Parks Galore

Fall in Atlanta is my absolute favorite time of year. Maybe it's because I grew up in Houston, which has exactly one season - summer - but there's nothing I love more than to be outdoors in the crisp air with the changing leaves.

Even though it's still a little early and warm for fall, Atlanta's optimal playground season has already started. With the stifling summer heat behind us, our family is enjoying a triumphant return to our favorite area playgrounds!

We always like to learn about new ones, so I've posted some of our favorites in the hopes that you'll share some of yours.

• Piedmont Park - The new Mayor's Park playground is awesome! With lots of fun equipment and soft rubber (read: no wood chips) surfacing, it's worth hours of entertainment. Plus, ride your bike or push the stroller around the park when you're done. Bonus: the newly re-designed playground now has a conveniently located and clean restroom right next to it - yay!
• Centennial Olympic Park - read my post on this from a few weeks ago. So much fun that we actually went several times even in the summer heat because you can cool off in the fountains afterwards.
• Brook Run Park in Dunwoody -multiple playgrounds for big and little kids and lots of space for dogs (or little boys, in our case) to run. Also features a Children's Adventure Garden.
• East Cobb Park - multiple age-appropriate play structures, bike/walk trail around the park, clean restrooms, a babbling stream for wading, plus plenty of open space for picnicking and kicking a ball - what more could you ask for?
• Chastain Park - play on the equipment or walk the trail around the park. If the ball fields nearby are empty, your little ones can poke around there and kick/throw a ball around.

We've also got our favorites here in Smyrna, where we live, but we like to take advantage of the weekends to explore new parks in other parts of town. Share your favorites that are drive-worthy!