Haunted Hayride and Carnival

Well, we managed to scar our children for life last night. We took them to a city-wide Halloween carnival and haunted hayride. It was a lot of fun. All the booths were 50 cents or less to play so Elle loved them. After we had played all the booths and it was getting crowded inside, we headed to the haunted hayride. Since this was advertised as an event for children we figured the hayride would not be really scary, maybe some strobe lites and white sheets hanging from trees....we were really wrong. After the 5th chainsaw guy came right up to our children screaming at the top of his lungs and doing the chainsaw, we decided that that would be our last time to do a Halloween event without really checking it out for kid-friendliness. About half way through Elle was sobbing loudly and saying really loud "I just want to go home." I had Elle clinging to me like fly to flypaper and of course the sound of the chainsaws scared Ava nearly to death, so I ended up holding her also. Ava was fine once I held her, but Elle cried all the way back to the entrance. But, there is a happy ending. To make her feel better we let her eat some of her candy and before we even left the parking lot, she was laughing , smiling and telling us how fun some of the haunted hayride was....kids bounce back quickly. Also, my highlight of the evening was being told by a 11 year old boy that "Man, you're face paint looks awesome. I wish my mom was more like you!" My proudest moment :) Lots of people commented on how cute Elle and I looked and lots of kids gave me a long glare....not too sure about me or Elle....my work is done.