Polliwog Park for My Little Polliwog

CC eyes the ducks at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach.

Honestly, we should have visited Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach sooner. It's really close -- about 15 minutes from us on the 405 -- and it has a lot to offer kiddos big and small.

When we visited on Saturday, there was a big Earth Day celebration going on, complete with organic fruit booths as well as tribute bands to Janice Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. There was also the awesome Auntie's Fry Bread food truck that took me back to my American Indian roots with a yummy chicken ranch fry bread concoction.

But more than those things, what was really fun was the park itself. There's a lovely duck pond, a playground for smaller kids that hugs the edge of the water, as well as a play area for bigger kids that we didn't get to this time.

CC loved it. So did we! She played pirate on the little playground ship and slid down the twisty slides.

I think my favorite part, though, was watching her play over the underground misters near the cute lighthouse. Nothing says "cool" like bearing (almost) all to beat the heat.

CC enjoys the misters at Polliwog Park.