Mine is. And we have a sign to prove it. As you enter my town (listed first on the 2008 Playful Cities page- it helps to begin with the letter “A”) you are greeted by it.  And I’ve noticed it often.  In fact my cousin commented on it a week ago, “The sign says we’re a “playful city”.  I have no idea what that even means.”

Well, neither did I – until last week.  According to our local paper my town was chosen as a “Playful City” because of the number of parks we have.  Which, honestly, is a lot.  According to the city there is a park within walking distance of every home in our town.  And most are connected by bike trails.  According to the website “Playful City USA is a national recognition program honoring cities and towns across the nation committed to taking action for play.”

Yesterday the town hosted and All City Play Day at two of the parks that are adjoining (which, funnily enough, are within 4 blocks of our huge sports complex, the best in the state, and back up to both an elementary and middle school- can you say playground equipment?)  There were dozens of activities- most of them free.  We went canoeing, made bracelets, race big wheels, tossed bean bags, watched a dog show, skateboarding, sand volleyball, soccer and football and joined the fire department in a water fight.  We didn’t get to the birdhouse building, scavenger hunt, wall climbing (the girls weren’t big enough), yoga or tennis.  And we didn’t play on any of the playground equipment!  (gasp!)

Oh, and we had a picnic before all the fun began.  It was a fun evening and another reason why I love my small Iowa town.

One of the best parts of the night was running into the girls’ ex-gymnastics coach Miss Amy!  We’ve missed her a lot since she left coaching to stay home with her kids this summer before beginning a new position in the fall.  We ran in to her at the canoeing and I thought the girls were going to push her in the lake in their excitement to hug her!