Haunted Houses are for kids

Ally and Emma came home from school the other day with an invitation to a haunted house sponsored by the D.A.R.E. program. (not sure what it means. Drugs Are Really Eicky?) They were super excited and REALLY wanted to go. It said they were making it fun for kids "infants to 9 years old" was the age group invited with "nice monsters"(creepy clowns, fairies, angels and smiling vampires) and scary stuff covered up (which meant really dark in most places). "The best part is it's FREE!" I don't do scary. I don't enjoy it AT ALL. I have a hard time watching Supernatural with Ryan. So my first thought was NO WAY they will freak out, (which they did) but they persisted so we went. (I already ruined the visit the cousins weekend. Yeah I didn't go to SLC but that is another sad story for another day.)

When we arrived at Dr. Slaughter's House of Terror, (Scare for D.A.R.E.) we got a parking spot right near the door. The best part was the 3 block line of people waiting to get in--we parked at the wrong end and got to walk the whole way to the end. We saw lots of friends from school and got to admire all the costumes. Emma went as Snow White and I think we saw at least 4 others, including one who held hands with Emma the whole way through. ("I will stay right here with you, it's going to be ok." She's bigger so she was protecting her. She's 6.)

It was long and seemed pretty empty. There must be some seriously scary stuff going on for it to seem empty. The mother of Snow White had been there in the evening a few nights previous and kept me informed of what was supposed to be there. yuck. Then it kept going and going and getting a little creepier and creepier. At one point we were walking through a snow cave tunnel with big thick icicles hanging down that I swear looked like upside down body bags. We went through a corn field with a missing scare crow. We saw a zombie in a bed with an empty spot for someone else. We saw some jagged claw slashes next to the letters FC. We saw a frozen yeti. We saw a lot of old time pictures that changed to creepy pictures that were hung too high for the kids to really see.

The worst part was a black "wall" that was 2 big air filled things you had to squeeze in between to get through. Think moon bounce. I went around because I didn't dare take the baby in there, but the kids went through "the squishy thingys" and did not like it. I think that was the worst part for them. I can see why.

It took us a good 30 minutes to walk through the whole thing. Needless to say I don't think we will ever go again. Even on fun kid day. It was the first time I had been in a place like that. Luke informed me that we are not going to a haunted house ever again. It was too scary and he did not like it. It was classic. Ryan would have created his own terror for them so in a way it is a good thing he is out of town. He has a scare-them-every-day-until-Halloween goal that I am not participating in. This would have been a great opportunity. He will be sad he missed it.



ps I did not take the camera. But we have 3 more things to dress up for coming up and you can bet there will be pictures later!