Sara D. Roosevelt Park (New York)

Walking down Houston St. (pronounced "House-ton", not like the city in Texas) we found yet another park/playground in Soho called Sara D. Roosevelt Park, located on the corner of Houston and Christie.I guess they call it a park because it has a basketball court, but it also has a very nice playground with 3 different levels for all ages.The playground also has rubber floor mats.We purchased this bubble machine gun and solution from a street vendor for $5, and he threw in the batteries for free. How could we resist a guy on a street shooting thousands of bubbles in the air? Astrid shouted, "Bubbles!" Great marketing and the guy said that even adults get excited when they see the bubbles (including policemen and firemen).

It was well worth the afternoon of bubble fun at the playground.Happy little girl jumping amidst the bubbles.Our battery operated bubble machine gun makes tons of bubbles with a simple pull of the trigger. Much easier than blowing them by hand, and MANY more to play with.Trying to catch the bubbles.Like I said, even adults like bubbles as evident by this lady who saw the bubbles floating through to the other side of the locked gate and couldn't resist playing with them as well.

Bubbles floating all around her. Taking a break from the bubbles to play on the slide.The playground also had this toy barn house that Astrid had fun playing with.

I had to explain to Astrid that it's pretend play and it doesn't matter if we don't have toys that go with the barn house (like people or animals). That we can pretend play with other objects.

So we played with her toy camera, Starbucks mints, the cap to the bubble solution, some twigs, and leaves. She started getting the hang of it and called one item Mama, another Papa, another Astrid, and yet another our dog's name.

I want to get her a hand crafted toy dollhouse with miniature pieces of furniture, but she's still too young to appreciate it yet. I'll have to wait until she's a bit older.

Astrid caught a bubble in her mouth (to my shock). I quickly read the contents - and luckily it's nontoxic, but after that I tried to keep her from standing right in front of the bubble machine.

More bubbles!Being a good Samaritan and picking up after the litterbugs.

One thing Astrid notices and keeps pointing out to me is all the trash lying on the ground. I feel bad just walking away and not doing anything about it, so this time I let her pick up a discarded Styrofoam food container on the ground (that was clean) and place it in the garbage can. Checking out the set of playground mirrors.

I see you Mommy!

This was a nice find. Unlike the other neighborhood playground that's close by, this one is cleaner and there's more stuff to do. Unfortunately there weren't any kids to play with. Maybe we'll come back at a different time and see if that makes a difference.