Boo! (then barf)

 It's time!

 All of our Halloween costumes are here - we have a Star Wars theme with Snow White thrown into the mix because Ayla apparently is already at the age where she gets to pick her own costume. Beware parents, you only get to choose for a maximum of three years!!! Choose those first costumes wisely. My pumpkin is half-carved and we're anticipating another great year of roaming our neighborhood for delicious treats.

 For some reason, this holiday is one of my favorites. It's short, to the point and creative. You get to dress up, be crazy and get rewarded with candy. My parents always made it fun while we were growing up and it was even more exciting once I got to college. I remember being at a bar in State College and seeing someone slowly walk down the street in his 8 foot tall Transformers costume. He literally got a standing ovation. I love seeing all of the ideas people come up with and can't get enough of  newborn babies dressed as items of food! It's sick, I know!

 I have a million fond memories of Halloween: one year in elementary school when I was dressed up like a clown and HATED it, I went across the street to Nanni's house (always our first stop) and she didn't recognize me. Later, in junior high, my Dad would take me and a group of my friends to whatever cheesy haunted house we wanted.

 But this is one of my favorite memories to recall when I really need to laugh and remember that sometimes the ridiculous and retarded days of our lives are the best:

 If I'm recalling perfectly, it was myself, my sister Eve, my father, Erin (Werner) Gibson and Phil Benner. We met up at the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In for yet another scary haunted house. It was ridiculously gory and had several scenes set up to horrify you. One was a plane crash (which does seem to be in bad taste), another was a mental hospital, etc, etc. The course took you from inside to outside and back again.

 I love these things, yet hate them. The actors always seem to get too close and take it too far. I start to wonder if the "psycho wielding the chainsaw" really isn't a psycho wielding a chainsaw.

What I most remember is the level of panic this particular haunted trail presented in us. I freaked out at one point inside the "mental ward" because some lunatic chased me and I fell into a bathtub, completely tearing up my leg. We kept screaming and running and laughing.... until it was one BOO! too many and Eve barfed in the middle of the trail. BARFED. She got over it quickly and we kept walking. Except she heard people behind us commenting on the "fake barf" that laid on the ground.

We got so scared that my sister threw up. And sorry to say it, but that makes me laugh. Thanks for the best Halloween memory ever!