Early on, one of the children noted that the ground in the real forest was very spongy and lacked a pathway. Apparently children are too short to see over the tops of palmetto bushes, which can make navigation difficult. My solution was to begin building a pathway from the edge of the forest to the shady vale.
We stopped at the closest big box store and got 20 pavers to begin the pathway. At $1.36 each, the convenience of premade bricks at a reasonable size makes up for the additional price. Plus I didnt have to cast my own bricks, which sounds like a messy and time consuming process.
Carrying the bricks to place them was the hardest part. I got some cardio, and didnt even make the kids help out.
