Veteran Acres Park is gorgeous, with a clean and historic nature center and plenty of hiking…read moretrails, with water features sprinkled in. I really enjoyed looking at the animals inside such as the snakes, and the trails were difficult enough to be challenging, but easy enough to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. I'm taking a star off because they were spraying Roundup all over the park while we were there, and the lake was quite green. Regardless, it was a fun experience to connect with nature and get off of our phones. We saw some caterpillars, chipmunks, and a lot of turtles. I remember coming here as a child, and will continue to visit when I'm in the area for some fresh air. I didn't see any ticks, but keep in mind there can be ticks and mosquitos in the damper months.

We really enjoyed Veteran Acres, saw a lot of wildlife with my boy and his friends, kids were…read moreplaying Army, I was taking lots of photos as usual n exercising while walking with them!!

Just an update on my review since it's been awhile and I was able to have a wonderful conversation…read morewith Inna and Christi, who own and run this business every day! I came in on a late Saturday afternoon and it was perfect... there was only one other customer here. Except for the kids music playing over the speakers, it was "quiet" and calm. Everything was orderly and clean and my daughter was able to play with everything she wanted. Some notes for you who haven't been here: - No outside food or drinks. And this rule is serious. I found out from Christi that this is because due to their business designation, they are not allowed to have potential allergens (eg. peanuts, soy, sesame, etc) brought into the building. They are just following regulations and are not just trying to generate more revenue... though it's good to support local businesses! - Make sure everyone is wearing socks. This is one of the reasons it's so clean here! - It's $15 per child for the day, with no fee for adults. - Paying with card is 4% up charge (due to processing charges from the payment company), so bring cash or pay by Zelle. The owners are super nice as long as you are willing to ask questions and let them know what you need. They are kind to the kids and welcoming to the adults. One of the toys was out of batteries and Inna immediately replaced them so my daughter could have more fun! There's also an extensive menu of snacks and drinks for you and your child, so it's a good place to relax (as much as you can while having kids ) and have a nice coffee. Definitely come by and support this local business... especially when there's low traffic!

I've been taking my two toddlers here for awhile now. It's easy to watch my kids play since I can…read moresee the entire play area at once. The place is always very clean and staff is very nice! The food here (especially the waffles and coffee) is very good as well! I would recommend this place to anyone with younger kids!

My son is participating in Huntley Park District flag football, so it's our first time at these…read morefields and we have been impressed. There's four main baseball diamonds, under the lights, but I counted 6 total. There's also at least 6 full soccer fields, with goals, and there could be more. There's a playground and restrooms on the premises, covered picnic tables, and bleachers. Every time we've been here, it's been really busy, but there is plenty of space for you to come and practice, play some small games, or just enjoy watching the games. If you're thinking about participating in Huntley sports, you'll be well taken care of! What a great park!

Great little zoo. Stay for the zookeeper talks, very informative. Great little place to support!read more

Haven't used the park much at Randall Oaks Park, but the petting zoo/barnyard is a fun place to…read moretake a kid if you want to kill an hour or so. Cheap to get in - $2.75 for adults, $2.00 for kids I think. You can buy bags of feed for the animals - those are $.75 per bag (usually need about 5 bags, depending on how generous you are to the animals!). It's not really a place to spend the whole day, but it's nice for an afternoon out. They have a couple of playgrounds for the kids, and it's my understanding they have party pavilions for rent - like at a forest preserve. Easy drive from Chicago - 90 W to Randall Rd. north; go about 5 miles and it will be on the left.

Nothing spectacular or super exciting, but a park with a pretty nice lake view. They have a…read moreplayground-- a playground that's very old. Needs maintenance-- there were literally geese skeletons everywhere. Don't look at that picture if you're squeamish. Oh, also dead fish and other animals. Maybe it's a lion!

I happened upon this park when I got to the library just up the road a little early and had some…read moretime to fill. If you're waiting for the library open like I was, it's a short, easy walk. I was so glad for the extra time as I wouldn't have found this great park otherwise! The park being on the waterfront is mainly what makes this park great, it's a nice open area to enjoy the water. There is a cute little park with lots of slides and some swings. The picnic shelter is very large and close to the water. Further down from the park area there looked to be some ball fields. Looking forward to coming back here!

Adaptive swings for special needs children. We lived in the area for 8 years and have called the…read moreVillage several times and they keep saying it's not in the budget.

