Westcatrav

When we lived with my parents in 2008, I started a story about a boy who had a big adventure. The kids helped me name this boy and called him "Westcatrav", which is a combination of my three boys' names: Westley, Caleb, Travis. The boy went on an adventure that involved fighting dragons and rescuing a princess held captive by an evil king in a castle at the top of a high mountain. After that story, which was totally impromptu, they begged every night for a "westcatrav" story. But I was always too lazy or too tired to think of anything as clever, so I didn't add to the story or tell them any more.

A few weeks ago, when Corey was home from work early enough in the evening to help with bedtime, they boys asked for Westcatrav. It was strange because I thought he'd been forgotten about. So we took turns, each adding a sentence to the story, where Westcatrav gets himself into a pickle and has to be rescued by a witch. Then the witch casts a spell on him forcing him to marry her. He's able to break the spell and ends up marrying another witch, a witch-princess named Eliza. Anyway, after that story, the boys were hooked again and begged every night for another chapter. Because my husband was home for several evenings in a row, he started adding to the story every night and now, it has become a special nightly ritual for the nights when Daddy is home from work--he tells them Westcatrav, making it up as he goes along (though I think he now puts thought into it while he's driving to and from work), and they get a wonderfully rich, imaginative story that they will probably remember for a long time.

We realized after Chapter 8 of Westcatrav that we probably should have been recording these tales in order to write them down and possibly have my oldest, very artistic child illustrate them. But, oh well.

I can just imagine them 20 years from now sitting and talking and remembering: "Remember when Dad used to tell us Westcatrav?" and then rehashing some of the tales. I think it's great bonding time for Corey and the boys and just think of the literary skills they are developing from listening to the stories and talking about them!