The "T-Train" Park

I knew it was just a matter of time before Nathan requested that we visit a new park.  So we did and discovered an even cooler (in some ways) park that's just slightly farther away then our usual playground at Emerson Gardens.  To get there we have to cross a pedestrian bridge over the T tracks.  On our first trip, we realized that we could see the trains through the trees from the stairs up to the bridge, so we sat and eagerly waited on a glimpse of the train for probably a good 10 minutes.  Finally after seeing 1 or 2, I said that we needed to move on and we would find out if we could also see the trains from the playground. 

Well, could we ever see them!  We were all thrilled to discover that the new playground backed right up to the T tracks, with just a chain-link fence separating us from the trains!  The kids ended up really enjoying the little play structure.  It was just right for their stages of development - a ladder-thing that is just enough of a challenge for Nathan to enjoy climbing, easy stairs for Sarah to practice on, two slides plus swings.  But the favorite activity, of course, was stopping all play to stare at the tracks whenever one of us thought we heard a train coming.

At first, there was lots of flinching away from the trains as they went whooshing past, but the kids gradually got bolder standing next to fence.  This boldness led to them hanging on the fence, which led to...

...yep, climbing the fence!  Now why was my first thought when he did this, "Now I'm teaching my son to be a delinquent?"  But then my second thought was "Oh well!  Its good for gross motor skill development!"