I'm a casual runner. Well, runner is too strong a word. I'm a person who likes to basically cosplay…read moreas a runner by donning workout attire and heading to a nice outdoor track to walk quickly and jog occasionally when trying to impress other 'real' runners. When I do decide to 'be healthy' and go out for a 'run', I choose Sunset Park. There's a nice, wide path that's perfect for a nice jog right near the parking lot that follows the soccer field and features a lake. You can get some beautiful photos if you're at the park during sunset. It takes a circle and a half or so to walk a mile, which isn't too bad and won't make you dizzy like smaller tracks may. There's so much more than just a track and field, though, at Sunset Park. They have soccer fields, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, a playground and my second favorite thing about the park, the Splash Pad! While it's not turned on all hours of the night, the splash pad makes for a nice place to cool down on a hot day after a run. It's also a fun place for kids to enjoy without having to pay for a pool pass elsewhere! There are a few cons to this park, which is why it's 4 stars. First, it can get very buggy. Mosquito season was the worst last year-- they were everywhere. Second, at night the track area can get pretty dark. I'd recommend running before and/or right up to sunset, so you can end your run with a beautiful natural light show in the sky.

This place was cute! $18 entry fee for any and all ages. Came during a holiday week so school was…read morealso out. It was busy but that was a plus for my lil guy. He loves to play with others and people watch! Shoes have to be taken off and restrooms were located in the back! It was clean. I didn't visit the cafe but many of the families did and they were saying good things! You can bring in water just no other outside food or drink. Huge parking lot so plenty of parking. There's cubbies for storage when you walk in. The employees were friendly! We will definitely come back!

Their pizza is amazing, and I'm pretty sure you don't have to pay for the play zone to order it if…read moreyou want to stop for lunch. Fresh homemade dough, fresh ingredients, very reasonable prices. Their coffee and drink selection is awesome too. The play areas are great and set up for a nice rotation when the kids want to do something different. I wish they were open longer on weekdays though.

Hidden gem in LITH!! Peaceful, lovely scenic trails. It's a beautiful walk. The pavilion is great…read morefor a packed lunch or hanging out with a good book.

This place is a true hidden gem. You would never know it existed if not for stopping in and taking…read morea walk down a trail. The kids and I love to take in a trail and go amateur bird watching. My son loves fishing and he's participated in a few fishing derbies here as well as caught a few on a couple of quick trips out. The little ponds have all sorts of fish, but we've only really seen the bluegill and the sunfish. The trails on the west side entrance are grassy paths with various states of brush and shrub. There are even some stone formations for sitting or for the kids to play on. I've seen people jog and walk their dogs at safe distances, though now and again some inconsiderate patrons leave animal waste on the trails. I haven't been on the east side trails in a while, but from what I remember, they are more hilly. If you are in the area, you have to stop by... it's a natural wonder!

There is a wonderful little gem of a park. In our neighborhood that our family just can't get…read moreenough of. Hill Climb Park has a modest setup: a sand pit, 4 swings, a jungle gym with 3 slides, etc. what seems to be the favorite are the 2 wooden truck structures and the train. Our toddler absolutely loves climbing through the tunnels of the jungle gym and sliding down the slides over and over and over again. He also loves climbing in and around trucks and train and pretending to drive them. This might not be the most exciting playground for an older kid but, because it's within walking distance it does the trick for us.

Not bad. There's a bunch of different activities in this fun park. I'd say the age limit would be…read morearound 9 or 10, so if you have kids younger than that, you're good to go. I took my 5-year old and she loved it. There were some trampolines, ball pits, rock climbing and a ball playground. My kiddo could navigate the park pretty well, but there were a few things, like the rope swing, and the hamster balls that were just meant for the older kids. Overall the park was pretty clean, but there was an area with the plastic axe throwing (see photo), where the wall was torn to shreds, and it made me feel like the owners don't care about the state of their park. There's also an obstacle course-like area that needs updating for safety and for easier navigation. My kid wants to come back, so I may take her, but there are better indoor play places close by.

This place itself looks fun and sounds great, but hosting a party here is a completely different…read moreexperience. It was horribly managed. There is a "2 hours of jump time," which is deceiving. The 2 hours is actually the reserved party room, and once you factor in food and cake, that alone takes up about 30-40 minutes, depending on the ages of your party. So the actual jump time for us was actually only about an hour. The biggest issue was the lack of support. There was no help at all during or after the party. No one assisted with cleanup. The only thing staff did was put tablecloths on the tables. I've hosted and attended many parties like this, and I've never experienced one where the host is responsible for everything, especially the clean-up while knowing when parties are booked back to back. You're only given 15 minutes to set up at the beginning, and parties are scheduled immediately one after another. Our party was from 2:30-4:30, and we were expected to be completely out of the room by 4:30. No one came to help us transition or clean, and before my guests even had a chance to gather their belongings, for us to get all the gifts out of the room and the food we brought in - the next party had started barging in. Each room has shoe racks, and before my guests could even retrieve their things and move them to the common area, the next party was already placing their belongings there. On top of that, there's an extra $6 per child charge, which is tracked on an honesty system. How flawed is that?! While wristbands are provided, they aren't checked, and realistically, there's no way to track which kids belong to which party in such a chaotic and high-energy environment. People can easily lie about how many kids are staying behind. All you really do is to tell them the names of the people on their screen that are staying. All the kids had so much fun, including my own, which I'm so happy about. But would I ever again host a party there or recommend this to be the place - absolutely not. The party system has no structure and unorganized.