Family Grounds Cafe in the making. PART 2

Family Grounds Cafe in the making.  PART 2

When Sophia was 2 years old, we began moving forward with our initial research on what it would take to open a café with an engaging child’s play.   We decided we would pursue this dream.  After completing our business plan, we began to look for a location.  Then we found out we were pregnant. Could we pursue a business at the same time we were anticipating another child? At that point in time we decided to put Family Grounds on the back-burner and wait until things settled down after our son was born. 

December 28, 2006 we welcomed our son Dylan into our family. Dylan was the epitome of a happy baby.   It seemed as if he entered our lives smiling and humming a happy tune. At 2 ½ years old now, he’s rarely seen without his infamous smile and singing one of his favorite songs (at the top of his voice)! Transitioning to two children was definitely easier than my transition to our first child. Sophia adored her baby brother and was very happy to have him around. I was already in “mommy-mode” so everything felt so natural about having another child in our family. 

One day we packed up our little family and went to a hip coffee shop on the northside of Chicago on a beautiful summer Saturday morning. I still remember the day perfectly… We had been up the night before with a teething baby boy and were in desperate need of a strong espresso! We ordered our drinks and some bagels and sat down with Sophia and Dylan. Well, Dylan was one cranky kid after not sleeping the night before (needless to say so were we!). He was fussing and tossing his food off the table with no desire to eat it. Sophia was non-stop moving as most 3 year olds are. Non-stop moving and non-stop talking…. LOUD talking! We felt the glares of the young hip clientele many of them working on their laptops. “What?” we thought… aren’t kids allowed? We didn’t remember seeing a “No Kids Allowed” sign. 

We figured we’d just scarf the food down and get out with our little munchkins. Sophia’s non-stop bouncing off her chair led her arm to do a broad sweeping move across the table knocking her food and large open orange juice right off the table and all over herself. Orange juice splattered all over. Sophia screamed. Sophia cried. Sophia got really mad. John and I looked at each other, scooped up our kids, quickly cleaned our mess, and got the heck out of there. Once again, thoughts of Family Grounds came to our mind on our way home. We discussed how nice it would be to have a place where kids are not only allowed but welcomed and where parents can feel at ease.   O.k., we thought… it’s time to move forward with this concept! “Enough talking about it… let’s do it” we said! 

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