Playground by the Sound: "This Is Amazing"

Of all the shiny new features that comprise the Playground by the Sound, Sommer Stockinger says she's impressed with the thing none of its pint-to-midsized users probably even notice.

The Fircrest native and frequent user of the Soundview Trail at Chambers Creek Properties found a few seconds, literally, to chat with Patch about the volunteer-built playground on its first full day of being open for play today.

"This is amazing," she said. "I think it's great that they fenced this. It's not something you think about, but it's great to come and let your kids be a little free ... I think that is my favorite part of the playground."

The youth who slid, swung, ran, jumped and tested almost every inch of the Playground by the Sound's fun-ness likely would have disagreed, but that's OK. It seemed everyone on Thursday had something to love about the playground near the North Meadow of Chambers Creek Properties.

This was the kind of day that Linda Bird and other organizers dreamed of when they first set out to build a community playground last year. Sunny. Picturesque with Chambers Bay Golf Course and Puget Sound in the background. And enough unbridled, youthful energy to run a city sanding truck.

But for parents, including myself, one of the benefits is being able to salvage some peace of mind that your children can't really wander off.

Thanks to the fence. (I didn't mention that I contributed to about 1/64 of said fence by drilling a few screws during the playground build last week. I know, pretty manly) I overhead a lot of other volunteers staking claim to their contributions to the project.

As for Stockinger, she broke away from pushing her 1-year-old son Xavier Colon to add: "This is fabulous. More communities should have this."