While I was at home suffering through the aftermaths of the flu vaccine combined with a head cold, my older two kiddos went with friends to the Coast Guard's Haunted Barn. I've heard about their haunted festivities every year and finally decided to let my two monsters go creep amongst their own.

Through my Dayquil induced haze, I waved goodbye as they drove off, only after they both emptied their bladders, "just in case." Taters even swore she was packing extra undies should her body decide to find extra urine that needed to be released during a good scare.

I had previously tried to take the kids up the CCHB last week, however, so did about 1,000 other Humboldt County residents. We stood in line for about an hour and between the cold and the jackass smoking a bowl of weed and then blowing it down wind (in our direction), we decided to leave. It was hard to vacate the the sights (strobe lights, purple and orange blinking lights, fog, etc.) and sounds (chainsaws and screaming primarily) but the decision was made and I ended up dragging two angry and crying children away with the promise of ice cream at McDonalds.

When they got home last night, Taters was all riled up. She proudly told me how she had confronted the "chainsaw dude" and had told "Freddy" with his knife fingernails to "get lost." Nothing scared her, she proclaimed, NOTHING. C-dub, on the other hand, looked a little pale when he walked through the front door. I watched him walk out to his bedroom and breathe a heavy sigh of relief as he checked under his bed for any apparent monsters. He then came in my sick chamber and gave me a hug that lasted for several seconds. He was not nearly as thrilled as his sister was with their haunted visit.

When bedtime rolled around, I had three extra mouth breathers curled up next to me and my box of Kleenexes. Poor Hubby had to sleep on the couch but I gladly would have exchanged a comfy leather couch for the six inches of pillow top I had to balance on throughout the night. What I'd give to be a kid again and to get the kid goggles where I don't see the zippers, make-up, and electrical cords - where monsters are monsters and ghosts are ghosts. I love Halloween - I hope yours' is frightful :-).