Westdale is definitely on my list of top parks! I also enjoy the new one, Madison Groveand we like Greenacres because of the shady trees, it's great for the summer.  We visited San Lauren and that one is pretty nice too. Of course we love the parks with the water features (emerald cove and madison grove).

I make my kids keep their shoes on, no matter what type of surface around the toys.. I get worried about glass, sticks and Lord knows what animals are pooping and peeing in the sand/wood chips at night! LOL I actually wish all the parks had that spongey surface that I've seen at parks back home. It's comfortable on your feet, doesn't leave anything in your shoes and it absorbs when you fall.

 yeah but that spongey stuff get really really hot, even when it's not that hot outside. and people pick at it a lot, at centennial park half of it has been picked off and you can see the rubber band like stuff  underneath. it looks hella ghetto! lol. there are a few parks that have that though.

Well my review of parks isn't based on kids, seeing as how ours isn't quite here. I do love going to the park though, mostly for walking around or taking our two dogs. These are my favorites:

The Park at Riverwalk: I like to go during the weekday especially in the morning because there are not so many people there. Of course now that we live on the complete opposite end of town I don't go there as much. I really love how huge that park is for walking. When we only had one dog and we lived over there I took her with me on a walk at least twice a week.

University Park: This park has a dog park and I love taking our dogs there. They can run around freely and they love it. I have to be careful though because my dogs are kind of small. I have only had one problem there though when the Bakersfield Agility Club took over the dog area and one member's two Akitas wouldn't leave my Puggle alone. They kept cornering her so we had to leave before she got hurt. The dog area is a pretty good size though and good for walking around. You just have to be careful for "land mines" because some owners are not courteous and don't clean up after their dogs. We usually go with a couple of other friends who also have similar sized dogs. We call it doggie date night and all the dogs have a ton of fun running around with their "friends".

Pin Oak Park: This park is very sentimental for me. It's where my husband and I went on our first date and where he proposed. It's got a lot of walking area too. You can also get to Haggin Oaks Park through a short walk. We would usually walk to Pin Oak Park from my in-laws, walk once around Pin Oak Park, then walk to Haggin Oaks Park, walk once around there to get extra exercise, then back home.

We used to really like Silver Creek Park, but one time when we were there two teens were totally having sex in broad daylight on one of the picnic tables. It was so disgusting and I refuse to go back.

Also, even though it is hard to see the links, I did link up all the parks so you can find them if you want to check them out and haven't heard of them before.

silver creek is ghetto. the playground is tiny, however there is a public pool..... anyone know of any spray parks? i know there's one at planz park but im not really down for that side of town.

 We just had a dinner picnic at Jastro Park last night, and The Pumpkin had a great time on the play equipment and in the sand play area.  Last year, we went to the spray park at Beale Park, and she enjoyed that a lot.  We recently discovered Campus Park North because some friends live nearby, and the play area there is very nice and up-to-date. 

I can't find a link to it, but friends in Cambridge, Massachusetts once took us to a small, fenced-in neighborhood playground designed for toddlers with lots of interesting structures and play features, including sitting areas for the adults, and the most interesting thing was the fact that most of the structures were built out of some kind of heat-resistant plastic that didn't get hot to the touch.

 they need one like that here aidan always gets frutrated when there are lots of older kids playing all crazy cause he wants to  play with them! it would be good if they had a park just for toddlers!

just a piece of useful info. if you go to campus park north, make sure to stay out of the grass, it's infested with stickers. literally the entire grass area is covered in them. watch your step!