The play area of DOOM!

During the hot summer months the inaccessibility, or un-usability, of playgrounds has made finding play areas for William somewhat of a challenge. Again I talk about the Spotsylvania town center, which should start paying me for using it as advertisement for places to take children. The play are is a small, enclosed space with one exit and a few rounded, squishy items for children to climb over. There are a few downsides to this play place, but today's post will focus on the positives.
William loves the play place. Even with the extremely crowded, rowdy area he finds the spaces to jump and run and get out as much excess energy as possible. His excitement is immediate and explosive. For the first ten minutes of play he cannot walk normally. His walk turns into an arm flapping, jumping, dance that continues until he tires or bumps into something.

Click the Picture for dancing!

After his initial lap of the play area he will then decide which soft yet dense object he should play on. Usually he goes to one of four objects. If he is near the bridge he will go up the bridge and attempt to walk or slide down it, usually with a good thump at the end. His next choice is usually the hollowed out tree with a slide and stairs. He will climb up one of the sides, wait inside for a few minutes, and then go down the slide or stairs, usually the opposite of whichever he went up.  The interesting thing about this is it doesn't really matter. The material the tree is made out of won't allow for sliding, and William either thumps down the stairs or he thumps down the slide. Next on the list is the horse and carriage, the object that absolutely terrifies my girlfriend, fearing that if William mounts the horse he will fall and hurt himself. He never has, and I am sure never will, but it is still something that he struggles to climb, and gravity is a harsh mistress. The fourth and final object is the small ducks in the pond that are just big enough for him to sit on and pretend to ride just like the horse.

I have sped through his playtime to talk about the meat of the play area, the object of attention William will always pay attention too 100% of the time. Outside of the play area, about 30 feet from the walls, is a toy helicopter kiosk. During the owners displays they make a loud whirring sound that draws the attention of William, and only William. When this sound reaches his ears he immediately climbs atop the highest thing he can find and points at it, like he is that random rebel soldier in Star Wars on Yavin IV that saw the Falcon coming in. 

This causes the main problem with the play area, the one exit. Upon seeing the helicopter William will get down, begin to walk around like everything is cool, and then book it straight for the opening. At first I equated this to a prisoner making a break for it so that he could escape from the wardens and live free.

This was until he ran for the helicopters, and then I realized it was less a prisoner making a break for it, but Arnold Schwarzenneger fleeing from the predator.