Grand Rapids Comic Con

 In the spring Ledger and I attended the Kalamazoo Comic Con and had a blast! Keep in mind, Ledge has absolutely no interest at all in comic books, he is only there to wear a costume, see others, and be seen. Just like his love for Halloween, he loves a good dress-up! After that con, I told him that there was a much bigger convention in the fall in Grand Rapids. He said that he was definitely interested in going to it and I could see the gears in his head already turning as he was plotting and planning on what character he wanted to dress up as for that one! As we got closer and closer the date, he settled on what he wanted to go as: Chris, one of the characters from Deltarune. It was a pretty straight forward costume, brown pants, a green shirt with one stripe, hair covering his face, and a red heart. Easy enough. So we began gathering up all the parts we needed and found a great shirt that was exactly what he wanted!

The day of the convention we drove up to Grand Rapids, just the two of us, found a parking spot and walked to the convention center. Already, before we even made it there, Ledger was getting so excited seeing all the different people dressed up in the streets on their way to the con. Initially he was a little bit concerned that there wouldn't be many people who would recognize his costume or other costumes that he would know. That was quickly alleviated as soon as we stepped into the comic con! There were dozens and dozens of people dressed up as characters from some of his favorite games and shows, everywhere we turned he would grab my arm and say 'Dad- check out that one!' and explain to me who they were dressed up as. Most of our day was filled with people stopping Ledge to take a picture, or Ledge stopping others to get their picture! He kept getting people smiling at him and complimenting him on his look- he was in heaven!

As we made our way up and down the many aisles of nerdy stuff, it became very clear to me that this is no longer the comic book conventions of my youth. Back in my day, the rows were filled with comic books and toys based on those characters. It used to be made up of about 80% comic book stuff, 19% nerdy tv shows and cartoons, and maybe 1% anime. Well, dear reader, that is no longer the case. Now it is about 60% anime, 35% video game stuff, and maybe 5% comic book stuff. What a change! I wore my ol' standard Captain America hoodie, but I was in a very small minority of comic book characters. Other than Spider-Man (who's popularity will probably never wain), I think I counted 3 other people in that whole sea of nerdom who were dressed like superhero characters: one Deadpool, one Batman, and one Wolverine. That was it. But there were about 15 Hollow Knights from Elden Ring... I guess even nerdy things can become outdated. Kids these days aren't as thrilled with X-Men and Spawn like we were. I think that's probably a good thing. Let my interests age with me and let the younger generation create their own interests. I don't always get the things he loves, but that's ok because he doesn't always get the things I love either.

Check out the rest of our fun at the convention here: prep, the venue, and costumes!

Leaf Pile

The most annoying part of Autumn is raking up the leaves. I never did it growing up. We didn't have any trees in our back yard and any leaves in the front yard would blow away onto someone else's lawn so it wasn't our problem. Well, we have tons of trees in our yard, so we have to do the work to clean it up.

I had had enough of doing it myself, and I happen to have a large 13 year old boy who lives with me, so guess who's helping this year?

I had gotten a second rake earlier, so there was no excuse! Ledger and I both trapesed out to the front yard and got to work making a pile. Fortunately, our town comes around and sucks up any leaf piles by the road, so all we had to do was pile it up out there. It took a lot of work and effort, but we made a huge pile! It didn't take long for the neighbor's kids to decide that all our effort would be the perfect pile to jump in. Ledger honestly felt the same and he joined them jumping in the leaf piles and having a ton of fun!

It just took a little work to get the leaves back into the pile after they had exhausted themselves real good. Ledger said he had a surprisingly good time helping out. Great, because the trees still have about half their leaves left- we are definitely going to have to come out and do it once or twice again before winter!

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Boys' Night Out

Diana had made plans to go see Lissa in Detroit for the weekend, so Ledger and I were on our own. I spent some time during the week looking up different stuff that he and I could do to try and make this 'boy's night' a little special. It took some research, but I found just the thing!

I had been building up all week that he and I were going to do something special for the night while Mom was gone. He likes surprises, but sometimes it gets to be too much for him and he just desperately wants to know! Tough luck, buddy, I ain't tellin!

Finally Friday came around. We said goodbye to Diana, and we hopped in the car. I still wouldn't tell him what we were up to. We stopped and got a little food on our way to Grand Rapids. He was really curious now, kind of getting annoyed that I wouldn't tell him. I finally explained 'Look bud, we are going to go do something that I don't think you even know exists. Like, I could tell you what it is, but you wouldn't understand it anyway. How about we just go and experience it together.' He wasn't quite sure how to take that, but was willing to go with it and just let it happen. We made our way to the west side of downtown and pulled into a place called The Comedy Project. He had a really confused look on his face. I told him 'Have you ever heard of Improv comedy?' He had not. I explained that we are going to see an improv show where the comedians on stage will create a whole show based on the suggestions we yell out. This was really strange to him, but to his credit, he was up for it! We walked in and immediately Ledger was hooked- the whole design of the place was weird and fun robots! We found our seats and ordered sodas and mozz sticks (his favorite). The place filled up before the lights went down to start the show. The show itself was basically a long live episode of the old show 'Who's Line Is It Anyway?' (which he had never seen). It was very funny and full of energy. Ledger absolutely loved it! On the way home we stopped for a late dinner and he kept recounting all the funniest bits.

