One of the parent groups that I’m a member of posted an outing to Nibbles Play and Café . Not many people showed up, but it was our first outing sponsored by them, so we wouldn’t have known anyone anyway. Regardless, it was a lot of fun! It turns out that the cafe is about 7 minutes from Raj's Dad's house... I'm still trying decide if that's a good thing or not... I'm a bit torn...
It's not very big, but big enough. We stayed for about 2 hours. When we were getting ready to leave, Shawn didn't show that he was losing interest or that he was really all that ready to go yet! (Just keep 'em wanting more, right?!) The majority of the place was a cafe with pretty good menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, coffees/teas, and baked treats, but it also had a super kid friendly menu, too (like goldfish crackers by the scoop). At the counter, there was a sign similar to what was posted on the website about unattended children being given lots of free cake and coffee, but this sign included that there would be a puppy involved, too!
Beyond the dining tables were areas sectioned off with waist-high walls. (The website stated about how green and environmentally responsible the materials they chose were: bamboo floors, cork walls...) Each section had a different theme, including a train table, a pretend zone that was set up as a vet's office (with costumes of various animals as well as scrubs, depending on the character you pretended to be while visiting in the vet's clinic), a library with books that were associated with the theme from the pretend zone (it also had some random toys like dinosaurs and Legos), a construction zone (with not only toy hammers, etc., but shoots and ramps that velcro-ed to the wall), a mirror with various funny eyes and mouths to try on, and a belly-baby and crawlers only zone. Parents could sip their lattes at the table and still see their kids in the different play areas, if they didn't want to actually go play, too. Shawn was having so much fun in the different play areas that I don't think he noticed whether we were there with him, at the table, or back in the car! (Hard to believe, I know!)
Though I didn't check them out myself, I heard that they even have mini-toilets and sinks for the little kids. One of the moms from the parent group said that her 3 ½ year old had gone to the bathroom four times in the two hours they were there, just because he thought they were "so cool!" He didn't want her to go with him to help, because he could manage it by himself - SCORE!
As we were leaving, a guitarist playing kiddie music was gathering a small crowd and passing out kiddie instruments. There was also birthday party that was getting started. (I'm not sure if the guitarist was there on his own or if he was hired for the party, but all of the kiddie-patrons seemed to be dancing and joining in, whether they were invited to the party or not.)
It would be a nice place to meet up with friends that also have kids (up to age 6 or so), so that parents can catch up while the kids play. I saw one mom that was working on Excel graphs & charts on her laptop and flipping through books and notes at her table. Her kids (~2yo & ~3yo) didn't seem to mind that she was busy - they were pretty well entertained on their own.
We'll definitely go back sometime!
As if the day wasn’t exciting enough already, we were going to have lunch with Dadajee afterwards, but he wasn’t feeling well, so we brought him up some soup instead. He must have been pretty bad because he was too nervous to let Shawn in the house for fear of spreading his germs. For the few minutes we were there, he kept a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. Had he been feeling better, he was going to come with us to Uncle Gulshan and Aunt Kusum’s house for a big Puri Family dinner to welcome Cousin Tony from India. Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling well enough to go.
Cousin Tony was only in town on business for a very short time, so we all got together to see him before he left. The kids played while the adults played poker and/or talked. It didn’t take very long for Shawn to warm up to all the people and run off to play with the cousins. As usual, there was more delicious food than we could possibly eat, though I certainly tried my best! Auntie sent everyone home with containers to enjoy later. Yum!
I’m full! I’m exhausted! I need another weekend!
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