Noah's Ark at the Skirball Museum

While in California on vacation we went a lot of places as a family and they all had to be pretty kid friendly.  One of my favorite things we did was visiting Noah's Ark at the Skirball Museum.  This place had so much to do and was so clean and well organized.  There were places for the kids to climb, toys to play with, things to put together, art projects, puppets, science stuff, so cool.

Pluses:

• This place had something for every age range of a kid (except for babies not crawling of course)
• They have a free day every month, I believe it is every Thursday you just need to make online reservations
• Not only fun but great for learning (turn cranks to make lightening or rain, feel fake animals fake food, build the ark)

Minuses:

• It can get kind of crazy with the amount of people who take advantage of the free days
• There are certain areas off limits to kids up to the age of 4 and your kid will want to go there

Edmonds City Park

After we got back from our trip to California I had park/playground fever as Redbull seems to enjoy them and it was fun picnicking and getting outside doing something new.  Our first park we went to as a family was the Edmonds City Park.  The website said that their was a toddler section with smaller toys and while this was true it didn't seem to be safe for toddlers as there were many open places a toddler could fall out of. 

Pluses:

• Toddler Section + separate big kid section
• Playgrounds were walled in so you didn't have to sorry about your kid escaping into the parking lot
• Lots of picnic benches and grassy areas 

Minuses:

• Toddler playground had a lot of open areas where a child could fall through, I felt like I had to watch Redbull like a hawk
• Playground equipment was dirty like it hadn't been taken care of in quite some time - kinda gross

Forrest Park

Out of the parks that we have visited in Everett, WA one of my favorites is Forrest Park.  It has climbing structures, swings, slides, a spray park and a petting zoo and get this... it is ALL FREE!

Pluses:

• FREE
• Large water play area (spray only no standing water
• Public pool at this park (for a fee)
• Large playground area with slides and climbing things, etc 
• Petting Zoo on site
• Picnic Tables for picnicking and large grassy fields
• Trails for walking

Minuses:

• Did not see any specific toddler playground equipment

Jungle Playland

Last Thursday I took Redbull to Jungle Playland with his cousins and I wish we could have stayed longer.  Jungle Playland is an area of a church that is converted just for jungle gym activities for kids and is themed like a jungle.  On site they have the jungle gym, food, bouncy toys, toddler area, kid rides and a water area.

Pluses:

• Separate areas for toddlers and "big" kids
• Water spray/squirt park  (no standing water)
• Pretty cheap ($4: 2 and under, $8.50 4 and up)
• Lots of seating and wiggle room

Minuses:

• Cannot bring your own food in and I didn't see many healthy things on the menu 
• Even though the  big/little kid areas are separate the bigger kids still come into the toddler section which can then get crowded and makes me worry about little ones getting hurt- these areas are not monitored by staff
• Rocks just outside of the water area (see pictures) get onto the water area

I would and will go back here, Redbull seemed to have a  great time and I felt safe.  However as with all parks I wish parents would monitor their own kids a little better so I didn't have to worry so much about my own getting nailed by someone else's kids.