Playground Review : Bayview Village Park

When planning an adventure around the greater Toronto area we are often on the lookout for great playgrounds. While any playground can be fun and enjoyable, there are definitely some factors that make them more or less fun for both Buzz and myself (Bo doesn't yet care). Being the type of person who plans our outings I usually like to hop on the internet the evening before and check out whats in a given area. I always look for peoples opinions on local playgrounds, I'm almost always disappointed with the amount of info that is out there.  While you can sometimes find info on the parks in general, information on the playgrounds themselves are lacking and so I'm going to attempt to fill the void.

The format of my playground reviews may change a little as we find things that we love or despise about various playgrounds, but I hope that I can at least give a little insight into the condition, amenities, and general awesomeness of playgrounds around the city. I will do my best to include some photos, although they will most likely be from my phone as opposed to to the camera.

First up is our playground of choice for this evening : Bayview Village Park.

Location : On the east side of Bayview Ave, north of Sheppard.

This park is within walking distance to the Bayview stop on the Sheppard Subway Line. If you are driving to the park there is a parking lot which has about 25 spaces.We've only been here a couple times, but both times we were able to get a parking spot without any problems. As this park is surrounded by a residential area I suspect a lot of people walk over.

From a parents point of view I think the best thing about this park is that it has a fence separating it from Bayview Ave. Without the fence it would be unplayable as the playground equipment is located fairly close to the road. The fence runs all along the west side of the park and seems to generally contain the kids.

There are three separate play structures with slides, they seem to be for toddlers, young kids, and older kids as they are three different sizes.  I suspect that they  have been there for a while as they are made of wood, not metal and plastic like is commonly seen in most playgrounds. They are all pretty simple structures, but the kids seem to enjoy them. The surface under the playgrounds are either covered in sand or soft rubber. The sand is not deep enough to play in and is closer to teeny pebbles in some areas.

This park has a splash pad!! The sprinklers are in a concrete pad and the button to turn them on was difficult for the toddlers to activate, but all the kids running around seemed to the enjoy the water. The sprinklers are pretty basic, the only structure on the splash pad is a water tower, no water spouting animals or cat tails here. We were here around dinnertime and the splash pad was mostly shaded which was nice. The splash pad seems to be wheelchair accessible, however most of the playground is not all that wheelchair friendly.

Unfortunately the age of this playground is starting to show, there is some minor graffiti on some things, the benches could use a coat of paint, and the water fountain was leaking terribly. Despite the age and basic play areas this park has a lot going for it. The fence allows parents with more then one kid to watch them comfortably. There are plenty of shady or sunny places for a picnic, playing with a ball, or general running around. There are a decent amount of places to sit and even washrooms (albeit port-a-johns not large enough to fit a stroller).  This is a park that we will probably return to as it is near some shops that we frequent. I think that when it was first built the park would have been great, shiny and new is always better than tired and old. It could use some updating and a little maintenance, although I didn't see any trash around, the play areas seemed dusty and a little dirty.

Above all else this park is pretty average, it has some really good things going for it, but it is also fairly boring looking. Sometimes boring is great for kids, it develops their imaginations, however sometimes its just plain boring. This park leans a little more towards just plain boring.

This park has:

-3 play structures with slides.

-2 other structures with monkey bars and rings to swing from.

-5 picnic benches and 4 park benches within the playground area. More benches can be found on the outskirts of the big fields.

-Large open field

-Tennis courts

-Baseball diamond

-2 port-a-johns (not wheelchair accessible)

-concrete splash pad

-shaded grass area

-fence (not gated)

-parking lot

-2 child swings

-1 toddler swing

-1 accessible swing with asphalt leading up to it.

-1 drinking fountain (not working well when we were there).

 Score : 4/10

The Summer To-Do List : Blue Jays Game

Have I mentioned we're Blue Jays fans? Since we are lucky enough to live in the same city as a baseball team as great as the Jays we think it is important to take our kids to a game or two. I grew up going to games at Tigers Stadium and loved it, I have great memories of the games. For our kids to experience the game, the stadium, the crowd and the peanuts underfoot, is wonderful.

