i’m wanting to document more about the amazing experiences that our new city has to offer, so this is the first in what will likely be a very long series about cleveland over the next three (and hopefully more!) years in our new city.
earlier this week, i sent an e-mail to a local scrapbooking friend letting them know about the cleveland metroparks zoo and outback steakhouse giveway i was hosting in case they were interested. laina had commented on my blog shortly after we had arrived and provided me with a great list of activities she thought i’d be interested. on wednesday, after thanking me for the giveaway heads-up, she also let me know of another can’t miss activity – the memphis kiddie park. laina, my daughters thank you!
yesterday i decided that we were going to have our last hurrah of summer before school starts next week. after breakfast and teeth brushing and hair fixing, we headed out the door to a surprise adventure. i love not telling them where we’re off to and hearing their wild guesses. it always gives me great ideas for our next trip!
after a 20 minute drive, we arrived at our destination with squeals of joys emitting from the third row upon the girls seeing what fun awaited. the memphis kiddie park opened in 1952 and is the last remaining kiddie park in cleveland. it’s pretty much the five and under set’s idea of heaven. the only downsize is you have to be 50″ or less in height to enjoy the 11 rides it offers. for my tall children, this could be quite the detriment.
after standing in line to purchase our coupon book of tickets – which never expire! – they selected their first ride. each ride requires a single ticket and i told them the only rule was that when our tickets were gone, our adventure for the day would be over.
the girls have changed their minds many times over the last 24 hours of which of their rides was their favorite so i’m guessing they had a great time. as if their smiles for the duration of the two hours we were there didn’t give it away.
their baby brother didn’t miss out on all the fun. he – and mama too! – was able to ride the train that went around the perimeter of the park as well as the carousel. once he gets a bit bigger i have a feeling we might need to purchase two coupon books for our next trip!
they enjoyed this airplane ride so much they rode it twice. it happened to be their first and last ride of our park visit.
i had the most fun watching them ride the “little dipper,” now known as the oldest steel kiddie roller coaster in north america. who knew? i honestly thought that the five year old would freak out about this experience but she claimed to love it. the daredevil of a middle child i have squealed and shrieked in delight at every twist and turn.
taking the menagerie by myself for this adventure proved easier than i thought it would be. we hit the park when it opened at 10a and left a bit before noon. the parking lot was packed by the time we left so i’m glad we arrived when we did. we’ll definitely be making a return trip with daddy in tow!
disclosure: i was not compensated in any way for this post. i simply wanted to share our experience at a local attraction in hopes that others would learn about it in the process.
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