We originally set out to visit the wooden playground at Kelly Road Park, but with the road detour on Olive Chapel Rd/Kelly Rd it looked like the park was going to be closed, so we instead stumbled upon the smaller Kelly Glen Park not too far away. After some super helpful back and forth tweeting with the Town of Apex (they even tweeted me a hand sketched map, must’ve known I was not from these parts), we learned that Kelly Road Park was open so we’ll definitely be back to Apex soon!
Kelly Glen Park is located at 1701 Kelly Glen Dr near a neighborhood cul-de-sac just outside I-540 in Apex. There is a lot of construction along the nearby Kelly Rd bridge so parking is available in the cul-de-sac. After parking, we followed the short, winding paved path past the pavilion to the playground. The playground is designed for ages 5-12, but only has one opening at a tall height and Claire did a good job climbing around with my assistance. The playground has several slides and a tall ladder and features several hand crank-operated marble games. There is also a pair of nearby low-to-the-ground tot swings that both girls really enjoyed. Even though Ashley is way TOO big for these swings, she loved running for a “take-off” while sitting in the swing. Before leaving the park the girls spent quite a bit of time watching the nearby construction from the fence.
After the park we headed back towards Raleigh with a stop in downtown Apex for lunch at Anna’s Pizzeria. I’ve been wanting to try Anna’s for awhile now and I’m so glad we did. Despite the busy lunch crowd, we had attentive service and a great lunch of pepperoni pizza and garlic knots. With so many restaurants and shops in downtown Apex I look forward to returning soon!
Thumbs up: helpful tweets from Town of Apex staff, tot swings, exploring downtown Apex
Thumbs down: in-your-face road closed signs made Kelly Rd Park seem closed even though it wasn’t, noisy construction
There’s also a separate smaller basketball art sculpture for the younger kids. The girls had such fun shooting baskets and watching the ball spiral down the ramp. If you forget your basketball or don’t have one, the friendly staff at the community center will let your borrow their ball.
The playground area has two playgrounds – one for ages 2-5 and one for ages 5-12 with a large oak tree and mulched area in between that provided great morning shade for the smaller-age playground. The smaller-age playground has a rubber surface with two tot swings, ladders, climbing structures, one slide, and some fine motor twisty toys and noise makers. The age 5-12 playground also has a rubber surface with several climbing structures, rope ladders, monkey bars, a slide without side rails, and two regular swings. A big hit for the kids was also the stationary board with pretend car gauges and noises.
In addition to the community center and playground, this park also has outdoor full court basketball with nearby benches, a large fenced-in open field for soccer and baseball (and a poor attempt at kite flying), and great views of the freight trains coming and going. Combine this park visit with a trip to Tyler’s Taproom or Bad Daddy’s in Seaboard Station and you’ve got a pretty fantastic outing!
We turned right heading south onto the Neuse River Trail and we shortly came upon the 11.5 mile marker and a large bridge that crossed the Neuse River. It had rained a lot in Raleigh over the weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend, so the water levels were still pretty high and the river was flowing fast, which made for great toddler conversations.
The run home felt much shorter with several less stops than the way out. When we arrived back into Buffaloe Road Park, we followed signs to the athletic park instead of to the aquatic center. With this option, we ran along the northern perimeter of the park and got to witness the massiveness of the baseball fields. When we got back to our car, we were pooped! Ashley made a final pit stop in the restroom facilities near the closed playground and then we headed out for some well deserved lunch. I look forward to taking the girls back to the park later this summer when the playground surface is finished.
After some playground time we busted out our princess kite in the nearby open space. We had the park to ourselves this morning which proved to be crucial when giving a 3-year old a kite – she ran all over the place instructing her kite to “C’mon on, kite!” It was super cute watching her fly the kite, until she ran into some small, unnecessary stumps located in the middle of the open space.
MacDonald Woods Park has playground areas for the 2-5 and 5-12 age groups with two swings for both groups. The 5-12 age playground is rather large with several ladders and slides, monkey bars, and climbing wall with rope. The loop-shaped ladder was by far a challenging favorite for this duo. The younger playground is very small with only 2 slides, steps and a platform ladder. There are a few bouncy rides and a small low-to-the-ground structure for early walkers. A small elevated sandbox is located between the two playground areas. But, by far, the best feature of this park is the merry-go-round. Yes, that’s right…they have a merry-go-round! Go Cary! Of all the parks we’ve been to this was a first so you can imagine the confusion when the girls first saw it. Having never been on a merry-go-round they watched several groups of people get on and off before getting on with a group of toddler girls. These sweet maniacs quickly caught on as to why you hold on to the bars but also moved into more challenging feats such as dangling their feet over the edge. That proved to be rather anxiety-ridden for us but they had fun and no one went flying off the thing, so it was a success!
The playground at Baileywick Park was closed this past winter so we finally made a visit in late May. Baileywick Park is located in Northwest Raleigh at 
A few months ago we headed north with a friend and her daughter to Creedmoor to visit 
One of the biggest hits of the day was the mud kitchen. Having a two year old means they are just starting to play pretend and I felt like this was a great introduction to mimicking what mommy and daddy do in the kitchen. The mud kitchen area has stoves, fridges, baking supplies, counters, sinks, and a large bath tub of dirt for the kids to mix with water. They enjoyed stirring mud batter, making mud pies and cooking them in the oven. Parents, not to worry – there is a water supply nearby for cleaning up. After the mud kitchen, we headed over to the picnic area for a yummy lunch. Food is not available for purchase at the park, so be sure to bring lots of water, snacks and a lunch. The picnic area is nicely shaded with plenty of tables and nearby bathrooms that were in great condition. The sling shot area is also close to the picnic spot, but we didn’t venture over there knowing the girls would be a bit too young for it.
