In the spirit of Halloween 'week' I decided to make the drive to take the boys to Storybook Forest at Lake Arcadia. In Cooper's K12 program the kindergarten year of literature is all about fairy tales. We have read the stories of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and many, many more. When we started reading the different fairy tales he balked at the idea that most seem to be about princesses and didn't want to listen to 'girl stories' I didn't drag those units out for him as long as he understood the basics of who wrote it and why they are such beloved stories.

Storybook Forest had some of the stories we had read and I thought it would be a fun thing for him to see. Being the perfectionist I am I had the whole Thursday evening planned. I wanted to leave our house by a certain time so we would arrive at just the time the forest was opening. One to avoided the crowds and two so that Abram was in a good mood.

Entering the forest Cooper recognized the words "Once Upon a Time"

Rapunzel letting down her hair. She also threw candy out her window too!


The Candy House of Hansel and Gretel. They also had the scenes of Hansel being in the cage getting fatted up by the witch and the witch being thrown in the oven by Gretel. This is one of Cooper's favorite fairy tales.

Trying to pull the sword out of the stone.

Wyatt is covering up little Pinocchio. See the baskets? At each display they had a bucket of candy that the boys were suppose to get ONLY ONE. I am a rule follower and they only got one piece of candy. The group in front of us would take Handfuls and it was driving me crazy!

The Old Lady Who Lived in the Shoe. They had parts of the story or poem on poster board by each display. Cooper would read the poems to us so Wyatt would know what it was about.

Story of the Three Little Pigs. Here they are in the house made of sticks.

At the end of the trails was this huge black cat. I was quite impressed with the layout of the trails, but I would have liked to see it longer. Afterwards you can play six different games and roast hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire. They also had a storyteller you could sit around and listen too. The boys weren't going to sit and listen to any story. "You read enough during the day, Mom." was Cooper's response to the idea.

Perfect evening, no? Not so much. The husband was late arriving home . . . twenty five minutes to be exact. Have I mentioned I HATE being late? Being the mature, married person I am, I left him. I was furious at being late, him not calling to let me know that I would show him and just leave him. That'll teach him! (I told you I am mature.)

We ended up getting there 10 minutes after it opened and it was crowded. We stood in line forever while I listened to "how much longer?" about fifty million times. Holding a heavy baby who twisted and turned to see every little thing going on.

Two and a half hours later we were finally leaving the scene. The boys were hungry, my back was aching, my arms were numb and I was exhausted. I met a friend I went to college with who took this picture of Abram. It is a good thing you couldn't see my face. I am sure I looked ragged.

Meanwhile Brian had a quiet evening at home, enjoyed eating Taco Bell and watching TV. I really showed him not to be late again, huh?