Saturday in San Mateo's Central Park with the boys

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I took the boys to ride the Bianchi Railroad in San Mateo's Central Park. The railroad turned out to be a small, four minute ride on a miniature train, and not a big deal at all ... but Central Park is a wonderful destination for preschoolers.

Central Park is located on El Camino Real on the corner of 5th Avenue in San Mateo. It is a beautiful, large, classic park with a rod iron fence around the perimeter. You can park underneath the tennis courts for 25 cents and hour.

When you exit the parking lot into Central Park you arrive right next to a darling Japanese tea garden, complete with streams and a koi pond. The boys loved crossing the bridges, watching the fish and the two waterfalls.

As you leave the tea garden and cross the park to the playground, there is a lovely English rose garden with a maze. The boys liked running through the maze.

Once you cross an open space you arrive at the playground. The playground was wonderful. It had several playscapes in a wooded area (note to self, we're always looking for shade during the height of a Bay Area heatwave). It also has some retro playground equipment I haven't seen since I was a kid. Including an old fashioned Sesame Street jungle gym, and monkey bars.

Xander really wants to be able to swing across the monkey bars. We're not quite there yet, but he got some nice practice time with a pleasant fall into sand.

Right next to the playground is the Bianchi Miniature Railroad. If you blink you'll miss it. In fact we couldn't find it, and had to call to find out exactly where it is. The Railroad has odd hours from 11 am to 1 pm ... It is very low key, and at a $1.50 a ride, it was a lot of fun for the boys.

We definitely will go back soon. As an added bonus it is located near San Mateo's charming downtown, and our favorite Mexican Taqueria Pancho Villa.