Indoor play palace

Back in February, for playgroup, we went to an indoor play palace.  It's actually a dozen or so different outdoor playground equipment they make and sell to consumers.  On Fridays, they have free play.  This place is absolutely crazy and somewhat dangerous.  The slides are extremely steep, so children go flying off the end.  Children swinging high while other children are running around them.  I thought there was too much play equipment in too little of a space.  Imagine dozens of kids running, swinging, sliding, jumping, climbing everywhere.  It was nearly impossible to maneuver my stroller around and even more difficult to make sure Eliza didn't get trampled or flattened by the older, bigger children.  Most of the children were oblivious to what the other children were doing.

Eliza had an absolute ball, despite my pulling my hair out to keep her safe.  I am quite surprised at how well she did walking, or rather running, around with so many obstacles.  Keep in mind that she had only been walking alone for 2 weeks before this outing.   I did manage to snap some cute pictures.

 

She decided to tackle the tallest fort via a rock climbing wall first.  I was floored when she managed to make it 1/4 of the way up completely unassisted.  It didn't take long for my nervousness to take over and help her the rest of the way up. 

Another shocking revelation was how fearless she was with these tall and super fast slides.  8 feet high and flying off the end simply made her want more.  The potential danger made me convince her to take a safer route, the enclosed swing pictured below. 

She probably swung in this for a good 20 minutes. 

Although not coordinated enough to actually jump (once again keep in mind she has only been walking for 2 weeks), she liked being bounced by the other children's jumping. 

She ended the afternoon playing in a small house that had chairs just her size.  I saw a completely different side of my daughter at this play place, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go back quite yet.