Sunday in the Park

What is more perfect than a park with train rides, ice cream, a carousel and paddle boats? We are lucky to have a friendly little park with all this and more!

Ours is called Pullen Park, founded in 1887 and the 14th oldest amusement park in the world. But it doesn't have to have such prestige to impress me. What I love are the beautiful trees and colorful flowers, the breeze that comes blowing in off the water from which duck and geese roam, the sound of the carousel Wurlitzer that floats across the parks and picnic tables as you bask in the sun, the train whistle in the distance and the laughter of children as they skip around with sweet, drippy ice cream.

We decide to have a pre-Memorial day picnic at Pullen Park on Sunday to beat the crowds. The weather was incredibly mild - a perfect picnic day. We enjoyed hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad and plenty of watermelon at our picnic spot in the shade. After playing a few rounds of catch with a softball, we took a breezy ride on the train that circles the park.

We meandered to the concessions stand for a tasty frozen treat and headed to the paddle boats for a lazy ride on the lake. It will filled with ducks and geese and we were lucky to spot a duck family with a flock of little youngsters following their mama and papa. It reminded me of that cute little children's book "Make Way for Ducklings" where a mama bird tries to find a perfect spot to lay her eggs and chooses a park in a busy city.

After that, we headed to the Carousel for a swirly ride on the antique animals. They have been beautifully restored to their original early-1900's colors and are gorgeously statuesque - curious giraffes, leaping horses, ferocious lions and stealthy cats. The 1925 Wurlitzer pipes delightful tunes that (like I mentioned before) float across the entire park.

There was a little pond filled with Koi fish that was perfect for sailing my dad's tin putt-putt steam boat that he picked up at the Wilson Hobby Shop a few weeks ago. (See his unfortunate first-time sailing experience here!) The little version of the Titanic putt-putted around in lazy circles. It was cute to watch it sail and my daughter had fun trying to keep it on course.

And what would a sunny summer day in the park be without a fresh, juicy watermelon? We had a delicious one that prompted a seed spitting contest. Hard to know who won, since those little seeds disappear so easily in the grass! But they flew pretty far!

What an absolutely perfect day! See more photos from our excursion on Sunniviews...