Another day off on vacation means finding another activity with the kids!
We decided to roam around the Santa Monica area today and found ourselves close to the Santa Monica Airport! Since my boys love airplanes I was going to sit near the tarmac to see them take off and land, but ran across a HUGE park called Clover Park.
Park Name: Clover Park at the Santa Monica Airport
Address: 2600 Ocean Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: http://www.santamonica.com/what-to-do/clover-park/
There are many great things about this park! First off, the parent vibe was super cool. At times you find parks where the parents are perpetually pissed and this was nice as it seemed most of the people were pretty happy.
It had a watch tower, and of course it had a wrap around staircase all the way up to the top! The top was enclosed for kids safety and the kids loved it. They went up and down and up and down, also other bigger kids were going up and down it too so they had that interaction as well. My kids were calling it a castle which was hilarious and everyone loved it. Everyone also loves twins and so it is nice too to get a warm reception from others.
The boys were running back and forth from the tower to the playground nearby which was also awesome. Again minimal helicopter parents at this park which was nice.
All photos were courtesy of Yelp.com as we left our phones in the car during the visit. Funny and also scary, we left the car running by accident (key less car entry port) so by the time we got back the car was still running and no one stole anything which was nice.
Other great qualities of the park include:
- A tire swing under sand
- A few sets of 2 safe swings
- A drawbridge which is safe for kids to cross and helps motor skills
- A seesaw under sand too, which is great as one boy fell off and he was just fine
- Easy accessible and clean restrooms
- No homeless people around
- Water fountains
- Basketball court
- Expansive lawn to play soccer and football
- Airplanes in sight taking off and landing which the kids loved
Overall a good trip, no major accidents and everyone had a good time. I would say to make sure to bring hat, water, sunglasses as parts can be super sunny, but otherwise good times.
We also started potty training them and had them pee before they went, with no drinking in the car. They did just fine without diapers which was great. We did start the potty training and have had some accidents, however I think we should be able to get them fully trained by the end of the month! Fingers crossed.