The other day I packed our lunches and towels, loaded the kids in the car and set off to meet some friends at West Park in Carmel. The weather was warm, the sun was shining and it was the perfect day for the splash pad. Except when we arrived, it looked more like a desert.
There was someone there making repairs and we waited a while with hopes that the water would start flowing, but it didn’t happen fast enough. The heat started to get the better of the kids and the begging to find another splash pad began. I couldn’t blame them for their persistence. They had been promised a splash pad after all – not a desert.
As a parent, I have learned time and time again that it is important to be able to roll with the punches and switch to Plan B or C whenever necessity calls. Necessity was calling – so off we went to find a new park. Turns out Plan B rocks! We ended up at a park we had never tried before, Mulberry Fields Park in Zionsville, and the kids loved it.
They have a cool water feature that resembles a creek for the kids to stomp and splash around in,
a colorful splash pad (the main requirement for our outing that day),
and a park for climbing, sliding, swinging and just plain having fun.
The park also has a nice, shaded pavilion – perfect for packed snacks, meals and a break in the shade on a hot, sunny day.
Part of the joy of summer is being able to slow the pace and breathe a little deeper. If you have school-aged children, the schedule typically eases up a bit making room for more spontaneity. As I mentioned earlier, parenting has taught my Type A personality how to loosen up and roll with the punches – especially in the summer. I know this park was our Plan B on this particular day, but I guarantee it will be a Plan A from now on.
Mulberry Fields Park is located at 9645 Whitestown Road in Zionsville.
Jennifer Thompson is a stay-at-home mom of four spunky, sweet, kind and sometimes a bit wild children. She has a passion for the written word and thinks that libraries and bookstores are the coolest places ever. When not hanging out with family or writing, she can be found enjoying a good cup of coffee, running, spending quality time with friends, working on some type of project around the house, planning the family’s next trip to her favorite destination – Walloon Lake, Michigan, or very possibly – reading a book.
Jennifer enjoys writing about her parenting experience and outings with her children for Indy’s Child as a freelance writer and blogger and also keeps a personal blog, www.trulyyoursjen.com, that she has fun writing when time permits.
