Mall Play Area

Andrew's work closed early today to give the employees a head start on the long, holiday weekend. We wanted to get out and do something fun without spending money and without suffering in the extreme heat. So, we decided to scope out the free play area at the Southwest Plaza Mall. Yes, that's the one that had the bombing a few months back. For some reason, those types of domestic terrorist type things seem to be fairly prevalent around here. There was just a bombing at the Colorado Mills Mall (also near our home) last week. Thankfully, no one was hurt there, either. We've lived in this area for two years now, and there have been two mall bombings as well as a school shooting at Deer Creek Middle School. I guess that really isn't important to this blog, but I have to admit that I was a little nervous going to the mall. I think that's because we basically never go to a mall. It's the first thing I thought of when we went.

Thankfully, all was peaceful, and we ended up having a lot of fun. The play area is for little kids (maximum height of 42") and there were only babies when we arrived. The activities were perfect for Oliver. He climbed and crawled and pointed out all the animals.

At one point, a sibling trio arrived. The youngest was probably 9 and the oldest was probably 13. I didn't feel right telling them to leave when there parents probably expected them to be there, but I also felt ticked off as these kids played a game of tag and jumped around with their shoes on (also against the rules). They enjoyed trying to leap over all the kiddy obstacles, and it just made us uncomfortable to let Oliver wander. We left, but it definitely wasn't a waste. Oliver got a good half hour of play time in.

On the way out, he even got to see dogs! I don't support the mall pet stores, but I don't find the harm in looking. Oliver loved the puppies, of course.I loved the play area so much that I'm going to add it to my mental list of places to go when Oliver and I have cabin fever. Good times!