Ready, Set, Slide - A Review of Robbins Farm Park

Robbins Farm Park is one of the best parks in Arlington. Older children might enjoy the baseball diamond and basketball hoop on the upper plateau of the park. We, however, headed for the playground. "We" included my sister-in-law, my nephews (ages 1 1/2 and 3 1/2), my son Max (age 2), and me. When Max and I arrived, my older nephew ran toward us, shouting. "Aunt Julia! Aunt Julia! Come see me on the bumpy slide!" There are two climbing structures, one for the toddler set and one for bigger children. The bigger structure has one of those roller slides, whose platform is made up of countless metal rollers, so that one gets a bumpy ride.

My nephew couldn't get enough of it. Max; however, headed straight for the one of the long, long flights of steps that flanks the long, long slides built into the hillside. Did I mention it's a long way to the top? Having just gotten off of crutches, I wasn't ready for so many steps. My sister-in-law went instead, following Max up the stairs.

Once there, he climbed onto one slide. My sister-in-law climbed onto the other, with my younger nephew on her lap; he is not quite ready to go down such a slide by himself. Max; however, was off and sliding, huge grin on his face. He went very slowly at first, picking up speed about halfway down. He came to a graceful stop at the bottom. Despite their length, the slides aren't super-speedy, so if you want to go flying off at the bottom, you have to push yourself with your hands to build up some speed. We saw some older children sliding down at top speed and sailing gleefully off into a heap on the ground.

Max couldn't get enough of this. Over and over, he went up the stairs and down the slide. Eventually we got him to try the bumpy slide that so enchanted my nephew. Despite Max's cheerful willingness to climb the steps by himself to the very top of the hill and then go down the long, long slide alone (my younger nephew wanted his mother to push him in the swings, and I decided Max would be fine on the steps by himself), he wanted to hold my hand as he slid down the short, shallow bumpy slide. Kids!

After some "driving" in the wooden car and the wooden train, Max and my older nephew bee-lined for the smaller climbing structure. The bumpy-slide structure was geared more toward older kids, though Max loved climbing up it, running over the bridge and stepping down the big steps. In fact, the bigger climbing structure seemed quite popular with the two- through four-year-olds that day.

On the smaller climbing structure, the boys took turns climbing up the funny, small, offset steps or running up the ramp. Then they'd race down the small side-by-side slides. Max usually won, but only because he pushes off after he says, "Ready," saying "Set" and "Go!" only when he's already halfway down the slide.

We returned to the park a few days later; this time I was able to climb the long stairs with Max to slide down the long slide with him. Perhaps due to the thrilling height of the slide, Max clammed up and I had to be the one to say "Ready, set, go!" by which time he, of course, had already started sliding down. Then we took a little walk beyond the playground. Max asked to climb the hill. Up the green, grassy hill we wandered, spying bugs along the way. At the top, he decided to run. On the side of the park opposite Eastern Avenue is a little cut-through and a path to a quiet neighborhood. Max kept running, and thanks to my knee injury, I couldn't give chase. I limped along behind, shouting "Stop!" as he ran and giggled. He ran through the gate and down the path, stopping only when he got to the (thankfully very quiet) street.

And that, of course, concluded our park outing, because little boys who run from Mommy and don't stop when they are told to are not permitted to stay and play after that. Says me.