Playin' Around Town: Going Bonkers

Last week, my friend Randi told me about an opportunity to participate with a group that coordinates free kid events around the Metroplex. In return, Moms visit the event sponsors on site and follow up with a brief survey by e-mail afterwards. It looked like a good deal that didn't require too much effort on my part (a bonus!), so we signed up right away.

For the first event, we went to Going Bonkers, a giant indoor play structure for kids. My big kids are in a weird life stage -- they're young enough to still love indoor playgrounds, but they're often too big to fully enjoy them (or to not be an intimidation to the other smaller kids playing there). Sadly, I think we've officially reached the end of our "playing at Chick-fil-A" days, so on that note, I was worried that they would be disappointed by the play area at Going Bonkers, or that I would be disappointed by having to drag my (weeping, wailing, teeth-gnashing) too-big children to the car. The advertising guaranteed fun for ages 4 to 104 (with a special play area for those 3 and younger), so we took a risk and went -- it was free, after all! Happily, thankfully, they weren't disappointed and neither was I.

The play structure was open and airy, made of netting instead of the enclosed plastic tubes. Both kids could stand upright and walk in some areas instead of having to stoop or crawl everywhere. There were places for climbing, obstacles to overcome, slides to enjoy. (My laptop and I appreciated the free Wi-Fi.) They played and played and were dissuaded only by tummy rumblings, and what we anticipated would be an hour or two of exploration turned into more than four hours of absolute fun.