Spooky Goblyn's Glen at Oak Meadow Park, Los Gatos

It has been awhile since we road the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. The boys are less interested in trains, although I'm not sure if they ever lose their fascination. The Thomas collection spends most of its time in the toy box, and the train table is now packed with legos -- thus is life. My preschoolers are now big 5 and 6 year olds.

Last weekend we went back to the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. It was our first time back since May. Although we didn't go for the train, we went for the Goblyn's Glen haunted house, which has become an annual tradition.

The boys donned their costumes, Caleb is a pirate this year, and Xander is a magician. We went before 8:30 pm -- which works out since their bedtime is 8 pm. At 8:30 pm the haunted house shuts down for a half an hour and becomes scary for the 9 pm crowd.

The haunted house allows you to do some early trick or treating, and it is well done -- spooky enough for the three and under set to cling to their parents, and friendly enough that children don't exit crying. Xander and Caleb had a blast.

The challenge with this year is that the haunted house is no longer associated with the railroad. So, the train, which was running, is priced separately. The haunted house is a bit expensive, and then you add $5 for the special event train pricing, and it was hard to do. So, we just went to the haunted house.

There is one more night of Goblyn's Glen -- running Friday through Sunday -- if you haven't been it is so worth it. We'll be back in a few weeks to ride the train and see the Christmas lights.

I'm not 4 I'm 5

Today was Xander's fifth birthday. In two months he will be starting kindergarten. The beautiful green eyed boy that I called "baby boy" is growing up. He knows how to behave in restaurants, he holds your hand when crossing the street, he can walk into a store filled with breakables and not touch, he is  kind, thoughtful and sensitive.

We went back to Oak Meadow and Vasona parks for the first time since December. We road the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, and played in the playground with the firetruck, airplane and train, as well as the blue playground. It was amazing to watch how much more sure of himself he was on the playground. He is starting to do the monkey bars, he could climb the ladders I thought were reserved for much older kids ... well now I guess he is.

He got a scooter for his birthday. He let me put on all of the padding, and agreed that he would need to wear his hockey helmet, to make sure that he didn't break anything. Considering how many times he fell it was a good thing... but he tackled the task of learning to use the two wheel scooter with confidence.  But he was tired ...

So, we were soon home where he got two of the trains he asked for and had me write on a birthday list that he kept under his pillow for the last month. He was so happy to get patchwork Hiro and Birthday Thomas. He had me check them off his list.

Then we went to St. John's in Sunnyvale where they have great chicken tenders. He feasted, polite, sweet and so grown-up.

In the middle of August I will no longer be able to say my preschoolers. My little Xander will be a kindergartner.

Trains, Carousels and Trick or Treating at Goblyn's Glen

This summer I wrote my ode to the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. The boys love riding the train on weekends. Over the last two months we have taken a break from the park, mainly because my husband and I were getting a little tired of it.

However, now that it is Fall we decided to take the boys to the Goblyn's Glen at Oak Meadow Park. The festivities kick off at 7 pm on Friday's and Saturdays, and 6 pm on Sunday's. We started off with the moonlit train ride through Oak Meadow and Vasona Park. Afterward we road the Bill Mason Carousel, and then went trick or treating in the Goblyn's Glen haunted house.

We have finally reached an age where the boys enjoyed it, and weren't too scared. By giving the kids trick or treat bags, it made the witches, vampires and monsters far less scary. Xander said "I wasn't scared at all mommy." Caleb got scared a couple of times when someone would jump out at him, but he handled it by asking, "What's your name?"

They were also great about the amount of candy and kept it to a minimum. The kids also got stickers, spider rings, a pumpkin, and balloon. This is a good thing, since Caleb managed to eat all his candy by the time we got home. 

It costs $2 to ride the train, and $8 for the Carousel and haunted house. Well worth it. If you want to take your kids it runs through October 31.