The other park that I wanted to remind you about is Burnett Park. This is a pretty great park as well but is usually only known to the immediate residents in the area and those who have kids that play baseball. During spring break I was also looking for something for my youngest child, a teenager, to do this summer. We homeschool her and she needs some physical activities and social time with her peers. Burnett Park was offering a homeschooling time for fitness during the regular school hours but attendance dropped off after Christmas and they no longer have it. I talked to the director and she is willing to bring it back again if we can get some participation going. Burnett Park is the only park in the Mandarin Area that offers structured programs for our kids a little to no cost and the city has put out a Summer 2011 Activities Booklet. Take a look at it and PARTICIPATE with something in there. Call or visit Burnett Park and talk to the director about getting your teenager, homeschooled child or other children involved:

Burnett Center
3740 Burnett Park Road
Jacksonville, Fl 32257
(904) 268-7510

Call, write, email as many city officials as you can think of the tell them we must save our parks. They are practically the only FREE natural resource we have left that we can enjoy with our children and our friends every single day. We need parks and the services that are offered. Don’t let them be taken away from us, our children and our grandchildren!

Here is a video of the park we took today around 5:00pm. The movie is a little shaky and the video shots are kind of streaky as I don’t have a filter on my little digital camera but the sun is shining. There is a slight breeze and the place is peaceful. There is only one other car there in the park at that time of day. It is a very small park but is an oasis in the middle of the suburbs well worth a little trip.

Homecoming Carnival
Mandarin Athletic Association
DATE: Friday, October 2nd
TIME: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
LOCATION: Greenland Park
ADMISSION: $5 (ages 3 and over)
PRESALE TICKETS: $4 from Team Moms

Games & Activities
Gladiator Arena (Jousting or Boxing) * Bobbing for Apples
Guitar Hero * Obstacle Course with Rock Wall
Dunking Booth * Pie Throwing Contest
Football Toss * Supre Slide
Bounce House * Photo Booth
Gumball Guess * Basketball
Dancing (DJ Chad) * Cash Raffle * Tattoos
Game Day Flirties * Smecils * Punch Balloons

Weekend Getaway Raffle and More
Food and Goodies
Ribs * Pizza * Pork Sandwiches * Shrimp Boil
Sausage Dogs * Sno-cones * Spring Rolls
Baked Goods * Frozen Drinks * Ice Cream
Pretzel Bites * Popcorn * Cotton Candy * Hot dogs

Flu Shots will be sold at the carnival
TIME: 6:30 to 8:30
$25 for Flu Shot (6 months to adults)
$40 for Pneumonia Shot (vaccine good for 5 years)
CASH or CREDIT CARD ONLY
$2 for each shot will go back to MAA

October is a great month to get out and about with the family and enjoy carnivals, the weather and of course kids sporting events. Support your youngsters in sports!

Cheers
jolenemacinjax

You can access these pages through either the page listing on the sidebar, the tabs in the middle top part of each page or just click on the links to the pages below:

Day Care Center Page

Public Parks Page

Public School Page

We hope you find the listings useful and comment if you are a subscriber or just sign out guestbook!

Cheers!

Here is your Author

Burnett Park Community Center
3740 Burnett Park Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 268-7510

Last year my youngest daughter wanted to learn to play baseball so we signed up with the Mandarin Athletic Association and she was placed on team.  The fees were reasonable and the season was short as it was Fall.  We liked the coaches and they were patient with the newcomers.  She was the one of the only 2 or 3 girls that tried out that season.  But the coaches were great and the other members of the team pretty much took her in stride.  All of the practices and games were played at Burnett Park which has 6 baseball fields, 4 tennis courts, 2 basketball courts and a children’s jungle gym for the younger kids to play on.  They also have a snack bar opened during the games with the usual hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks and ice cream.  The bleachers are all metal and pretty cold during the late fall and early winter when she played.  The public bathrooms need some repair especially those near the tennis courts.  Every time we went was not on a trash day or it was late in the afternoon after quite a few teams had practiced.  I had hoped to get a collection of volunteers together to keep it clean but that was a wash.  The fields are kept nice though and the children’s equipment seem to be in good repair.

We had a good time after my daughter got more comfortable with her teammates and with the rules of the game.  She even managed to hit a few during the later games with a little help from Mandarin Mill where they have a batting cage and practices.  Sadly, my daughter did not want to play baseball anymore because she had some kind of falling out with one of the players during the tryouts in the spring.  But maybe next year she will want to play softball with the girls!

Mandarin Mill Family Golf
10910 San Jose Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32223
(904) 262-7888

The park is opened all year round.  And you can play or practice on the fields at anytime unless there are team practices.  The park has some old oak trees for shade and pine trees to screen the traffic noise coming off of I-295.  There is a community hall on the premises but we have never used that.  The park in located in the middle of an established community and not very close to any major arteries so if you are not familiar with the Mandarin Area you are going to want to “GOOGLE MAP IT” on your first try.  There is a care-taker onsite for any problems.  Of course, there is no admission charge for any of the city parks.  There is ample parking unless of course it’s baseball season.

Something you may not know about Burnett Park is that the area to the west side of the park use to be a Horse Training and Show Area.  When we first moved to the area the park had two sides separated by a screen of pine trees.  The pine trees are still there but the horse track, tower and bleachers are gone and have been replaced by two more baseball diamonds with dug-outs and practice boxes.