Halloween Fun

Well, we've done it again. We've hosted yet another Halloween party and given countless children some crazy nightmares that are not to be believed. It starts off  with food, a hayride and a bonfire.

Then things get dark. Really dark. Seriously, after seeing what Joe and his friends and family are capable of I'm totally sleeping with one eye open. Really, what kind of "normal" people do these things??

I try to keep it light so the children aren't completely terrified. I prattle on about how "It's all fake and just silly. The monsters won't get you, I promise." Still, the little ones are scared out of their minds and I usually don't even let them go on the trail at all if the "monsters" are present. The ten and eleven year old boys are another story altogether. They LOVE it. They LOVE to be scared to death!! My son's gaggle of friends walked the trail at least 5 times!! Maybe it's a Darwin thing, you have to test yourself and see if you can outrun the bad guys?

The trail was bigger and better than ever this year. Seriously first class stuff. It's pretty funny to see how things shake down when you have no idea what might happen. For instance, the teenage group that I thought would be super brave wouldn't even ENTER the building that housed the "Butcher Shop". They ran around it, through heavy brush and thorns, just so they wouldn't have to go inside. When the guy with the chainsaw came out, they shoved the only girl in the group toward him so they could get away. I swore that I sent three boys and a girl down the trail but all I could hear was high pitched screaming and it WASN'T the girl...

I sent my Mom, Aunt and cousin down the trail and then listened as they made their way along. There was a lot of jostling for position - mostly jostling out of the position of being in the back, front or sides, which doesn't leave much. I also learned later that my mother in law fell on the trail. I felt really bad about it until I heard that she was trying to run away from her SON (my brother in law) who was covered in fake blood and acting like a complete lunatic.

The "monsters" were fantastic this year. They were positioned where you'd least expected them and would jump out before you could see them coming. Joe's Dad was hiding behind a stationary ghost and just as you were walking by, thinking you were safe, he'd jump out and make this loud, crazy noise. We had at least two kids fall to their knees with that one.

Jamie was hiding on the outside of the Butcher Shop with a machete. Enough said.

My sister's husband, JC, was hiding outside of the black light house. You'd enter this house with florescent words spray painted all over it. Just as you were coming through, he'd start yelling "Get out of my house!!" and then he'd chase you down the trail. Good stuff.

Greg was positioned at the end of the trail in the campsite scene. You weren't quite sure what was going to happen until you heard the rustling in the weeds off to your right. Then Greg would come charging out of the underbrush and chase you until you couldn't run anymore (or you fell down).

The guys put so much effort into this whole thing and they really love it. At the end of the night, two girlfriends and I decided to get them back a little bit. We hid out at the campsite scene as they were all coming down the trail. We were not quite as professional as the guys so getting into position was not exactly well orchestrated. Still, we persevered and were able to scare the hell out of them as they rounded the corner. Awesome night!!