Playground Overrun by Homeschoolers

Last Valentine's Day visitors to Creekside Park were met with strange sights.  Wild, unsocialized homeschoolers had apparently taken over the play equipment, picnic tables and the new climbing structure (a fallen tree by the creek that has been reinforced with concrete.)

One picnic table was piled with tasty holiday treats.  A second table was covered with paper, stickers, scissors, crayons and so on as a group of children whipped up a frenzy of Valentine cards.

While there were many adults present (allegedly the children's parents), they seemed to pay little attention to their kids who were swinging from the monkey bars or looking for rocks in the creek.

One dad was juggling, while a mom gave a very animated retelling of some absurd love story between a frog and a goose.  Other parents sat around talking, and eating heart shaped candies and cupcakes.

Just when local residents thought the park was lost for good, the loud and active group descended on the climbing tree for a group picture.  One young lady then pulled out a large bag and began to distribute home made Valentines to the others.

Finally, as au pairs and nannies stood by shaking their heads, the group began to disperse.  They carried their goodbyes noisily all the way to the parking lot with cries of "see you at Lego class" and "can I borrow your favorite book next week?"  As the parking lot emptied of mini vans, peace descended on Creekside Park, at least until the next "park day."