Fun times for kids at the St. Pete Pier!
Hurrah! We’re off to the St. Pete Pier with Grandma and (Great) Aunt Charlene. Once we park the car, we are ready to play. Hi, “We’re Keaton 7 and Kaia 5.” Wow! We remember the Pier. It was night time and cold. Mom and Dad brought us to see the Christmas Lights at the St. Pete Pier. Hurrah! Today we get to play and explore. Aunt Charlene tells us the St. Pete Pier is the Southeast’s largest waterfront playground. Sounds like a FUN place!
First stop the playground! It has a lot of different things for playing from slides to climbing logs and more. Whee! I’m Kaia and I love the slide. “Come on Keaton it is fun.”
Look, there’s a hammock under the slide. Think I’ll relax in the hammock while Keaton enjoys the slide. “Grandma come check out the hammock.”
Look, I’m a monkey! It’s Kaia and I’m off to explore and climb. There’s a wooden structure that is fun to climb inside and out. I like the monkey bars.
Then there are stacks of logs to climb. While Keaton checks out the logs, I like just climbing and hopping around. Umm, my brother is a bit more conservative. I like climbing like a monkey.
Look at the tall winding tube slide. Grandma is going with me to check out this tube slide. We have to climb through a big round thing of ropes to get to the top of the slide. See Grandma’s head in the picture.
Wheeeeeeee! I love twisting and turning in the slide. Grandma did it, too!
With other kids around we make friends. Let’s play Hide and Seek. I’m it -Keaton, so I count 1-20! Ready or not here I come. There are some good hiding places in the playground. Hurrah, I find everyone. Now Kaia is it. Kaia slowly counts from 1-20. Ready or not here I come. The playground is lots of fun!
Let’s climb the hill! The Tilted Lawn (looks more like a hill to us) is totally cool. Wheee! We run up the hill. It’s fun running down the hill. Keaton puts on his brakes as he gets to the bottom. The lawn isn’t as smooth as it usually is. There are a lot of bald spots on the Tilted Hill. It’d be great to roll down it. “Grandma come listen,” Kaia yells. Hear the music. Looking through the hole that is fenced in on the Tilted Lawn, we see and hear a man playing a harmonica. It is beautiful music. Our Dad can play a harmonica, too.
Come look out Grandma and Aunt Charlene. Kaia yells, “It’s a huge eel.” We look off from the top of the hill into the water. Umm, sorry Kaia, it’s a long branch or log.
View of the pier from the top of the Tilted Lawn.
Looking out from the top of the Tilted Lawn we also have great view of the walkway to the end of the pier. We’ll get to explore there after lunch. We are hungry! We burned off a lot of energy at the playground and running on the Tilted Lawn. So we are off to find a place for a tasty lunch.
Lunchtime! At Doc Ford’s we sit outside looking over the beach and water. Keaton orders a hot dog and sprite and Kaia asks for pasta and fruit. While we eat lunch, we watch airplanes take off over the water. Aunt Charlene tells us our Great Grandpa would fly into this airport sometimes. Hurrah! Dessert is an ice cream sandwich!
Now, we are ready for more exploring. Smile! It’s picture time. We hop in a canoe for a quick picture. Aunt Charlene takes us to explore more of the St. Pete Pier. Walking along the pathway we see the three story building at end of the pier. Walking through the building we see the Fishing Pier. No one is fishing today. It’s great looking out over the water. Way off in the distance Aunt Charlene points out some buildings. She explains that is the city of Tampa. Wow! We can see a long way.
Climbing the steps we go to the top. It’s Pier Teaki! SMILE! Picture time again! We take turns taking pics in the tiki mouth with Grandma, then Aunt Charlene. Funny! Gandma thinks our knees look like the bottom teeth in the picture. So funny!
From Pier Tiki we see the tall buildings in St. Pete. Hurrah! We ride the elevator down. Walking along a pathway with a lot of palm trees and stuff. We spot a beach. Can we go to the beach, please?
Can we get in the water? Yes, grandma is prepared with extra clothes so we are off to the beach. Ugh! Seaweed is along the shoreline so Grandma has us walk til we are past it. I’m ready! It’s Kaia. I get my shoes off and carefully to wade in the water. Keaton- the water feels great.
Hurry Grandma and Keaton join me. We wade out into the water.
I want to get baptized. Keaton and Grandma I’m ready to practice getting baptized. Grandma says she will lean me back into the water. I’ve got to trust her.
She and Keaton lean me backwards into the water. Wow! That’s a crazy feeling.
Now to just enjoy wading in the water.
Now to rinse off in the Splash Pad! The Splash Pad is surprising. Where and when will the water spring up. We have fun as the water jets up. It is cool and cleans us off. Kaia likes standing or sitting on the splash pad.
Keaton tries to different places on the Splash Pad. It’s fun trying to be ready for when the water will spout up. It’s a surprise.
Hurrah! We had a fun time at the St. Pete Pier. Sad to say but it is time to go home. Thanks Grandma and Aunt Charlene for a fun day exploring the St. Pete Pier. Hope we come back again!
If you go:
- Arrive early to avoid crowds. We suggest getting there before 11:00AM.
- Parking lots on the pier are near the Playground and by Doc Ford’s. Some parking actually has shaded areas.
- Avoid peak days. We went on a Monday and it was busy but not crowded. My sister went on a Friday and it was packed with over an 1 hour wait to eat at Doc Ford’s.
- Bring a change of clothes for kids, towels, etc. for kids. They will want to get wet.
- Allow time to play and do some exploring. We didn’t get to see several things on this visit.