Where Have You Been?

So, as you can see, it's been a while since I posted. It's not from lack of trying, but mainly "what had happened was" I got a summer job teaching in my district, so Mia did end up in her daycare for the summer. She really is learning a lot for a 2 year old. This doesn't excuse me from not venturing out with her on my days off, but when the weather goes above 90 or its raining, honestly the last thing on my mind is going out to a park. As the temperatures start to fall again, I hope to resume our trips to new places. I'll keep you posted.

South Brunswick Public Library

Mia and I love this library. Not only is it warm, bright and inviting, it has a ton of adult and children's programs, which are, of course, free! The children's department has very nice librarians who give out stamps and stickers and often do story time on occasional Saturdays at 11am (enough time to get up and not have to run out the house). They recently had "Gordon" from Sesame Street visit which I think was more pleasurable for the adults who grew up with him. Also, they had a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog which is just pure fun. Mia loves going this library just to sit and climb in the children's section which is huge!
To find out more of their programs, visit their website at http://www.sbpl.info/ and their location is 110 Kingston Lane, Monmouth Junction, NJ. It's worth the visit!

Carnevale Italiano - North Brunswick

Don't forget to check out the Carnevale Italiano on Apple Orchard Lane and Route 130 in North Brunswick. It's free admission and plenty of Italian specialties to eat. Can't leave without buying a funnel cake. Tonight at 10pm, there will be a spectacular Fireworks display. We've been going for the last three years and its been great. Fortunately, we are able to walk to the carnival which is across Rt. 130 from my complex, but if you drive, I suggest you leave a little earlier and park along the back streets of the Renaissance complex, everyone does it and bring some chairs. You can then walk over to the fair because the police allow pedestrian crossing solely on this day. Enjoy.

North Brunswick Community Park

This park is less than a mile from my home and its relatively new. When it first opened, I thought it was just a park of soccer, football and baseball fields, but when I finally ventured in, I found a really cool playground with swings. The playground is geared toward 5 to 12 year olds, but with some assistance, Mia is able to climb most of the playground.

The best part are the swings because there's so many of them. There are especially great swings for very little ones because it has a cradle seat with plenty of safety belts to tie a baby into it. Mia loves getting into the baby swing eventhough she's a little big for it. I, of course, always give in, she is still my baby.

For older kids, there's a cool, challenging rock climbing wall which is the first I've seen in the parks I've visited.

I don't believe this park is really yet discovered because we have been there at different times on the weekends and it is never crowded. So if you're looking for a new playground in a new park, try North Brunswick Community Park right off of Route 130 South between Adams Lane and Renaissance Blvd.

Johnson Park - Piscataway

Happy 4th of July! It was a beautiful weekend. Mia and I woke up early and took our venture to a new park, well, new to us. We drove to Johnson Park in Piscataway, across from Rutgers University. Though I have driven past it before, I never went in, so I figured a beautiful Saturday would be a great day to go. Wrong!!! It was 4th of July and everyone seemed to know that because they were all there! Though it was a great thing to see so many families celebrating together having barbeques, it was as Mia said "too many people".

What we did discover was a wonderful animal haven, which is really a mini zoo. But what made this one stand out was the selection of animals featured. I mean they had a big, porkbelly pig,

a miniture horse, and emus, but best of all were the goats you were able to feed through the fence. I mean these animals eat almost anything from what I saw other people's children feeding them. One kid gave it a stick and the darn goat just ate it! Of course I had to tell the parentless child to give it something healthier like a leaf.

Mia seemed to love the animal haven because she was not even interested in going to the playground. Once we did make our way to the park, you got the 4th of July vibe from all the barbeques going and the families just relaxing in any spot they could find around the playgrounds.

There are two separate play areas, but only one has swings which is where we of course ended up first. After a strong convincing, we got a "yet again" parentless child away from an available swing and Mia enjoyed herself. We were at the swing for a while as I watched the families around us, they were of every ethnicity which is really cool about Middlesex County. After a while we ventured to the second playground and Mia played for a while until our hour and a half trip took its toll on me. I'm currently 5 months pregnant and needed the bathroom badly. Note to self: Never use a public bathroom in a public park. The smell is still with me. Besides that, I really want to visit Johnson Park again, on a less crowded day. I'll make sure to bring appropriate goat food next time. Whatever that is!

Babbage Park - North Brunswick

This park is an old favorite right in the heart of North Brunswick. Mia and I have been there before, but after going to a park with no swings, and really just not wanting to drive too far, we ended up in Babbage Park. It's not so easy to find, a few turns on small streets, and if you miss the right street, you'll miss the entrance to the park and end up making more frustrating turns on small streets.

The best directions I can give are make a turn on Hermann Road (toward the library), make a right on Linwood Place and a right on Glenridge Avenue. You'll drive right into the parking lot for the park. Unfortunately, if there's an event going on like Heritage Day, you have to find parking on the side streets which is fine if you have a Smart Car, but not when you have a large truck (SUV).

There are plenty of swings, better yet, baby swings are separate from big kid swings so Mia can't get jealous that she can't swing higher. "Higher Mommy, Higher." "Uhm, yea, its a baby swing, honey."

The playgrounds are a different matter. There are two separate playgrounds, one for older kids, one for younger kids. Both need a lot of help. There's graffiti, weird smears that I told Mia to stay away from, and the Kiddie playground was once vandalized (burned) so the dragon that decorates the playground looks like a wanna be pirate with one black eye (like the kids wouldn't notice! )

The park has its issues, but there's plenty to keep a kid busy and there are picnic tables with a few tired and abused barbeque grills. They don't seem to clean the park too often, so look out for the occassional tossed bottle, garbage on the ground or the opened condom wrapper I found in the kiddie playground. Other than that, go at your own risk, hopefully its on a day when the park has been cleaned.

Rowland Park - South Brunswick

On Saturday, we took our "let's discover a new park" ride. I looked up parks in South Brunswick and picked Rowland Park. It was pretty easy to find, but the two-lane, very narrow road it took to get there. was a little too "Deliverance" for me. If you follow Route 130 South or North (depending where you're coming from) to Broadway Road, you will hit the park about a mile down the road. Don't go too fast because you may miss the entrance. The road was so dark from the surrounding trees that I wonder how people drive through there at night!

Once inside the park, I drove through a long path to the playground. My first impression was that this park was brand new. The sports fields were immaculate, with brand new scoreboards, fresh, green grass, like no one has played there before. Once I drove as close to the playground as possible, I pulled up to find a park that was devoid of children. There was no one there on a Saturday late morning. That surprised me and also made me wonder if we were suppose to be in there. The playground was clean and there was nothing broken or any graffiti. The woodchip covered ground looked fresh and new. Mia went straight to work with her pail and shovel and played with the woodchips. The playground is geared toward 5 to 12 year olds, so Mia had a difficult time with some of the climbing areas. But she climbed stairs, slid down slides and was able to run around freely - since there were no other kids there! The only downside is there are no swings in the park, Mia's favorite reason for going. Oh well! The cleanliness alone would have me come back. It also have a really nice covered pavillion for birthday parties, but no barbeques. Discover Rowland Park for yourself.