We had an absolutely grand time- boy's night was a rousing success!

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The Hangout House

Ledger hangs out with his friends all the time, almost every single day after school. The thing is though, its only online. He hardly ever sees any of them in person, even on the weekends, which I guess is pretty normal for his generation.

Well, I am not a big fan of that! I have many fond memories of seeing my friends all the time after school, riding my bike over to their houses or playing behind the school across from my house. In middle school I would probably hang out in person with friends three to four nights a week, and that wasn't even including Saturdays when we would spend basically the whole day at each other's houses or out getting in to trouble! Growing up I would always go over to other friends' houses. Partly this was due to having an annoying older brother and sister, but also because my mom would get annoyed if we made a mess. I didn't want that same thing for Ledge, so we decided to do something about it: we decided that our house is going to be the hangout house! Unfortunately, none of Ledger's friends live just down the street, so that means if he wants to have them over I have to coordinate with their parents and pick them up or drop them off afterwards. No problem, I say. With the school year just starting, we figured Ledge should invite a few friends over on Friday, so I texted with their parents and got it all worked out. The four of them walked to our house after school and spend the rest of the day hanging out and having a blast! Mostly it consisted of them playing games together on their phones and tablets, but to hear them chatting and bursting out in laughter makes it all worth while!

Diana and I usually end up hiding in the guest room and watch tv, listening from time to time to make sure no one lost a limb. For dinner I went and picked up a few pizzas and the boys chowed down! Finally, around 9pm, the boys and I piled into the car and we brought them each home. On the way back to our house Ledger kept talking about all the funny stuff they did and how much fun it was. This will definitely be something we do regularly this year!

Handprint: 8th Grade

It's that time again, time for the annual tradition of making a handprint on the ol' board. Each year we have Ledger put his hand in a bunch of paint and put down his latest hand size onto the board at the start of each school year. We have been doing it since his preschool year and continue the tradition now that he's going into 8th grade. He used to turn it into an opportunity to get paint all over his body and go crazy with the chosen color each year. Now a days, he gets annoyed that we want to pull him away from his friends and tablet to do the old tradition.

He can complain all he wants, but we are still going to do it! This year he chose pink as his handprint color. He dipped his hand in the plate of paint and made his latest print. It's really fun to see how much bigger his hand is now than it was back when he was 4- year little boy- it keeps getting bigger and bigger, just like him!

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The County Fair

One of the things my town is known for is the county fair. Well, we can't miss that then, right? Ledger was really interested in the fair when he was little, going on all the kid's rides and games. But he lost interest for a few years there, but now he's back and really wants to go! We invited a couple friends for him to check out the county fair with.

They walked home with Ledger after school on Friday and I brought them over to the fair soon after. We got them a bracelet for unlimited rides and I gave each of them a bit of cash to waste however they chose.

These boys are at the age where the last thing they want is a parent watching over them, so I gave them a meeting time a few hours away and let them go out on their own to have a blast. I went back to the car and cranked the air conditioning, played a few games on my phone and listened to podcasts. Finally, around 9pm, we met up. I had double checked with the other boy's parents to see if it was ok, and it was, I told them they had another hour to mess around and have fun- they were shocked and thrilled to have some more time on their own! We met up again and they had spent all the money I had given them buying dumb stuff and having an amazing time. Finally, at 10pm we gathered back in the car and we brought the other boys home. This is what memories are made of, right?

8th Grade: 1st Day

Summer has come to an end and our boy has to go back to school. Things are a little different though, this time he's the top dog! He hasn't been on top since he was a 5th grader ruling the roost in elementary school. Now he's the big guy on campus again as a big ol' eighth grader! This year we kinda gave up on trying to slowly ease him back into an early wake up and early to bed. It never works anyway, so we just figured he'll have a bleary-eyed first day and his schedule will adjust pretty quickly from here!

With me working 3rd shift, I get home from work just in time to get him up and ready in the morning. When I got home it was a bit of a struggle to rouse him out of bed, but eventually he emerged from his room and started getting ready. We are back to the daily waffle breakfast. Always dedicated to a bit, he wore the same shirt again for his first day of school. The Snoopy shirt asking 'Is It Christmas Yet?'. He wore it the last day of school last year too! On the way to school we talked a little bit about the gravity of the situation and he shared that he wasn't nervous at all this year, but felt pretty good about it all. He was mostly pumped to see his friends every day again. Oh, and how tired he was...

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Chicago, Baby!

