After our hike at Andy's Marine Park, we piled our muddy selves back into the car and drove over to the Old School House at Wide Awake Hollow. The kids had spotted it on the way to the park, and it served as a nice carrot on the trail back. This one room school house remained in operation until the late 1960s, when the Anderson Island school district joined with the Steilacoom schools.

These playgrounds are only available after school, on weekends and during the Summer, so I thought I'd combine them in one entry.

We took off yesterday afternoon for an end of summer trip to the other Dash Point, not Dash Point State Park, but Dash Point Park and Pier, a city park on the Tacoma side of the point.

Getting there was nice, the kids napped in the car while Marine View drive turned into Soundview Drive and wove its way around the edge of Puget Sound. If you're wanting to squeeze the last few minutes out of summer, this drive is a nice way to do it. I don't recommend trying it around 5:00 though, I had some impatient people on my tail wanting me to speed up around the curves. (The speed limit seemed fast enough for me, there are some tight corners.)

I know these two little miscreants, let's call them Bonny and Clyde. "Bonny" is my youngest daughter, and "Clyde" is my friend's little boy. By themselves, they are pretty agreeable well-behaved little people. When they get together, all bets are off. Last weekend, the two of them went on the lam at Odyssey 1 and were found huddled together behind the curtain of a shooting game.

2011 Updat: Franklin's new playground is up and running.  It's got a great design for groups of multiple age kids, with smaller equipment for little kids and more challenging/spinning/climbing equipment for older kids.  Nice swings, too.  Franklin is a great park, go check it out.

2010 Update: Franklin's wading pool is still alive and kicking. The playground needs some help and will receive an update ahead of the rest of the park renovation, hopefully this summer. Franklin's still a great place to go for a wading pool, picnic shelter, Summer Playground Program and USDA free summer meals, but don't come for the playground.

Update: The official name is "Gas Station Park" - more on this later.

OK, it's not really a mystery park, but that's what it seemed like when we ran into this bright blue cookie-moster colored park yesterday. Turns out, it was converted from an old gas station through the Health Department's "Brownfields" project and is now being transformed into a playground by the South End Neighborhood Council.

The new sprayground at Jefferson Park is crazy-fun. The fact that the temperature didn't really get up above 75 degrees yesterday, did not deter my 6 year old from spending a solid two hours in the chilly water, laughing, giggling and jumping all the while. I was a little sad to see the wading pool go, but no longer! Anything that can burn that much kid energy for that long without a parent having to hover and worry is awesome in my book.