Happy Halloween!

Have you ever been to one of our local haunted houses?? My husband and I took our middle school daughter and her friends to a haunted house a few weeks ago and…. Wow, was that intense! There must have been a THOUSAND zombie actors (ok it was probably more like 30-but if felt like more, they where popping up everywhere) throughout the experience all with the purpose of scaring us to death!  Before we entered the factory, my daughter and her friends asked me if I was scared. I obnoxiously claimed that I would probably ‘laugh the whole time, no way was I scared it was all fake’ (famous last word).  I also tried to prep the girls by telling them to ‘fly under the radar', instructing them to not scream too much or the zombie actors would zero in on our group, terrorizing us the whole time. The girls nodded and assured me that they understood and would try to lay low.

Okay,so the zombies of the
haunted house were a bit scarier than this.

That lasted abooouuuuut... O-N-E second. Literally, the SECOND we entered the haunted house, the zombies were on us!  And, despite my earlier recommendation to those sweet girls, they all immediately started screaming- at the top of their lungs! So, guess what??  The zombies zero-ed  in our our little group, relentlessly.  

Now, let me set the scene for you and how it works at the haunted factory... All ticket holders are divided into groups who go through the factory together. It’s a group of maybe 50-100 people all in 

a single file line, clutching each other’s shirts (yes, strangers- touching each other) not wanting to lose the group. Who wants to get left behind, all alone, with a bunch of zombies? Did I mention that there is fog, flashing strobe lights, and EXTREMELY loud scary noises. Making it so you can barely see your hand in front of your face and you can’t hear each other at all??!? Oh, and my favorite effect, zombies squirting some kind of mysterious liquid on you (hopefully water?), in your face, on your hair, all over your clothes. The haunted house does not allow their actors to touch the guests, but wow did they get close!  Popping out of dark corners, dropping down from the ceiling screaming in your ears! To add to everything else all along the way you have to duck under pipes and valves and go up and down metal or concrete stairs (remember, you can’t see or hear). Worst part... you have to walk into the basement of this factory and squeeze through black inflatable walls- that are closing in on you!! Another fun treat is walking across a metal catwalk through a giant spinning canister (kind of like in a fun house) painted in glowing black light paint, kind of disorienting, while scary zombies are on the cat walk with you. 

This isn't use but I can guarantee
this is what we looked like, the entire time!

My  ‘mother of the year’ moment came when I shoved my 7th grade daughter in front of me to lead us through the chaos! Needless to say, I was unable to stay cool, calm, and collected as I planned.  I screamed the whole time while four young girls clung to me, screaming along with me!  We were like a little pile of people crab walking through the factory tour which seemed to last for hours (ok it was probably more like 25 minutes). 

Meanwhile, my husband was sauntering along behind us with a bored, slightly amused look on his face, that was until my daughter (who, as I said earlier,  I shamelessly shoved out front to lead our group-I know, mom of the year, right?) tells us that she has been clutching onto the stranger in front of us (bless this man’s heart, he was clearly someone’s dad to have been as patient as he was with us). At that point my husband heroically jumps to the front of our group so that she can clutch onto him instead of a random man. 

Call me crazy, but after all of that… it was SO MUCH FUN and we wouldn't have missed it for anything. We will probably make torturing ourselves, screaming through this haunted place, a yearly tradition!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love Halloween! Why?  Because it kicks off my favorite time of the year. It’s a time of year that we can dress up, act silly, go to haunted houses and give treats to our friends, family and neighbors.  It’s a time of year that the weather becomes mild and its enjoyable to go outside. All of the neighborhood seems to come out  and participate in fall festivals, trunk or treats, trick or treating, and Halloween parties. I see it as a wonderful month of community. I love that!  

At our office, throughout the year, we host several events to serve our community.  During this time of the year our community service events include a food drive and a backpack initiative for local foster children (more to come on those events later).  One of our favorite service events we are able to host is our Halloween Candy Buy Back, participating with Operation Gratitude.  

Each year my office hosts this event during the first few days of November in which children can donate their unopened Halloween candy to our US Troops. For every pound that patients bring to our office (up to 3 pounds), each child receives 1$ per pound and a goodie bag full of treats.  We also give away Firefly glowing toothbrushes (while supplies last) to all children who make a donation to this cause. We are buying back so that we can give back to our U.S. Troops together!  So, come join us for the Halloween Candy Buy Back this year taking place at our office Monday November 3rd-Thursday November 6th. Look for more information on the blog in the coming weeks about our other service events.  Happy Halloween!

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****Copyright Angelica Rohner Pediatric Dentistry 2014