If you can’t tell by the themes of some of my latest blog posts, biking has been our family’s new passion. Having a bike hitch, bike trailer and at least one child biking on her own really opens up the family bike outings to beyond the driveway or cul-de-sac. Even though Bill is usually the one to strap the bikes onto the hitch and gather all the gear, I’ve made it a point to learn how to do it on my own in hopes that I could take the girls out by myself. Feeling rather confident about strapping all the bikes onto the hitch, remembering all the gear and snacks, I took the girls for a bike ride on Abbotts Creek Trail one summer morning in August.
For this trip, we parked at our tried and true parking lot at 10888 Bedfordtown Dr in the Bedford neighborhood. After biking down the access path we turned right on the Neuse River Trail. We then turned right onto the beginning of Abbotts Creek Trail. We biked past the blue heron habitat and over a large wooden walkway before coming to Falls River Ave. There wasn’t any obvious directional signs for how to stay on the greenway, but remember my past time on this trail, we turned left on the sidewalk of Falls River Ave. After mostly walking our bikes up the hill, we then made another left to stay on Abbotts Creek Trail, which continues to be more hilly than the first portion of the trail. Ashley walked her bike up several of the hills, but made up for it on the downhill portions of the trail. After about 1/2 mile of riding we turned left into the entrance of the North Wake Landfill District Park and biked/walked up the steep trails to the playground area where the girls ran around and climbed like monkeys for over an hour.
The bike ride back to the car was successful and even a bit adorable as my stop-and-smell-the-flowers daughter took advantage of light greenway traffic with her simultaneous bike ride swaying and singing. Despite the hot weather, the girls made the trip so much fun and were so patient with me as I carefully installed the bike equipment back onto the car.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we headed back to the landfill park (9300 Deponie Dr, just off Durant Rd) with our bikes, but this time we drove in and parked at the playground and rode our bikes around the road surrounding the big hill. The road around the hill has been updated from a two-lane car road to a two-lane road with one dedicated bike/pedestrian lane and a one-way car lane. The road is about 1 1/2 miles long and a short median separates the bike/pedestrian lane from the car lane and has several pedestrian crossing areas.
We biked to the bottom of the trail that leads to the top of the landfill, parked our bikes and walked to the top. I’m the only one in our family who has ever been to the top of the landfill, so I was excited to share the views with everyone. The little ones took turns exclaiming their discomfort for walking up the hill, but it’s such a short walk (less than 1/4 mile) that they pushed through it.
Even though it was a cloudy morning, we could still see some downtown Raleigh buildings. The beautiful blue sky poked through, which gave great contrast to the super lush grass on top of the mountain. The girls loved being up so high and enjoyed playing photographer with my new big camera. We had the top of the hill to ourselves that morning, making it a really fun family outing!
With the girls being a bit older now, we really were able to utilize this park for all its assets – greenway access, advanced climbing features on playground, and large open spaces. I look forward to bringing them back when they’re much older to explore the mountain bike skills course. It’s hard to imagine this place was once a fully functioning landfill.
Thumbs up: park located along the greenway, great playground areas with variety of features, separated two-lane road around landfill hill, clean and fully functioning restrooms
Thumbs down: poor signage along Abbotts Creek Trail at Falls River Ave
Part of my summer bucket list for the past few years included a trip to the Durham Farmers’ Market. Unfortunately, we never made time to visit Durham during the summer (unless it was for a Bulls game) until this summer. A few weeks ago we had an atypically quiet weekend at home so we decided to head out to the 
After exploring the main area, we walked across the street to the mini food truck rodeo area, where we bought some fresh tea and loco-pop popsicles. There were tons of vendors at the market selling clothing, unique handmade items, cold drinks, household items and more. After window shopping we walked across the bridge at the intersection of Foster and Hunt St where it dumped us out into the large lawn area, also part of Durham Central Park. We walked up the hill to scope out the skateboard park, which is also located across from a police station. After watching the skaters for awhile we headed back down the hill past the Leaf open-air performance area to the fabulous playground area, Mt. Merrill.
The playground features amphitheater-style rock climbing, two slides, climbing net, and some shade sails. I especially loved the cute bird cut-outs perched on top of the poles. There are also some benches sprinkled along the nearby sidewalk and some shady spots in front of the playground by the wooded area. We grabbed a few of those shady spots and had a quick picnic with our edamame and blackberries. The girls loved jumping back and forth between having a snack and playing on the playground. It was neat and unusual to see large boulders used as a climbing element in a playground.
Before Christmas we headed to the newly opened Abbotts Creek Park, which is adjacent to Abbotts Creek Community Center and Abbotts Creek Elementary School. Abbotts Creek Park is located in northeast Raleigh at 
Outside the playground is a large concrete area with a large painted circle (presumably for playground games), four 100-yd dash lanes, a large grassy area, and rear access to the community center and elementary school play areas around the corner. The outside spaces have lots of room to hopefully add picnic tables in the future.