This past Saturday we took Bo for his very first game, Buzz having been many times before. Bo slept for the most part, Buzz ate popcorn and got himself a foam finger. It was all very exciting! Bo did manage to open his eyes long enough for us to snap a pic. Although he does not look all that pleased in the photo he was very well behaved and wasn't bothered by all the sights and sounds.

The Jays won and after the game we all went down on the field so that Buzz could run the bases, stepping onto the field was thrilling! We almost always sit way up in the nosebleeds and so being able to go right down and walk on the field was a great experience, the place looked huge from there. 

I think the only drawback to going to the games is that we always seem to sit in a somewhat rowdy section, perhaps all the cheap seats are rowdy. This time the rowdy was coming from two separate bachelor parties that happened to be sitting next to one another, they were trying to one up each other with their behaviour. For the most part we take it in stride and security at the stadium are pretty good at keeping people from getting out of control. I suspect that there aren't quite so many trouble makers down in the more expensive seats, but as we can't afford to get those tickets, we will just have to put up with the bachelor parties. I suspect a family section up in the cheap seats would go over well. 

The staff at the games are always kind and courteous, when I asked one of them if they would take a family photo of us in front of the Jays dugout, they happily agreed to. This is our very first family photo as a family of four.

Although these outings aren't always easy they are well worth it. Buzz remembers the games and the experience, he talks about it for months afterwards. Taking our kids out into the world to explore, to see and do interesting things, to watch them experience incredible moments is simply an amazing experience.

Pregnancy, a Birthday, and the Arrival of Tulips

Well here I am, I am currently 35 weeks pregnant and just as our spring/summer is getting into gear I am slowing down dramatically. My energy level is doing just fine (thanks to the iron I started taking last week),however I am now an incredibly slow walker. I now take the stroller with me places simply so that I have something to push ahead of me to keep my forward momentum going. The stroller also comes in handy when Buzz decides he does not want to go in the same direction that I do, I can no longer pick him up and carry him down the street so he goes in the stroller despite his protests.

We celebrated Buzz's birthday last month by going on a train ride at his request, a perfect outing for my transit obsessed son. We hopped on the Go Train and rode it out to a park on the water where we had a picnic complete with mason jar birthday cakes, it was a very wonderful day. 

Buzz has recently shot up in height and he is enjoying it with every inch of his independent three year old self. He no longer has to stretch to reach the buttons at the crosswalk, and much to his delight he can now see over some store counters. He is becoming more curious and increasingly confident and as sad as it is to watch the baby in him slip away, watching the child in him become more prominent is wonderful. Perhaps Buzz's great moments this month was that he discovered that swings are not as scary as he thought they were. Previously he was terrified of them, not wanting to go anywhere near the swings, however now we can't keep him away, he giggles with the thrill of it all whenever he goes on them.

We have also been working away at the garden, much to Buzz's delight. He now has his own garden tools courtesy of his grandparents, and is anxious to plant seeds. He took a moment this evening to explain to me that the rain comes down and the seeds grow up, I love that he has some understanding of the process. This weekend we plan to plant potatoes and may plant carrots and beets. Our rhubarb has grown so much it is remarkable and the peas that we planted earlier are doing well. Buzz was most excited about the tulips that came up in the garden, we cut one and he carried it around in a coke bottle for the better part of a day, I even caught him giving it a kiss. It is amazing to see how much wonder and appreciation he has for the garden. Below is a picture of Buzz digging in the dirt near his beloved tulips.

As we get closer to the arrival of our newest family member there seems to be more and more that we need to do and also more and more that we want to do. Trying to find a balance between cleaning and organizing, and enjoying the spring is challenging but with any luck we will manage to be ready for the baby when he gets here. Our main goals are to get our home organized with a space for the baby's crib and swing and to  have the garden as completely planted as it can be before our little ones arrival. We also need to create a shady space at the garden so that we can spend time there with the baby. It seems that our summer will be full of excitement!

