A party in the deep, dark wood...

And so it began, that a little mouse

accompanied by the birthday boy, took a stroll through a deep dark wood....

If you are familiar with the story, you'll know that, watched over by a friendly squirrel, the little mouse attempts to outwit a fox, an owl and a snake...

The owl 

 If you are unfamiliar with the story, let Lydia and David tell you it (and definitely make them do the voices)

Just like the little mouse, you will start in the deep, dark wood.  On your stroll you will encounter the fox in his underground house...

and perhaps even the owl in his tree top house...

The story continues...

Phoebe is worried that the owl may eat the poor little mouse.
(Matthew is also somewhat concerned)

...and leads you to snake's log pile house...

Although Emily was brave enough to wrestle the snake...

...in the story, the cunning little mouse outwits her predators by telling them of a terrifying creature who wants to eat them.  

Then by a strange twist of fate, she actually meets the Gruffalo and outwits him too (seriously, it's a great story....you can buy the book here)

The kids LOVE it!

SPOILER ALERT

The little mouse tells the Gruffalo that his favourite food is "gruffalo crumble"...and the Gruffalo runs away terrified, leaving the little mouse to enjoy his favourite food...

We all cheered

But if nuts AREN'T your favourite food, we had some other suggestions....

But I have to say...

...was the Gruffalo crumble...

and then, of course, there was the birthday cake...

In Bea's words...it is AWESOME

There were also many crafts to do...

You could make your own owl...

Phoebe was very proud of her owl...

You could create a family tree...

You could make a little paper mouse, a foxy gift bag and even create your own Gruffalo bun...

Lucy was a particular fan of the Gruffalo buns...

 Auntie Pam was on hand to create Gruffalo polaroids for all of the guests...

 But you had to be very careful, as there was a little Gruffalo prowling about who was very hungry...

In conclusion...

Joshua's parents are nuts,

but those nuts are good....

You can see more here.

The Giant's Lair

Our Easter holiday seemed to be filled with the discovery of fairy villages.

Thursday took us to Slieve Gullion, where we read a story about a sleeping giant in the woods (It warned us not to make a noise as we passed him, not even a sneeze as giants can be very grumpy if they are woken too early ... * more of this later.)

So we decided that we would head deep...

...and we were prepared to brave the...

But along our path we encountered a magical red door which led to a fairy village...of course we had to go through....

Molly, having experienced a fairy village at the end of the Gruffalo Trail, knew the procedure and began knocking on the fairy doors....

Still no answer....(this is an illustration of HOPE)

Phoebe found the Tooth fairy bank

Outside the Trickster's Garden

After about an hours investigation of the Fairy Village (and no, I am not exaggerating for dramatic effect), we carried on with our journey.

Now, why, you might ask is Molly holding her nose?  

Remember the warning not to sneeze!

Admit it, you'd forgotten.

We all had.

All except Molly!  She was making sure she didn't wake the giant.

But before reaching him, we discovered some more Faraway Folk's homes

These were somewhat larger than the fairy houses, but tiny for normal humans, so we decided that they must belong to other fairy folk, like pixies and brownies.

Perhaps even a boggart, who had left a slide for us....

Then we stumbled upon the....

(All of the girls could fit inside it)

Then, we must have been getting close to the giant because we found the....

Molly was most eager to reach his chair...

(but she wasn't too keen on sitting on his table, unlike the others, who gave his porridge a stir)

Then we discovered another little pixie house.

(I suspect this one belongs to some newlyweds)

Inspired by the beautiful scenery, Phoebe burst into song....

We knew that we must be getting closer to the giant, so Beth and Bea decided that a giant sized weapon might be required.

All the girls helped carry the "Giant poking stick"

It was perfect for picking this giant's nostrils with!

 The stick carried on with us...

Until there were trees to be climbed....

Then we discovered the...

I think this may be the best place on earth.

A series of three higgildy piggy treehouse, with walkways, bridges and secret passages linking them.

Oh yes, and trees growing though them.

Eventually we found our way to the end of the path, where the giant had us all for tea....

Then we had a picnic in the sunshine.

In the garden, we met Fred.

Fred was Beth's pet millipede (or centipede)

Beth and Fred

Unfortunately, for Fred, tragedy struck.

His burial was original, sympathetic and bizarre, but his grave was certainly more substantial than many other millipedes can ever aspire to....

Then it was time to head home

Just kiddin'

It was time for the park

Swings

Zip line

You can see some more of the adventures by clicking here

And that really is the end....

(Until next time)