The Omaha park crawl route that we took (May 4, 2018)
One day earlier this spring, to my six year old niece’s chagrin, I was tasked with watching her during a teacher inservice day. She is one of those kids that demand to be entertained in a unique way each time or she’ll report to her mother that she didn’t have a good day. So I did the only logical thing I could think of and took her on an Omaha park crawl. I got the idea for the park crawl which we called “10 Wacky Parks In A Row” because earlier that spring my niece had me dictate a concerning short story she made up on the spot called “10 Wacky Days In A Row.”
An excerpt from “10 Wacky Days In A Row”
Exhibit A: An excerpt of “Ten Wacky Days In A Row”
With the intent of continuing the “10 Wacky (insert noun) In A Row” tradition my niece and I set out to our first park and we agreed that we would try to find one wacky thing at each of the 10 parks we visited.
Park 1: We got to Dewey Park at 9:13 am
The wackiest thing that we found at Dewey Park was the racketball court which my niece found odd because she was unfamiliar with the concept of racketball and I’m sure I didn’t explain it very well.
We did think the mural on the east side of the racketball court was pretty cool so we got this pic.
Park #2: We were at Leavenworth Park by 9:33 am
We couldn’t find anything wacky at Leavenworth Park so we improvised and had my niece, Kali, play baseball on a volleyball court — which we both agreed would be quite wacky. We did find another more wacky/disgusting thing on the way out: the porta potty company came to clean out the porta potty and was spraying the inside down and letting the dirty water rush out on the ground where kids play.
Park 3: We were at Stinson Park at 9:55 am
Kali found a couple kids to play with at Stinson Park and found some wacky binoculars to look out of. This was unfortunately the last park pre-meltdown.
Something snapped. After we left Stinson and pulled up to Elmwood Park, Kali lost it and wanted to scrap the 10 Wacky Parks In A Row Concept. I told her that I thought that the concept had legs and would just require some commitment. She wasn’t having it and began calling out for her mother. Thinking she may have just not been a fan of Elmwood Park, I took her to Vogel Park on Saddle Creek to see if that would entice her to continue our mission but it was a fruitless effort.
Park 4: We were at Bemis at 11:45 am. I can’t remember exactly how I bribed her but I threw a hail mary and it worked!
Back in high spirits, Kali began playing on these wacky swinging disks. There were a couple much younger kids there at Bemis Park that she was played with as well but overall, we didn’t encounter many kids, as it was a school day for many kids in the area still.
Park 5: We got to Clarkson Park at 12:16 pm
We were in unanimous agreement that the walkway to nowhere was the wackiest thing at Clarkson Park. We didn’t stay there long before packing up to head to Little Italy!
Park 6: We arrived at Dalman Park at 12:50 pm
Kali thought the underground tic tac toe was the most wacky thing.
I prefered the “Sled at your own risk” sign for the title of most wacky feature at Dahlman Park.
Park 7: At 1:24 pm we were at Gene Leah Mall. We had picked up some food and had a nice little picnic by the big slides.
Kali was back in full effect, teasing and running from the child eating water fowl. It was obvious to both of us that child eating water fowl was very wacky.
A selfie before riding down the big slide at Gene Leahy Mall downtown.
Park 8: At 2:10 pm we made it to Miller Park
We both found it a little wacky that this girl was just taking a nap on the merry go round but we didn’t ask any questons. The girl woke up and Kali and her played.
By 2:42 we had crossed the state line into Carter Lake, Iowa
We found it generally wacky that our Omaha Park Crawl had become an interstate affair. In this picture, Kali is approaching the child eating water fowl but this time with her trusty clubbing stick clutched tight.
By 3:14 pm we had made it back to Gifford Park, Kali’s home park
Finally, she had made it back home after a 6 hour Omaha Park Crawl. We both agreed that the wackiest part was that we both lasted the entire day.
I wanted to put this into a story to clear pictures off my phone and to hopefully get the gears turning in the heads of other uncles, aunts, parents, grandparents, babysitters, etc. about how to create unique experiences for kids utilizing what’s already available!
