East Bay Baby

These are the rainy days, my friends. To quote Dr. Seuss’ classic “The Cat in the Hat“:

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold wet day.

I sat there with Sally.
We sat there, we two.
And I said, “How I wish
We had something to do!”

Well, after a few rainy afternoons of listening to my kids (ages 1 and 2) squabble endlessly, I certainly wished that they had something to do.  Or possibly that there was something I could do with them, such as donate them to a good cause.  But I digress!  Even after the recent sunny spell, the various playgrounds are still too damp and muddy to use.  So, instead of inflicting my kids (who have not yet developed indoor voices) on our local library again, I took them to Sadiedey’s Cafe in the Temescal area of Oakland.  This turned out to be an awesome decision!

Sadiedey’s Cafe is a children’s play area and coffee shop, combined.  You go in, pay $5.95 for the first child and $2.95 for siblings, and then order your coffee or snacks or what have you.  And then…this is the awesome part…you can release your kids into the play area while you sit at a nearby table and drink your coffee!

The play area is small, but with varied activities that are perfectly designed for the five and under crowd. There is a separate, smaller play area for crawlers, and even another room with couches for nursing or quiet time. At least when we went, the atmosphere was very mellow – parents do not tend to hover, and, thanks to the (reasonably priced) food and coffee, everyone seems to be having a good day.

You can check out the Sadiedey’s Cafe calendar of events here. No parking lot, but street parking is readily available within a one block radius.