Robin o' the Hood

I tried hard not to be hurt when Cass declared this year that he didn't want a birthday party (WHAT!@#$@). I felt a little deflated. He wanted to do something special with two or three boys from his kindergarten class (they had to be boys!). Then there was the matter of  the requested bows and arrows. He's obsessed with Robin Hood right now. After some heated back-and-forth about how we probably could not make our own bows and go hunting at Belle Isle, I eventually won him over with the idea of an archery class. I was a little worried about behavior--would they have the attention span? the discipline?--but the instructor assured me that she teaches six-year-olds all the time, and they're actually quite capable of learning the sport. We set up bullseye targets in front of the old train station and had such a fun, magical morning, learning how to properly hold a bow and sorting through overgrown dandelions for rogue arrows. Each kid hit the target at least once, and it was such a thrill. Even Ollie (aka Little John) had a pretty good go.