Diapers and Dragons

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Not All Massive Indoor Play Areas Are Created Equal

There's something about the scream of a small child that makes you want to simultaneously dash to the rescue and bash your head into the nearest wall. Multiply this by approximately nine zillion children and three-and-a-half hours and you have a decent idea of what my day has been like so far.

And I can only blame myself.

Not having arranged a playdate today and clued in to today's reality by the number of times my belly/head/back was bounced on this morning as I was trying to convince myself that the boys could handle my lying in bed just a little while longer, I decided to try out the closest Jungle Java. I've been to Castaway Cafe in Howell before, and that was great for both boys and me, but I didn't really feel like driving for more than an hour when there was something similar only twenty-two minutes away in West Bloomfield.

By something similar, we're talking about the level of similarity between a lush, creamy bar of Swiss chocolate and a Hershey's Kiss.

Castaway Cafe is HUGE. You can pack dozens of children in there and still their noise simply echoes dimly and fades away, creating a lively but bearable background. You can sit close up in comfy armchairs or farther away in (surprisingly comfortable) plastic ones at tables. The air space in that place just swallows up the worst of the chaos.

Jungle Java...well, let's just say that it doesn't match up. My rear now has what I fear may be a permanent waffle pattern from the stupid chair I had to use because the comfy ones were only by the tiny toddler area and therefore would completely cut off my view of the larger play area where my discriminating children were playing. That play area was only a fraction of the size of CC's. So was the entire place. As a result, the shrieks and screams of rambunctious tots was amplified as they bounced off the walls. My head feels like an overripe melon.

It's a good thing the boys tired themselves out and are willing to veg on the couch watching Pinky Dinky Doo.

I'm cursing the weather, because if it hadn't decided to be all grey and cloudy and threaten rain all day, I would have taken them to Erwin's Orchards instead, where we could have been outside for just as long with far less trauma to my eardrums. And maybe we could have brought back some raspberries.

I would pout, but I don't need any more wrinkles on my face. Besides, about three million people told me how adorable my boylets are, especially my curly-headed Widget, and that means I just can't be all that grouchy. It's good to know there are so many perceptive individuals out there.

Ah, for quieter times...My adorable boys at Erwin's last week

5 bits of love:

MomZombie said...

Your headline says it all. I've been to Jungle Java and It was OK. I found a place in Rochester called the Kiddie Klub that was very well thought out. There were plenty of comfy chairs scattered throughout the play areas for moms and dads. Also, there was more to offer than just the gross motor skills play area. It had a dress-up room, kitchen room, a room with blocks and one of those wooden train set tables.

sAm said...

There are quite a few things I miss from my son being that age. Playscapes are not one of them. Bless your heart for taking them...and I hope the waffle butt doesn't last too long!

And I'll Raise You 5 said...

Don't you love wise people who recognize how fabulous your kids are? I do!

Draft Queen said...

okay, let me get this straight. You were in a facility that has coffee-related products and a place for the children to roam like the animals all children are?

And wait? There's more than one place so that there can be at better place? With comfy couches?

The closest thing I have to that is the McDonalds with a Playplace.

Not. The. Same.

Sorry about the headache and waffle butt though. That just sucks.

GingerB said...

And to think you went there voluntarily! I signed up for going with my daughter's day care field trip group to Jungle Jim's, and people laughed at me. Laughed. Then Claire went pee-pee on the slide so we got to leave early to get new pants - who had the last laugh, hmm?

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