Over Thanksgiving we headed back to Western Regional Park in Howard County, MD to explore the playground that was under construction the 
In mid-October we headed to Richmond to celebrate our old college roommates surviving the first year as new parents and their sweet daughter’s first birthday. On the morning of the party we met up with several college friends and all our kids at the 
Beyond the tot playground is another playground area built into the side of a hill with rocks and tree stumps for steps and slides for sliding down the hill. There’s also a small play house, two large disc swings (which were the crowd favorite), bench swings, water tables, musical instruments, and a wheelchair-accessible tree house nearby. The littlest ones in the group loved making music with their hands and mallets while the older ones loved running and exploring the tree house. A paved walking trail leads to basketball courts and other fitness equipment behind the main building.
After some tree house play, the kiddos gathered throughout the largest playground, which features several long ramps connecting the smaller-age play structures with the taller ones. The big kids ran up ramps, flew down slides, and climbed up nets and walls while the younger ones crawled between stumps and held on to nets. Everyone also made time for the cool sensory wall featuring brightly colored mirrors, shiny rocks, spinning wheels and more. Claire and I also took time to walk through the small flower garden area. She loved climbing on the benches and stopping to smell the flowers.
Before summer came to an end we headed back up to VA for a final party at my mom’s house before turning it over to new owners. To counteract the bushel of crabs (and beers) we were going to eat that weekend, we headed into downtown Fredericksburg on Saturday morning for a run and some playground time.
The Canal Path is a paved 1.8 mile trail that parallels the canal until Princess Anne St where it then connects back with the Heritage Trail making a loop through downtown. The Canal Path is mostly shaded, making it a great way to escape the summer heat. We passed behind Mary Washington Hospital, ran under Route 1 again, ran by the Wetlands at Gayles Pond, and passed the 
Before summer ended, we explored a new section of Crabtree Creek Trail via bike. With the hot and humid weather, we knew pushing a double stroller would be tough, so why not pull the girls by a bike trailer?! The girls were super excited about the prospect of riding in a bike trailer and despite having to cut our trip short because of a busted bike chain we had a great morning ride and even stumbled upon a new park.
Lockwood Park is small fenced-in park designed mostly for ages 5-12. It has a large climbing rock boulder, sand box with diggers, swings, and large playground with slides and various climbing structures. The playground has a rubberized surface with a picnic table and benches and a nearby open grassy field. The girls loved climbing on the boulders the best, but were also excited to get back into the bike trailer to continue on our ride.
Before preschool started, we headed to Powell Drive Park to check out the playground renovations finished earlier this year. I 
The ages 2-5 playground features bright neon colors with two small ladders, musical drums, slide, tunnel, water/sand table and stepping stones. The playground’s height is short, making it the perfect size for early explorers. Nearby is the ages 5-12 playground with a large spider web rope climbing ladder, curved metal ladder, and tall slide. The big girls loved climbing to the top of the spider web rope and everyone squealed in delight while being pushed on the large, oval swing. The old tennis courts and basketball courts are adjacent to the playground area. There are some large shade trees near the tot swings, but little shade around the ages 2-5 playground. A few benches surround the perimeter of the play area and several moms with small babes had the right idea by bringing a breakfast picnic to the park!
Blue Jay Point County Park is an outdoor mecca for people of all ages! We visited Blue Jay Point County Park about a month ago after hearing so much great news about the new 
After some playground time, we headed towards the covered pavilion where the Laurel Loop nature trail begins. This was such an ideal walk for young kids – it is a well maintained unpaved trail with lots of shade, has several benches and picnic tables throughout, is only 0.2 miles, allows for a short walk by adjacent Falls Lake, and loops you back to the playground area. All of the girls from ages 18 months to 4 years old loved exploring this trail, especially finding the dozens of caterpillars along the trail.
We then headed outside to the nearby fenced-in garden area for a much deserved picnic lunch. After our lunch we walked all throughout the gardens learning about the different herbs, flowers and vegetables they’ve planted. The biggest highlight for me was the “pizza garden” where they planted lots of basil and tomatoes. The biggest highlight for the girls was spotting butterflies and checking out the resident turtles and water snake in the small pond area.
If you live around the Richmond, VA area you have to check out Rockwood Park in Chesterfield County. While visiting Tech buddies in Richmond at the end of June we set out for Rockwood Park Nature Center’s annual Honeybee Festival and everyone (kids and adults) fell in love with this park!
After spending at least 30 minutes in the center, we headed outside to enjoy the bee festival activities. The friendly staff helped the kids make pipe cleaner bee crafts and plant flowers. Then they enjoyed listening to bee themed stories and having bees painted on their hands. After exhausting the storyteller’s books we headed out across the field to explore the playground area.
The playground area is made for kids mostly 5 years and up, but that didn’t stop these almost 2-year olds and 4-year old from playing. The playground has a small slide for younger kids that is connected to higher play areas by monkey bars. There are several more climbing areas connected by ladders with access to twisty and straight slides. With the recent rains the kids happily discovered the large mud puddle at the bottom of the twisty slide. Tot swings and regular swings are nearby and several benches and picnic tables are also located in the playground area. The entire area is mostly shaded by tall, mature trees and there are several more amenities (such as a dog park, pickleball courts, baseball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, pavilions) adjacent to the playground. As someone who has spent a lot of time visiting family and friends in Chesterfield, I am excited to explore more parks in this area.
