An Arlington Find: The Sprayground

Last Thursday, Shira and I independently learned that a few Arlington county parks contain Spraygrounds. That is, playgrounds with fountains built in, designed for kids to run through them.

Shira and I had the same thought -- man, I should keep this quiet and surprise him/her with this find. Well, on Friday, neither of us could keep the secret any longer. Shira turns to me and says, "did you know that Arlington County..." and I finished "has parks with water fountains kids can run through?"

This weekend was too hot, and the discovery too big, not to give them a shot.

So, this afternoon we made our way to Drew Playground, only a couple miles from our house.

I had expected that on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon, the park would be jammed with kids. But, it turned out, there was only one other family there -- with two boys making the most of the run-through fountains. (Another family or two arrived while we were leaving.)

Our little one took to the whole scene like a fish in water. He's just taking his first few steps on his own, so he was actually able to "walk" around and explore the gushing water by himself a bit. Mix that with me carrying him and doing a bit of crawling, and he really got the whole experience.

And what an experience it was. It was neat watching him try to process all the different ways the water was behaving, and the effects he could have on it. That, and it was wonderfully refreshing.

Put this down as a definite summer find. It's good to see my county tax dollars are going to something truly worthwhile.

Here's what a sprayground looks like: