2025 has been brutal for the weather. It seems we cycle between extreme heat, severe storms, or smoky air. It usually happens in that order, and then rinse and repeat. This obviously poses a challenge to a parent of a high-energy three-year-old.
To me, I say challenge accepted. I have been scouting out indoor places for Little Dude to run around in. The 90s, when I was a child, were the golden era for indoor play places. Many fast food restaurants and malls had them. Today, they seem to be a bit rarer.
Thankfully, there are still a few holdouts, at least in the Madison area. I have found the malls and McDonald's are my best bets. For this trip, we decided to check out some malls since the smoky air was keeping us indoors.
It was a Saturday, and Little Dude had a haircut scheduled at 10 AM. If you're looking for a great place in the Madison area for a kids' haircut, Duane's Salon is the place to go. After his haircut, we went to Five Below in Sun Prairie.
I told Little Dude he could pick out one toy. This toy would stay in my car and be for days like this. I will gradually build up a collection of toys for him so he has a set of toys that stay in the car to look forward to playing with. After selecting and setting aside several toys, he settled on this car.
While we typically will go to McDonald's in Verona to use their play area, we were on the other side of Madison. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch instead.
I will say their play area seemed compact, but it packed a punch. Little Dude was entertained for a long time. He played for about an hour before we took a bathroom break and left.
I was planning on going home, but Little Dude then asked to go to the mall. He knew we were near the East Towne Mall. We went to their play area. He had a great time climbing and playing with his car.
After another hour of playing, I figured it was time to go. I was planning to cut through downtown Madison and take the scenic route. Little Dude fell asleep in the car, so I turned onto WIS-30 instead and headed for the interstate.
I started thinking he could use a good nap, and while he was sleeping, I would take a longer drive. I wanted to check out the mall in Janesville, so I drove there. He woke up around the time I was pulling into the parking lot.
This mall was pretty sad. It was very empty and almost eerie. Some places smelled musty, and there was a guy in there begging.
There was a lot of open space, but Little Dude didn't want to play in it. He was getting a little hungry, so we grabbed a snack from the self-service place.
I then started driving back towards Madison. He requested that we go to another mall. It was still smoky on the drive.
We then went to the West Towne Mall.
It was now around 5 PM. Little Dude was still playing with his car and running laps around the play area. The kid can just keep going and did it for another hour!
He also loves the claw games. Crazily enough, he won three different times all by himself!
For supper, he wanted pizza. Sbarro's it is!
Just like I got Little Dude to enjoy going to courthouses, it seems he enjoys going to malls. This is definitely a good thing. Malls provide a nice place to shelter from the extreme elements. They also have a bunch of amenities like food and other things to purchase all in one spot. I really don't think the mall operators realize what kind of goldmine they are sitting on.
Hopefully, you will see malls revitalize. I see the one in Janesville desperately needs it. This mall-hopping trip was very impulsive, but it ended up being a lot of fun. We were able to spend a nice day together and not choke on the air. I have a feeling we'll find some more malls to visit in the future.