Hyland Park

A view of (a small part of) Hyland Park play area.

The inside of one of the climbing ropes.
A view of the lake at Hyland Park, just to continue the lake theme throughout Minnesota. I thought it was pretty cool we lived so close to a lake until I realized that everyone lives close to a lake.
I have resigned myself to thinking of this year that I get to stay home with our kids as an extended vacation before I return to teaching, so we are definitely using this "vacation" to explore our new city. Today's outing included a trip for a biometric screening to the Target Clinic (where for the first time ever, Nate is "healthier" than I am; apparently my cholesterol is too low?) so that our deductible for insurance is lowered, a family lunch at Panera, and a quick trip to Hyland Park Reserve, which for directional purposes is in the same city as the Mall of America.

I read about this park in a book my friend Julia got for us and it is known to the local kids as "Chutes and Ladders" due to the immense size of the ladders, stairs, and more importantly, slides. And Chutes and Ladders it was! The first picture doesn't quite do it justice. This was about half of the large playground, and there were two smaller playground areas as well for the younger kids. The second picture shows what the climbing was like - lots of ropes used for climbing. And the size really is crazy for slides. So big, in fact, that Tessa wouldn't even go down the slides by herself at first. She had to ride the twirly ones on my lap, though I did eventually cajole her into going down the silver slide on the right by herself with Daddy waiting at the bottom. All in all, a fun trip, though we probably won't return any time soon. Tessa is still a tad young to venture the ropes on her own; she was a little too scared for my own comfort. And with Morgan in tow, forget about it!