Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I spent most of my twenties in coffee shops. Sometimes working between classes, and sometimes enjoying a cup with friends, it was not uncommon for me to smell like espresso roast.

While the pace of my life the past few years has kept me from such activities, I’ve made time when I could to meet-up with friends, sip coffee and talk about what I’m reading, listening to and watching. My friends are the best source for new music, good books and movies and I need their opinions about as much as I need the dose of caffeine.

It turns out that toddlers, though, are looking for a little more stimulation. Not of the caffeine variety - that would be a big no-no - but more along the run, jump, laugh, play, do-it-all-again variety. Essentially, babies are just not French.

Imagine my excitement when I read Louis Llovio’s article today about Cartwheels & Coffee in Carytown. It’s a coffee shop for parents - what more could a girl want. Kids play in supervised play areas while parents enjoy coffee. I have been waiting for a place like this.

Shortly after reading Llovio’s article this morning I dressed Captain One Sock, called a friend to join us and headed to Carytown. Imagine my disappointment when we arrived to learn that Cartwheels & Coffee was closed. It’s Labor Day and there were other businesses closed on Cary Street, but it’s too bad that this one was closed on the same day that it was mentioned in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

We ended up at Starbucks and ordered iced drinks to go and then strolled through Caytown stopping at a few of the businesses that were open. The Kid loves moving from store to store and we always make a friend or two along the way. We’ll try Cartwheels & Coffee again; I just hope that next time they’re open when working parents and their kids are out and about together.