Waiau Gardens Mini Park

My daughter and her friends wanted to meet up at this park. There's a basketball court which I sat down under a little shade. Not much shade unless you find trees. There's shade to park under the trees in the parking lot but I wouldn't want to hang out here alone. Just doesn't feel safe here. I would rather go where it's quiet and you don't get the hustle and bustle here. I had to use the restroom and it was kind of disgusting but if you gotta go, you gotta go. There were no soap dispensers so you only washing your hands with water. I thought it was strange that there were no mirrors either. I only come here to park under shade and wouldn't go down to just hang out. Just an okay park. It's pretty big. There's even a skate park behind the basketball courts.

I really used to love bringing my toddlers here. They are now 4 & 2, but I stopped bringing them about a year ago. I know that lots of places that kids frequent are prone to lots of germs and what not; and kids are notorious for getting sick. But I stopped bringing them here because everytime we did, they would get sick. But now just with a common cold or minor sick. They get really sick. My son once picked up some bacterial infection that carried in poop from an infected person that frequents medical facilities! Gross! It was not fun! And this is not an exaggeration, they were literally getting ill evwrytime we brought them to this park.I didn't realize it then, but check out other playgrounds, you'll notice that this one is pretty nasty compared to a lot of others. The trash cans are almost always full, the weeds get pretty horrendous, it's always loaded with flies, and you can always find piles of dog poop that people don't pick up in the grass.On another note, there are always tons of bigger kids frequenting this playground with no adult supervision, sitting around the jungle gym, making it harder for little ones to play.Anyway, after playground hopping with my two Littles, we've found so many more playgrounds that are better taken care of, cleaner, and friendlier. Never mind that this one happens to be most convenient for us, convenience is no longer a priority in our playground situation.

I have love/hate relationship with this park. I loved taking my son here but then we started coming in the afternoons. Lots of children would play here including the older kids. That's when I didn't enjoy it. The kids would curse and talk about adult things. They would hang out sitting on the slides not moving for the small kids. Plus they graffiti too. I stopped coming. By trial and error I figured out mornings was best. Now I'm very in love with this park because of the library. It's so nice to pack a picnic or even just a snack and enjoy it under the tree. Then after read a book to the kids while enjoying the cool breeze.

Nice facitily, tennis courts, baseball fields, and good parking. Only.one way in and out.