04/11/2024
Today is my birthday 🎉 So I figured it would be a great time to introduce myself and how this all came to be!
My name is Sammi and I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Specifically in the Vancouver, WA area up until high school when I moved to Salem, OR. I lived and worked in Salem for several years until I met my now husband, who happened to live just around the corner from my childhood neighborhood. It felt like I was home again, and I knew it was where I wanted to settle down.
My husband and I married in 2017 and welcomed our first child together in December of 2019, only 3 months before the world changed. I thought I had an idea of what my first year of motherhood would look like, but that was turned upside down. Being completely isolated and scared with this brand new baby changed the course of my life. It made me realize how important relationships are, having the friendships with people going through what you are. But there were no mommy and me classes, no play group meet ups, no swim classes to take, we were too afraid to just go to the park. My son didn't even get a 1st Birthday party. I know he won't remember or think of it as any different, but I do. I'll always remember how differently I was expecting his first year of life to go. How isolated and alone I felt.
As the world opened up again, and we started to venture out, I quickly realized the options for child entertainment in the area were very limited! I found myself longing for a place to meet up with my other parent friends where we could catch up, grab a coffee, and watch our little ones play. Sure there are big entertainment complexes but nothing quiet and intimate enough to catch up. Nothing small and safe enough to take our toddlers for a play date while giving us the opportunity to hang out. I started to dream of a play space where kids and parents could feel comfortable together in the same space, and a vision started to form. The idea for Baby Bear Indoor Play was born. I started researching what it would take to build the indoor play space from my vision, and found that goal out of reach... for now, but I found a path towards it. A mobile soft play business.
Baby Bear Mobile Play has allowed me to start the planning and financing for my dream indoor space while giving me the opportunity to gain real world experience and get to know my clientel. Getting to BRING the fun to the kiddos and parents has been so rewarding. I love getting to help add fun to a babies milestone birthday, it heals me a bit from not being able to give that to my baby. But the ultimate goal with all of this is to bring parents and kids together in a place they can both feel fulfilled, and giving the perfect entertainment for hosting a kids party seems like a great place to start.
It's also allowed me to help offer things like the Coffee + Craft + Play , which is exactly what my isolated mom heart needed during that first year. Giving parents and kiddos opportunities to connect, be social, and make friends is my motivation, because friendships and relationships are what makes this life so beautiful. So thank you all for being here and supporting my dream, and future dreams. It means so much to me and I hope I can add some play to your next event. 💚🧡
Picture credit goes to (IG)