Saturday Morning at the St.Lawrence Market

Despite not having a very cold snowy winter this year, I'm done with it all and am very much ready for spring. Soon the air will turn warm and sweet and I can go back to wearing sneakers instead of giant winter boots... I can't wait!

We have had a few adventures this winter, whenever there has been a milder day we've taken full advantage of it to explore the city. This past weekend we went down to St.Lawrence Market on a mission to find some wonderful vegetables to cook with a roast later that night. We found some purple, orange, and white carrots, wonderful red onions, and some very nice purple potatoes that went wonderfully with the roast that we ended up cooking on Monday.

Our plans to eat a roast for dinner on the night we brought it and the veggies home was forgotten soon after we ate our lunch and realized that we weren't going to be all that hungry for a big dinner that evening. Lunch that day was amazing. St.Lawrence Market is full of wonderful food, and after some searching Ed managed to find something that was just perfect for my surprisingly picky pregnant self -  a pulled pork burrito from Carnicero's. Packed with pulled pork and homemade coleslaw this burrito was quite likely the tastiest meal I've had in quite a while.  Ed ate a steak fajita from the same place and quickly proclaimed that he could see himself eating something off of their menu every week. When trying a new food place we always try each others meals and I must say that the fajita was incredibly good as well.

Buzz was less than interested in the food that we offered him and was a little obsessed with the jelly beans that he spied in another shop in the market. We let him eat some jelly beans and an orange for lunch, he was thrilled.

While we can't wait for the outdoor farmer's markets to re-appear, the St.Lawrence market with their own farmer's market on Saturdays has turned out to be a wonderful place  for us to spend our Saturday mornings. The sights, sounds, and amazing food are a welcome addition to any day in the city.

We took Buzz to Dutch Dreams earlier this week. Dutch Dreams is a magical place where ice cream is pretty much the only item on the menu. I've only ever been once before when I came to Toronto to visit my sister and she took me to Dutch Dreams for dinner. Ice cream for dinner.... I thought it was amazing. I've been wanting to go all summer and the opportunity opened up for all three of us to go on a rainy Monday. 

We ordered three scoops with marshmallow topping, it came with whipped topping, fruit, and peanuts. It was good.... very very good. Buzz's eyes got very big when they put it on the table in front of him.

Buzz was tired from a long day out, but he stayed awake long enough to eat a little ice cream and taste the icing sugar sprinkled on the edge of the plate. 

I don't have any pictures of the outside of the building but its covered in cows and bright colours, the inside is crammed full of dutch treats and has cows hanging from pretty much everywhere. Before we left they gave Buzz a balloon, he fell asleep almost as soon as we got on the bus.

Places to Go :a visit to rose beach with wings

We're down to the last days of August and so we hit the beach this weekend to enjoy the slightly cooler weather and the wonderful sunshine. I love when the cooler weather hits but the sky is still full of sunshine. Buzz has a true red head complexion and cooler weather means that he can spend more time in long sleeves and pants, reducing the need for copious amounts of sunscreen.

We were down to Chatham this past weekend for a visit to see my parents and on Sunday we went out for a drive so that we could all dip our feet in the water of Lake Erie. Buzz was a little nervous at first, but he got the hang of the waves and was soon throwing stones into the water and retrieving them once the water retreated. 

I had picked up a pair of blue butterfly wings for him at Wal-Mart earlier in the weekend and he seemed to enjoy wearing them wherever we went. Most people were very receptive to my little boy wearing his blue wings, I think we only heard one comment about how he's going to not like us later in life for putting him in them. The truth of it though is that there really isn't any way we could force him to wear anything. He's old enough now that if he doesn't want to wear something, he takes it off, and that is perfectly fine with us. 

With Halloween coming up (eee!!! I love Halloween) it is a great time to stock up on dress up clothes. If you're trying to build a dress up collection on a budget look for accessories; wings, wands, and hats, as opposed to entire outfits.

I hope that you're enjoying the last few days of summer. Luckily our summers tend to extend well into September. Without the deadline of back to school we are free to enjoy the empty playgrounds and cool breezes.