Double Jogging Strollers Reviews -
Autumn days bring sunny mild weather to North Texas - ideal for starting your new fitness routine. Walking is one way to burn those calories. For parents with young children, finding stroller friendly walking paths can be challenging. Here are three paved parkways in Plano to get you outdoors and on the road to fitness.
Designated as a National Wildlife Federation habitat, Arbor Hills features 200 acres of forest and Blackland Prairie. With over 2.3 miles of paved trail, Arbor Hills is ideal for strollers. The paved trail winds through forest, up a hill to a scenic overlook and continues through prairie colored by seasonal wildflowers. At the trailhead, signs advise park users to watch for wildlife. The park supports a wide range of animals, from common grey squirrel to armadillo. The animals are shy and you are more likely to hear the scuttling critters in the ground cover, than actually see them. A particularly well-designed park, the paved trail guides walkers and skillfully shields them from the development along the park’s perimeter. Covered picnic tables are available at the overlook and near the parking lot. A large playground structure gives children a chance to escape the strollers and play. Located in west Plano, Arbor Hills is a popular spot on weekends for families and mountain bikers with the parking lot often filling beyond capacity. To avoid the crowds, visit Arbor Hills on a weekday. Arbor Hills Nature Preserve is at 6701 W Parker in Plano.
Oak Point Park is another Plano Park nature preserve with an extensive concrete path system. The 3.5 miles of paved walkway winds through prairie, grasslands and circles a pond within the park. The pond makes for prime duck and turtle viewing. The level pathways make it easy stroller walking, though the green space is less scenic than at Arbor Hills. The largest Plano Park with over 800 acres, Oak Point Park also has a series of natural surface paths that follow Rowlett Creek. An underutilized green space, Oak Point Park is quiet, even on the weekends. Located at 5901 Lois Rios Blvd, Plano, the park has a covered picnic area.
If you want a longer walk - say eight miles - check out the Chisholm Trail. This green strip follows Spring Creek from Legacy south to Harrington Park. Recommend you start the trail at Schimelpfenig Library (5024 Custer Road). The library is situated at the half way point, providing adequate parking and easy trail access. From the library, head south east. There is a paved pathway along both banks of Spring Creek with bridges periodically crossing the stream to connect the trails. This long linear parkway is bounded on one side by quiet residential streets and on the other by the creek. If you walk at dusk, the big rodents you see are not rats - they are shy nutria living in burrows along the stream’s banks. Intermittently along the pathway are small neighborhood parks with playground equipment. Chisholm Trail is a popular bike pathway and can be congested on weekends.
All three paved trails are open to bikers. To ensure a safe walk, remember to stay to the right of the trail and allow bikes room to pass. Dogs on leashes are also allowed on the trails with city ordinance requiring owners to pick up any mess left by their pets. Operated by the City of Plano, Arbor Hills, Oak Point and Chisholm Trail are open from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m.
So get on those walking shoes, pack the kids in the stroller and get a little exercise while enjoying the great outdoors.
Double Jogging Stroller Reviews
Double Jogging Stroller Reviews
It was with trepidation and hesitation that I watched the premiere of “Kid Nation”, CBS’s new reality show that has been no stranger to controversy. The premise: 40 children ranging in age from 8 to 14, are dropped in a ghost town in the middle of New Mexico, to create their own town, called “Bonanza City”, with minimal supplies, and no adults– no parents, no teachers, no clergy. Four of these children have been appointed as “town council”, or leaders. Sounds like every child’s dream, but not quite. Kids cry, they wrinkle noses and exclaim “gross” at some culinary mistakes, the stink of one outhouse used by all of them, and dusty mattresses on even dustier floors that make sleep hard to come by on the first night. But they survive.
It brought to mind a novel, which was required reading in middle school. “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, was a novel about a group of boys who were stranded on a remote island, also without adults. I was haunted for years by the story of these boys being reduced to savages, even killing and eating one of their own. But “Kid Nation” has females, which “Lord of the Flies does not. I think this is an important difference. Oh, and Bonanza City does have a food supply, as well as. egg-laying hens, and goats. So I was pretty comforted early on, that we wouldn’t see cannibalism. WHEW!!!!!
I also thought of the ABC series “Lost”, where adults are stranded on an island after a plane crash. But those adults all have complicated pasts, which haunt them and imprint certain behavior patterns. Conflicts erupt between human beings old enough to have sordid histories. The beautiful thing about “Kid Nation” is in the word “kids”. I’m not saying these kids are blank slates, but just a lot cleaner.
One thing is certain: we need both sexes. Even as young as 8, and certainly past puberty, gender roles are already imprinted. And post-pubescent boys already have enough testosterone in their systems to make them men. The meeting of testosterone and estrogen will be fascinating. As a former teacher in a middle-senior high school, I know the effect of “raging hormones” on teens. Boy, do I know!!
In the first episode, we saw nurturing behavior from one of the girls toward Jimmy, who was suffering from homesickness. She said she understood that there were no moms and dads, and offered to be a surrogate mommy. But surrogacy didn’t quite cut it; at the town hall meeting, Jimmy opted to go home.
Sophia is the rebel. She challenged the town council. In an adult world, she would be viewed with caution and the authorities would feel threatened. All defenses would be mobilized to keep Sophia down, and stop her from taking over. Instead, the council awarded her the gold star, worth $20,000. They might regret this; in coming attractions, we learn that she will be problematic in the next episode.
It will be compelling to see how this plays out. I am especially interested to find out if there are noticeable differences between the pre-teens and the teenagers, and how hormones drive these kids’ decisions, a real experiment in biology vs. environment. By the way, I don’t even want to think of the girls dealing with their menstrual periods in this world of outhouses and no running water — yich and very gross. I am already anticipating a lot of sexual tension, and even sex. Remember - no parents. Hmmmm.
I think “Kid Nation” will be as much a lesson for the viewer as for the young participants. “Kid Nation” can answer the question of what could happen if kids ruled the world. The kids’ first real challenge was a back-breaking task to earn each “district” money for candy, a metaphor for their adult lives. After all, we form companies, governments and teams, and elect leaders to get our own piece of the “candy jar”. This will be more than a child’s version of “Survivor”, a young person’s “Lost”, or a coed “Lord of the Flies”. Despite the negative hype, I’ll be watching.
