Sometimes, the best laid plans go amiss. After realizing the blueberry farm we were meeting friends at was closed to allow for more ripening, we adjusted our plans and rendezvoused at nearby Kelly Rd Park. I’ve been wanting to visit Kelly Rd Park for years, given that it’s one of the last wooden playgrounds (see Raleigh’s former All Children’s Playground) in the area. Exploring this park with friends made for a perfect morning for kiddos and mamas to catch up with each other.
The Town of Apex’s Kelly Rd Park is located at 1609 Kelly Rd in western Wake County just outside I-540. Kelly Rd Park features multiple playgrounds for all ages, swings, picnic shelters, baseball fields, and tennis courts. With 7 girls under the age of 7, we spent all of our time exploring the massive wooden playground areas also known as KidsTowne.
As you enter the KidsTowne playground area, the memorial honoring Kathy Carlisle Smith immediately catches your attention. The Town of Apex remembered Ms. Smith for her dedication to the Greater Apex area and making the KidsTowne playground a reality. KidsTowne has two playgrounds for the different age groups. The playgrounds have fencing all around except for the main entrance area in the middle.
The smaller age playground features tot swings, one-level climbing areas, balance beams, bouncy bridges, and fun wooden paintings. A long bench sits nearby, perfect for watching the littles climb around.
The older age playground features an enormous wooden playground with multi-level, interconnected bridges, tunnels, slides, and towers. It resembles a fairy castle because of its purple and green stained wood, fire poles, decorative paintings, play boats, and towers. Regular swings and a tire swing sit behind the playground. The girls loved climbing the ropes and monkey bars, playing hide and seek, jumping on bridges, and finding shade. They also spent a ton of time flying high on the tire swing.
Though no one picked blueberries that day, we chatted about our kindergarten graduates and personal highlights, and made fun summer memories!
Thumbs up: unique wooden play structure, plenty of seating areas, fun climbing and swinging spots
Thumbs down: lack of shade
Last fall we headed to Richmond for a little man’s 1st birthday party. Before the big party we headed with friends and all our littles to 
Farmers Market, Trail Walking & Pond
The playground features two play structures divided by age group and swings for all ages. The younger child playground contains slides, a spiral ladder, and nearby teeter totters. The older child playground contains steeper slides, arched ladders, double “racing” slides, monkey bars and zipline. The kids loved racing each other down the slides and swinging across the monkey bars. The playground’s hardwood mulch surface lessened the monkey bar falls. The original 1840s Stone House, picnic tables and tennis courts are also just a short walk away. 
At the end of May family visited us for the weekend so we headed out on Sunday morning with my aunt, sis-in-law, and niece to explore a new park in northeast Raleigh, Spring Forest Road Park.  I’d been wanting to check this place out ever since I heard earlier this year that it was going to be one of the parks to host the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  With such a massive open area surrounded by a walking trail and shade trees it’s no wonder it was chosen for such a festival.
We passed several small groups of folks walking that morning and noticed signs advertising walking programs held through the City of Raleigh/Wake County on their information boards.  They also advertised several zumba and kickboxing evening classes held here, which sound like a fun place to meet up with neighbors and friends in the evening. The paved trail is 1/2 mile loop with a few small hills and passes through some shady spots.  The surrounding open space must be one of the largest open fields in the whole park system, especially if it was large enough to house a hot air balloon festival.  We also passed a baseball field before returning to the parking lot where the large pavilion with restrooms and tennis courts with backboards are located.  Several types of flowers were in bloom and the trees were full of leaves throughout the park making you forget it’s just a short distance from busy Capital Blvd.
After my mom’s sudden 
Curtis Park features an olympic-size outdoor swimming pool with a large baby pool with splash umbrella and zero-depth entry, 18-hole 
Past the open field is a large parking lot with access to the pools, nature trails and large pavilion on top of the hill overlooking the pool.  Further down the main road is the large lake for fishing and boating and more nature trails.  The main fishing pier and boat ramp is accessible from the other side of the lake on Stony Hill Rd (you must exit the park). After our playground time we picnicked on top of the hill, which offers the best views of the park. The girls enjoyed chasing each other while taking in the site of the drained pool below.  The Olympic-size pool has depths of 3ft and 4ft in the shallower end to 12ft in the deep end.  The baby pool features a zero-depth entry and splash umbrella.  The deep end has two diving board blocks, but with it being out of season when we visited I’m not sure if they actually allow diving.  I have very vivid memories of jumping off the since removed 3-meter springboard and 5-meter platform boards during off hours.  Being the daughter of the Aquatics Director had its perks!
One sunny morning this winter we headed out to Cary for haircuts followed by a visit to the nearby Robert Godbold Park. Â I’m always impressed by the Town of Cary parks and despite being an older park it packed the fun.
After exhausting the playground we walked over to the basketball courts to run around some more.  We had a quick snack on the nearby picnic tables and then ran through the woods a bit before walking to the adjacent skate park to check out all the construction.  The skate park was temporarily closed for renovations, but according to the 
This Fall, we visited Bill’s parents in Howard County, MD and made a morning trip to the nearby Western Regional Park.  Western Regional Park is located at 
After exhausting our climbing skills, we explored the nearby paved trail in search for the other playground.  At the end of our short walk we saw a large lighted multipurpose artificial turf field with field hockey, soccer and football goals, a large open field, small mobile concessions, fenced-in basketball, community center, baseball fields, a line of porta-johns, tennis courts, and a playground.  Unfortunately the playground was being resurfaced while we were there so it was closed, but looked like it offered a lot for all ages and was fenced in!  The multipurpose field conditions were pristine – the grass was a luscious green color and very well maintained.  Another interesting feature of this park is the natural area preserved next to the sports fields; I imagine the spectators enjoy some depth to the typically flat parks.
The pavilion area was great in that it could hold large family gatherings with nearby parking, but the amount of trash scattered throughout the area was disturbing. Â In reality, the problem seemed to be that the trashcans were light enough to be tipped over by small animals so some heavy duty trashcans with lids would probably solve that problem. Â The nearby horseshoe pit and sand volleyball court would probably get more use if they were raked and maintained more frequently.
All in all, this park had several great features despite some maintenance needs. Â And, it was nice to see so many people enjoying the soccer fields so early in the morning. Â Hopefully as the county continues to grow, more people will visit the local parks and draw more attention to what fun kids can have here!
The 2-5 age group playground is a short walk from the bigger playground. Â It has a fun climbing wall, a few slides, twisty toys, the dreaded butterfly shaped ladder which is too young for a 2-year old in my opinion, a seesaw, tot swings, Â and bongos.
