Pirates Cove

Earlier this week I took the kids to Pirates Cove, as a reward for Little Man's eating progress.  I had told him if he tried 10 new foods we'd go on a special excursion of his choice.  I thought he would pick Fire Zone, but he decided on Pirates Cove instead.  It's run by the Elk Grove Park District and is a great little amusement park for kids.  It was Little Man's first time, and he loved it - 3-5 years old is probably the perfect age for this place.  Little Reader is getting a little old for it at age 8 but she's usually willing to go along with this kind of stuff if her siblings are having fun.  She's good like that.

There is a carousel with horses that are a little smaller than usual so kids can get on and off on their own.


There is a little boat area.  I thought Little Man would have a tough time steering but he figured it out pretty quickly. We happened to bump in to a former coworker and her little guy (almost 2) at this ride.  Her son wasn't able to figure out so Little Man actually pushed him most of the way around.  I think at first it was by accident as he bumped in to him, but then realized it was helpful for the little guy who was stuck floating in the middle of the pool.    He had a tougher time with the little pedal train but at least that's a bit of a team effort.

While they do have a small concession stand, I prefer to bring our own food to these places as it's a lot cheaper.  There is a pirate ship in the middle of the park that has tables on the top deck and a craft area on the lower deck. 

There is also a bounce house, small train, a big slide, playground, climbing wall, and then this climbing structure.  We were there for about 3 hours and since we had a Groupon for two of the kids, it only cost me $20.  Usually it's $9 per person for out of town residents.

It started getting a little cloudy towards the end so rather than having ice cream at the park, we headed to Dairy Queen.  Little Reader had received a $10 gift card from her soccer coach at the end of the season, and we hadn't had a chance to use it.  This was the perfect opportunity.  Blizzards for everyone!!