OKC Spraygrounds: North Highland Park

Well, I've been wanting to check them out for awhile. I erroneously thought all the nearby city parks were detailed at City of Edmond, forgetting that many parts of OKC are only minutes away by car. I'd been hearing a lot about the plentiful and wonderful nearby "spraygrounds" & have been looking for fun & watery places where I can take the kids by myself once the hubby moves north to Vance AFB to start pilot training in just over 2 weeks. Our current favorite hot spot is Pelican Bay, but taking two kids who are at the age where they shun flotation suits and just want to swim, in depths above their heads, nonstop, scares me to no end. I've taken them there myself a couple times, but when it's just the three of us, I always require they wear life jackets and stay within arm's distance, neither of which fosters the independence they are so craving at their ages (5 & almost-3). Most days it's around 100 until late afternoon, and as soon as it gets bearable (Ha is VERY sensitive to heat), the mosquitoes come out (V is VERY sensitive to bug bites). So, spraygrounds are a very welcome idea. Today, we checked out North Highland Park (301 NW 81st St, OKC) and really enjoyed it!

Features include: a regular playground (to work up a sweat before hitting the chilly waters), 1/2 basketball court, picnic tables, a large grassy area, and a little barn of sorts with games and art projects apparently free for the taking. The sprayground itself was very nice and not too rough for V's age, although she was a little sensitive to the chilly water temp. There is one sprayer that you can aim, and the others all operate on a timer of some sort. I like it when there are not too many you can spray at people, because those seem to attract bullies, in my opinion, at least. There is also a portalet & an [broken] drinking fountain (sorry for all the notes; I like to record this stuff so I will have a reference of sorts).

Really, my only complaint was that it seemed to turn into a bit of a teenage/very young adult hangout at times and I heard the n-word and various other forms of profanity uttered/shouted more in a 20-minute timeframe than I probably have heard in my entire life (excluding movie dialogue, etc.). So, there were a couple of times I got nervous about being there with the girls by myself, but I was afraid of attracting negative attention/getting shot if we left too quickly. We managed to safely make it home, and my reaction was probably more paranoia-based than anything. That said, I did notice, as we were leaving, that there was a makeshift memorial in the parking spot adjacent to ours, which makes me wonder if some sort of crime/unfortunate accident happened there at some point.

...Just did a Google check and turns out there was a fatal shooting incident there in 2008. Yeah, will probably be checking out a different sprayground next time.

Other City Spraygrounds we have visited include:

Earlywine Aquatic Center
Harvest Hills Park
Macklanburg Park
Macklaburg Park Pool