting grandma upstate. The boys stayed with grandma for a week during our move (which was amazingly helpful!) and got some good playground time in with them.

#3: Brooklyn Water Park. We headed down to Brooklyn with the Copes for a little playground fun, Grimaldi's, and Jaques Torres ice cream on one of the hottest days of the summer. We wandered into (i.e. hiked a mile under the B.Q.E.) the new Brooklyn Water Park at Pier 6. The kids loved it, even though there was no shade and it was crazy hot, we got yelled at for eating our pizza in the park, and had to vacate the premises because a kid didn't make it to the potty in time. Good times with good friends!

#2: Chelsea Water Park. A fun new adventure. We headed downtown again with the Copes and had a great day at a toddler friendly water park in Chelsea. This was probably one of my new favorites. Tons of fun for both boys and I actually got to sit down for half a second (the true test of a great playground!).

#1: (drumroll, please...) Tarr Family Playground @ West 100th street and CPW. We stumbled across this playground one hot summer day and it turned out to be our favorite playground of the summer. It's perfect for different aged children. It's completely enclosed by a fence, has great water features, a super fun sandbox with it's own water spout, and awesome slides, play structures, and climbing ropes. We went back to this playground several times this summer (especially since I could sit down and relax almost the whole time we were there!)