Rochester, MN Parks - Jefferson Elementary School playgrounds

We found this playground when we were looking for an entrance to the Silver Lake Park playground. The kids enjoyed the parallel bars, stand and bounce thing and the teeter totters.

1201 10th Ave NE Rochester, MN 55906

One of the playgrounds...assumed this was for the younger kids. Equipment was more typical of most playgrounds, so the kids chose to play on the other one.

Rochester, MN parks - Quarry Hill Park

9th St. NE & 19th Ave. NE Rochester, MN 55906

 This is a smaller playground located at Quarry Hill Park. It is near a tennis court and baseball fields. I did not see a restroom near this playground. The kids enjoyed the balance beam that made up the end of the tail section of the dinosaur as well as the bouncy teeter-totter horses. There were a couple swings that are not pictured.

4 slides make up the dinosaur's arms and legs. A giant ladder and balance beam form the tail. The kids wished they could've slid down the pole that was holding up the head, but there wasn't a platform near it.

Rochester, MN Parks - Silver Lake Community Playground aka Three Links Park

This park is a favorite for many people. It has a walking/biking path, lots of picnic tables, restrooms, 3 play areas, 2 bench swings and is wheelchair accessible. While we haven't decided on a top 10 yet, my guess is that this one will make the list. The kids love running around on the paths, bouncing on the animals, driving the train/car/truck and playing pirates in the giant ship.

840 7th Street NE Rochester, MN 55906

Giant pirate ship complete with treasure and treasure map. The kids love steering the boat and looking through the spyglass.

Choo-choo...this train is a favorite and can keep kids busy for a very long time.

There are many paths the kids run through in this maze of a playground.

More of the area near the train.

Rochester, MN Parks - Silver Lake

Silver Lake Park 700 West Silver Lake Drive NE
Rochester, MN, 55906

One of the two playgrounds around the lake.

There is a walking path that goes all the way around the lake. There are restrooms near this playground.

This is the 2nd playground located near the boat rental area at Silver Lake Park. The kids preferred this playground because of the climbing rock, the swings, and the fact that it was much newer.

Alphabet Activities

We've worked on letter of the day/letter of the week before and here's the list of activities that I came up to go with each letter...
A Activities
Alphabet Puzzles
Airplanes
Automoblox
B Activities
Bubbles
Balloons
Baby Dolls
Butterflies (clothespins/tissue paper)
Books
Blocks
Balls
Baking
Balance Beam
Bingo
Ballet
C Activities
Cloud Dough (8 cups flour/1 cup cooking or baby oil)
Crayons/Coloring Books
Circus (make your own)
Carnival (play carnival games)
Catapult (experiment with different objects from around the house)
Caterpillars (search for them outside, read the Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Cooking (real or pretend)
Colors (color mixing with paint or food coloring in water)
D Activities
Dinosaurs (or dino dig -- sandbox with dinosaurs hidden inside)
Dollies
Doilies (art projects with doilies from the Dollar Store)
Duplos
Dough (various kinds)
E Activities
Egg Hunt
Emotions
Exercise
Experiments
Easy Bake Oven
F Activities
Face Painting
Finger Painting
Flowers (grow your own, paint, color)
Food (play food, grocery store etc.)
Farm
Fishing Game
Fort (build your own in the living room with blankets and pillows)
Family (create a family portrait or a family tree)
Fingerprint Animals
G Activities
Games
Grocery Store 
Gliding (pretend you're ice skating by using plastic on the bottoms of your feet)
Goals (use soccer or hockey goals)
Glow in the Dark Fun
Gymnastics
H Activities
Hair Salon
Hide-n-go-Seek
Horses
Hats (play the silly hat game like on "Who's Line is it Anyways")
Hearts (cut out hearts from construction paper, learn about the human heart)
Health (visit a doctor's office, ready about your body)
Hunger (bring food to the hungry)
Happy (sing, "If You're Happy and You Know It")
I Activities
Igloo (make one out of snow, sugar cubes or Legos)
Imagination Station
Instruments
Ice Skating
J Activities
Jumping
Jokes 
Jam (make your own)
Jelly Beans (have a hunt with pictures of Jelly Beans)
K Activities
Kicking
Karate
Kangaroos and Koalas (learn about Australia)
L Activities
Legos
Little People
Lemonade (make your own and have a Lemonade Stand)
M Activities
Measuring
Moon (moon bounce, learn to moonwalk)
Monkeys
Music
Movies
Mosaic
Magnets
N Activities
Nails (& Hammer)
Nail Polish
Noodles
Nest
Nocturnal Animals
Nature
Night
Numbers
Necklaces
O Activities
Obstacle Course
Outside
Origami
P Activities
Princesses
Pirates
Play-Doh
Puzzles
Puppets
Potato Heads
Paint
Potato Stamping
Playmobil
Patterns
Park
Picnic
Q Activities
Quiet Books
Quilting
Quest
Queen/King
R Activities
Roller Coaster 
Rainbows 
Royal Ball
Restaurant
Roller Skating
S Activities
Sand Box
Stickers
Stamps
Soap-Box Derby
Seasons
Sounds
Stencils
Scissors (cut Snowflakes)
Swing
Slide
Sledding
Swimming
T Activities
Tattoos
Trains
Trucks 
Travel
Tent
Textures
Trampoline
U Activities
Umbrellas
Under the Sea
Unicorns (make horns for the top of your head)
V Activities
Vetranarian
Volcano
Valentines
W Activities
Water Play
Water Beads
Whales
Wedding
Wedgits
X Activities
Xylophone
X-Ray (make your own skeleton)
Y Activities
Yodeling
Yahtze
Z Activities
Zoo 
Zippers
Zip-Loc Bags  (fill them with paint or colored water)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Eggless)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are so good, you won't miss the eggs (unlike other allergy-free menu options). These are husband approved and don't last more than 36hrs. in our house!
So here's the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350*

Turn on your stand mixer to about speed setting 2
Place in it: 1 stick of butter (cold)
Add 3/4 c. sugar (white/brown mixed), next add 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract, then add 1 1/2 Tbsp. Oil (vegetable) and 1 1/2 Tbsp. Milk, follow that with 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt (only if your butter is unsalted) and then add in 1 1/2 cups Flour (I use a mixture of 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour), finally add in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. When all is incorporated, turn off the mixer. (You can taste-test because there are no eggs :), so pregnant ladies can safely eat this cookie dough too.)

Use a scooper to form 1" dough balls (you can fit about 15 to a sheet), you do not need to add extra grease to the pan. Bake for about 8 min at 350*. I start mine on the lower rack for 4 min and switch to the upper rack for 4 min. Enjoy!

In case you want the ingredients separately:
1 stick butter (unsalted)
3/8c. brown sugar
3/8c. white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 T. oil
1 1/2 T. milk
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips

Dad Fill-In