Three Bears Acres

Warning: Picture Overload!

A couple weekends ago we decided to check out a place in Creedmoor called Three Bears Acres. I had gotten discounted tickets through Living Social (I'm loving that site!) and they were expiring soon so we went one Saturday afternoon. 

It's a huge area out in the middle of nowhere that encourages kids to play, play, play. Grant eyed their jumping pillow immediately so that was the first "station" we hit. 

They said we could play too, so I did.

Grant got a little nervous with all the bigger kids on there so he didn't stay on the jumping pillow too long. We hit the paint wall next (and I'm pretty sure he could have stayed there all day.

Learning to use a stencil with Daddy.

It's a huge washable white wall and they keep all their paints, brushes, and stencils in an old crib. They also have a bucket with sponges to wash off your masterpiece. I think Grant had just as much fun wiping it off as he did painting on it.

Mud kitchen - Grant didn't play much here

A sandbox of course. I'm pretty sure Grant could have stayed here all day too.

So I had noticed this big plastic tubes in their main field. I figured they were for kids to run and/or crawl through and I honestly thought that was pretty lame. But then I saw people rolling in them and realized that's what they were for. So fun! Grant absolutely loved rolling in the big tube. He laughed the whole time, it was so funny!

And then we went over to the sling shot station. Grant loved shooting the tennis balls with the big sling shot. 

The flags are their targets.

 Next up was the archery station. Husband and I played more here than Grant did. We did let him try to do it because there was little chance of him getting hurt but he's just not coordinated enough yet to do something like that.

Then we went into the woods for more fun.

They have a huge toboggan slide and Grant would have ridden that until they closed. I went with him each time and I'll admit it was really fun. It went a lot faster than I though it would and it had a little hump in the middle to go over. We had a good time with that one.

They also have a large "tree house" area with slides, rope nets, and swings.

And hanging under the tree house area were all these fun swings. Grant's favorite was what we the spiderweb swing. It looked like so much fun and Grant loved it.

It was a great afternoon. Husband and I had so much watching Grant play outside having such a good time. They also had paddle boats but we didn't make it down to the lake. After the tree houses we had a picnic in the back of the truck which Grant thought was so great because he saw them have a picnic on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. "We gonna have a picnic like Jake?" So cute.

My thoughts on Three Bears Acres:

• It's not cheap entertainment. $13 for kids, $7 for adults. I'm kinda cheap about stuff like that so a $13 admission for a kid is steep to me. Since I got our tickets through Living Social, it was much more reasonable and I will keep an eye out if they have tickets on there again.
• Pack food (snacks, lunch, drinks, etc.)! Thankfully I did. There are no restaurants nearby and only a small concession stand at the park.
• If you're not into letting your kid get dirty, don't go. And if you're not into letting them get into stuff on their own while you sit on a bench nearby, don't go. 
• Plenty of places for parents to sit if the kids are playing on their own. I liked that because once we got to the tree houses, we parked it until Grant wanted to swing.
• The bathrooms were surprisingly clean when we went. Especially for an outdoor play place.
• Not for very small children and not stroller friendly. We brought our stroller but didn't use it. And I'm so glad. I saw so many parents struggling to push their strollers around. 

So, would we go again? Yes. Again, I was put off by the price at first. But looking back at those pictures and how much fun Grant had, I would definitely go again. I think we'd probably make a day of it, instead of an afternoon.