Shillito Park

Location: Shillito Park, Lexington (Reynolds Road)

Cost: Free

Suitable Ages: All

A few weeks ago my youngest son turned 8 years old (insert sniffle here). We didn't want to have the party here at our home so we took the kids to Shillito Park. It was perfect! There is plenty of room to play and the weather was made to order. While we only used the playground and took advantage of the ample grassy areas, there is plenty of other things to do at the park. There is a public pool, baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, frisbee golf and miles of walking trails. Ramadas are available but with so many shady grass areas, we felt it was best to simply bring a folding table and camp out under the trees. I would highly recommend this location for any get together.

Friday Night Flick

Location: Jacobson Park, Lexington
Suitable Ages: All
Cost: Free

One of the first things our family enjoyed in Kentucky was the FREE Friday night flicks at Jacobson park throughout the summer.

The boys ran their legs off playing frisbee in the cool grass, wrestled on the blankets we had laid out, petted the animals at the small petting zoo, slid down the inflatable slides and walked around to the various vendors collecting freebies. If they happened to get bored with that (rarely), we would walk to the other side of the park to play on the most AMAZING playground- ever! We would catch fireflies (a first for us!) once the sun started getting low then finally settle down to watch the movie around 9pm.

This was a perfect Norman Rockwell type activity every week. The movies were clean, the whole family got good exercise and we spent a lot of quality time together. The only negative aspect of the experience was the occasional smoker and the parents who let their children run wild throughout the movie. Both kind of people bother me in public situations. Other than that, you can't go wrong with this one.

If you go: bring your lawn chairs, picnic blankets and a portable dinner and be prepared to have a great night under the stars. Movies are shown, weather permitting, at dark every Friday night through the summer.