The Search Begins

I feel a little guilty about my last post. Yes, I whine, and I also know I should be creating my own happiness. Hence, the Happiness Project book that I'm currently reading. And soon, I hope to start my own happiness project, but I want to finish the book. Maybe that will be the theme of future Tuesday posts. That or the search that I plan to soon begin.

Today is going to be a long day for our little monkey as she will be coming to work this afternoon. My plan for days like today is to wear her out in the morning, get a big nap in after lunch and then she'll be ready and refreshed for work in the afternoon. We just happened to have plans for a play date with her little friend today.

To take a positive change of direction after my complaints of non-kid friendly places, how about we scout out some friendly ones? Today was easy-we went to Playgrounds Coffee in Strathcona and they are geared for both families and non families alike. You can sit in the front with your coffee and not even hear the kids, or you can enter through the glass door into kiddie land. (Please note: If you send your kid in to play, you're going in as well). Scarlett had fun and I was happy with the experience-lots of toys to climb on and through, a kid sized camping van, trains and tracks, mats on the floor, and more than I'm going to list here. I found it clean, not too loud or busy, and I would go back. And yes, there are places for adults to sit on the edges of the play area and drink coffee or eat.

But I don't really mean to scout out the obviously kid friendly places. We have found many of those: libraries, pools, pet stores, book stores, and parks of course. What I'd like to find is the places that may not be catering to kids but treat them like gold.

For instance, we love Kane's Harley Cafe in Inglewood. It is a diner so it may not be the healthiest food option, but when we've taken Scarlett there, we have had a waitress fawn over her, on repeated visits. She played games with her, peek-a-boo, picked up things off the floor, and our little girl loves that. So we'll go back. It's just a long drive for us, so we don't go often, but it is in our heart.

We love our local Angels cafe because Scarlett loves the milkshakes. Yes, we know it is bad for her, but we also love the burgers. We overlook the splintered wood in the picnic area and the cigarette butts everywhere because its local. I think Angels is to Bowness as Peters Drive In is to Calgary.

It is my goal to find places like this in Calgary and hopefully within a 10 km radius of our home. I hope to find ones that are not overly kid populated, but where the owners/employees love to see them. Any suggestions? Stroller accessibility optional.