Coffee shop and free play- yes please!!

Are you always looking for something to do with your kid (or kids) that involves them having a good time and you sitting down, relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee?

Well, if you live in Kansas City, there is something that you need to know about.  It's so great - I'm almost hesitant to post about it because I want to keep it all to ourselves, just like it was this Saturday!  But I like to think that I'm kind of nice, so I'll share our Saturday with ya.

First off, it started out by me posting this adorable picture of my sweet babies early in the morning. That's Charlie reading "Go Dog Go" to Maddie.  Seconds after this...he whacked her in the head with the book.  Oops.  But I also wrote "no sick kids - yeah" or something like that.  Ha. Shame on me.  Maddie was super sick Saturday afternoon and turns out that the ear infection she got way back in January - still lingering.  I mean, poor girl has now had an ear infection for almost 1/3 of her life.  Sheesh!

Ok, after that.  Jimmy had to do some lawn work and the kiddos and I had plans to check out a coffee shop at a local church that apparently had a great place to play inside.  I found it on the instagram page of a great local resource, kctotspot!  It's called Parkside Coffee House and it's a coffee shop located inside of Cedar Ridge Christian Church right off of 87th and Lackman in Lenexa.  

And let me tell you what - it's amazing, friends.  It's open from 9-12 on Saturday mornings and after a busy morning of dropping off Toby for a haircut and grabbing some breakfast as a family, we were there by 9:30 to meet some of my Hallmark friends and their cute boys.  Before they got there, I made sure to grab some pictures of the space because there aren't really any great ones on the website that I could find.

It's a room that is enclosed...yes, children don't escape.

With room to RUN. And PLAY.  And RUN some more.

And even better?  Cute little tables for parents to place their warm, caffeinated beverages.  That they need so badly when their baby has an ear infection for 3 months and doesn't sleep.  (not that I have experience with that or anything....)

So you sit at the table and watch your kids RUN and PLAY and get all their energy out.  And drink your coffee (or in my case, tea).

It's clean for little ones that crawl all over and stand up on everything (like sweet Maddie).

And spacious enough for big kids to run and jump and climb (like Charlie).

And sometimes, they even play together (GASP).

We had a great time. Just minutes after this, our friends came and their two boys, Ben and Jack, had a blast playing with Charlie and Maddie.  Well, Maddie just crawled and taught them that they have to be careful going down the slide when a baby is at the bottom.  Oh and Maddie ate and slept.  But overall, she had a blast. 

But I'm serious - you must check this place out.  They are open Tuesdays - Sundays.  It's a great place to pop in for a beverage and some play time.  Or do what we did and meet some other moms there - in between making sure our kids didn't steal one another's snacks or fall off the play set...we actually did get to catch up and enjoy some caffiene.  And I will call that a win!  We were there until almost noon and only two other people popped in, but didn't stay long (maybe we were intimidating?).  But I also think that the kids can play in the gym too that is right by the coffee shop.

On this Saturday, it was perfect because the morning was still a little cooler, so we got some good play time inside before the afternoon outside.  There was even a little orchestra practice outside in the coffee shop that was fun to listen to.

Highly recommended for a free play date!

Thank you KC Totspot for the recommendation!!!!