Crazy for CooCoo's

This summer was so freaking hot, it eventually got to a point where even I (pool-lover-maniac) had to take a step back and think about some new places to take the kids that were A. Indoors B. Not crazy packed with wild "big kids" C. Cool for toddlers and preschoolers.  I'd only  heard a few people mention CooCoos, an indoor play area near Willow Bend Mall in Plano.  I'd done JumpStreet, so I just assumed CooCoos would be a jam-packed madhouse a la Jumpstreet during Spring Break 2012. (NOT a good idea for a nursing baby and 2 year old!)

 Another momma and I decided to give it a try. If it sucked we'd still reward ourselves with a yummy lunch at my FAVE burger joint, Smashburger. (Seriously, if you haven't been it's so your loss! I consider myself a burger connoiseur and this is my fave-o-rite!)

As soon you walk in you're in a jungle. There is even a robotic parrot welcoming you inside. Kind of creepy, but whatevs.  There were maybe 10-12 inflatables for the kids to run and jump on, a mini-train, a robotic panda, and some games a la Chuck E Cheese.

So, confession.... I think I have Mommy ADHD.  The lights, the fun party music, all the colors. It was so much to pay attention to! Keeping an eye on all four kids was killing me. I had just come down from the shittiest of weeks. Excuse my language. It was just terrible though! My car battery died as I was on the way to a play date, my cell phone died, our home re-fi was driving me crazy. Everything was going wrong. I was just in one of those funky moods where all I could think about was "Everything that could go wrong, HAS gone wrong. I can NOT let these children out of my sight lest they get kidnapped."   I'm a freak.

So I found myself convincing Cade to join Devyn and I in an inflatable obstacle course and sure enough, the little bastard managed to find his way through the (rather tricky) maze and get out ahead of us. I was struggling to carry a not-yet-walking Devyn through the obstacle course, through a tunnel made for 30 lb bodies and down a slide. I saw Cade running to another inflatable. I may have been having a panic attack. I made it my mission to be Psycho Momma the rest of the time and INSIST that the kids all play on the same inflatable. The place is so cool, but so damn ginormous (in my head even more so) that I just didn't feel safe letting him run out of my sight.

Oh, and first I was so impressed by the cool dads who were there with their kids sans wifeys. Until cool dad's kid started tackling my kid and pushing my kid around the inflatable soccer deal. Um, hello, A-hole, when mommas start crawling in to rescue their children it's probably time to grab your little bully and give him a little man-to-man chat. Capiche?!

Anyways, the kids had a blast and were so tired. I had to wake them for lunch at Smashburger. What? Momma needs her sweet potato fries and Diet Dr. Pepper!!!

CooCoos:
Ages: 1-12 would have a great time here. The average ages were 2-6.
Cost: $7 per kid. They try to charge you for your under 2 year olds, but I was all like "Uh, she doesn't walk? Do I have to pay?  She'll prob just hang out in this here stroller and eat Cheerios?" And the teenager working the front desk was all like, "Sure". 
Pros: So much to do here! The games were reasonable, you have to buy tokens but $2 was plenty to entertain our 4 kiddos. The inflatables were so varied the kids never got bored. There is one massage chair in the center of the place that totally made me laugh. Like which one mom would pop some coins in and lounge in the massage chair?  Sounds tempting, but nobody took the bait. I so wish someone did though.
Cons: Size and safety. I wish they'd had staff patrolling the different areas to keep an eye on the kids. Not every parent was following their child from inflatable to inflatable to make sure they wouldn't get pushed around, hurt, or lost. I also wish there was some sort of system where they could gate the main area from the lobby and have someone making sure that kids were leaving with the right adults.  It's so big I just think that they need to think about safety.