A new playplace!

Rachel and I met Sarah, a friend of mine, and her 4-year-old son, Noah (we went to his birthday party about 3 weeks ago) at a new playplace in the ritzy Pearl district sort of near downtown Portland. It's called Playdate PDX and has only been open for a month. They brag about their great food (and are completely intolerant of folks bringing food from home, which I discovered when the Food Police descended upon us and sternly told us to close up the baby food and Lunchables. I was annoyed but I see their point -- rents in the Pearl are expensive and they gotta make a profit somehow) and it was only $5 to get Rachel in for the whole day (although $10 for Noah, which really annoyed Sarah and I can't blame her).

Anyway, it was a fantastic place -- air guns for shooting soft, round balls; three very steep slides to go down (which Rachel tried once on her own but then insisted on sitting in my lap the rest of the time and I couldn't blame her, those slides were VERY steep and we FLEW down, with me scared every time that I'd pitch forward at the end and crush Rachel); a game of Dodgeball with light-up blocks on the floor; etc. We had a terrific time and would have stayed longer if I didn't have a grown-up birthday celebration to go to in honor of my friend Julie, who recently turned 70.

It's also relevant to note that of the two adults and two kids who went to the playplace, guess who got hurt? One of the adults, of course -- Sarah, who was forced to buy socks there because she didn't have any, she came barefoot in flats -- and because the socks slid on the floor, she ended up falling on her butt and, as she said, "I heard something crunch."

Still, I'm hoping we can go back when Drew is home for spring break.