We wanted to have one last hurrah before summer was over. Diana and I realized that Ledger had never been to Chicago, so we figured we would rectify that situation! I took an extra day off of work, we booked a hotel just off the Miracle Mile, and off we went to the Windy City!

We packed up and got started pretty early, stopping in South Bend to drop off the dog with Diana's dad. We pushed on to Illinois and on to our hotel. We dragged our luggage from the parking garage in the extreme summer heat, but once we got to the room, it was all worth it- the hotel was fantastic! We splurged a little bit and got a nicer room that we can usually afford, which delighted Diana!

Once we were settled in, our hunger took over and we made the trek to Gino's East for some authentic Chicago style pizza. Ledger had never had that style pizza before, so we knew he needed to try the real thing (more pics). After filling our bellies, we were ready for the main attraction: the Art Institute of Chicago! Later that night we walked around Millenium Park so we could get the full Chicago experience. Finally exhausted, we grabbed a late-night bite to eat and took it back to the hotel where we chowed down and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, we packed up and had planned to go check out the Museum of Science and Industry, but apparently there was a Bears game, which made it literally impossible to find anywhere to park within 5 miles! Instead, we called it a day and headed home, satisfied with our fantastic Chicago experience!

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Bill, Ted, and Ledger

 It finally worked. I had been working for years to try and convince Parker, the guy who programs movies at the local theater, that he needs to show a 'Bill & Ted' movie. The last Friday of every month the local theater, the Regent, shows an older movie. Usually an old favorite or cult classic. Every time I saw Parker I would tell him that he needs to program a Bill & Ted movie. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is my favorite movie ever and I've always wanted to see it on the big screen. Well, all that pestering finally paid off! He wasn't able to do the first one, but he was able to book a screening of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey! Good enough for me- I'll take it!

Now it was time to enact my plan: to introduce my son to Bill & Ted! There are a handful of movies that I love so much that I want Ledger to appreciate them as well. For that reason, we haven't watched them yet, I want to wait until he is old enough to appreciate them for himself. That's why I hadn't shown him the movies yet. But with him being 13 years old now, this was the perfect opportunity to watch them together.

I prepped him a little bit and let him know how much I love these movies, and how much they mean to me. We then watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Friday evening and an hour later, all three of us went to the theater to see Bogus Journey. And you know what? It worked! He absolutely loved the first one and loved the second one even more! It has been a dream come true! I must have done something right with raising our boy, because he thoroughly enjoyed both movies, laughing at the dumb jokes, giving me looks at the awesome parts, and just genuinely enjoying them completely! For several days after watching the movies, he is constantly quoting them to me, which is the greatest thing on earth! I am a very happy and proud father. Excellent! Wyld Stallyns rule!

Last Day of 7th

It's finally the end of Ledger's school year. He was pumped to finally put his 7th grade year behind him. Not that anything was bad about it, he's just really looking forward to summer break! As has become his little tradition, Ledger picked out his 'Is It Christmas Yet?' Snoopy shirt for his last day. He got a lot of funny looks and laughs wearing it last year, so he figured he'd go back to that well...

On the last day, his school had their achievement awards for the kids. Diana and I came to watch the ceremony and cheer him on has he was awarded the highest academic achievement award they have- way to go, Ledge! Afterwards, Diana went in to her work and I headed home for a quick nap.

Also, a part of our tradition is that I go pick him up from school on his last day and walk home with him. Since Diana started working at the elementary school, our walk home includes a stop at her school and saying hi.

When we got home, we both realized that we were pretty hungry, so we went out to eat as a celebration of the end of the year and start of summer- finally!

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His First Con

A week or two after his last birthday, Ledger wanted to have a little talk. I was a bit concerned, unsure of what heavy topic he wanted to discuss. Turns out it wasn't anything heavy at all. He said that he loves playing different video games so much that he wishes he could dress up like the different characters and walk around pretending to be them. 'Is there any way I can do that, dad?'.  Well, son, you are in luck! There are these little things called 'conventions' and you are allowed to cosplay at them! Well, he was thrilled that such things exist. 'Wow, really? Can we go to one?' Of course, son. I have been to dozens before! He's never really been interested in superheroes or comic books, so I figured he would never want to go to a convention. Turns out I was completely wrong! He doesn't want to go as a superhero; he wants to go as a video game character! I did a little digging and realized that there was actually a comic book convention scheduled for the next weekend! What luck!

He picked out the character he wanted to be, and we made quick work of assembling his costume. He decided on a character from the game Regretevator (I have no idea, don't ask me). So we made a list of what he needed to create the costume, then headed to the craft store to see what they had. We got a shirt, some paint, and everything else we found and ordered online. We worked together to paint the shirt and made it looked like what the character wears and assembled it all together when everything arrived- just in time too, the last parts didn't show up until the day before the convention! He was super pumped with how it turned out- just like it looks in the video game! He was really excited to wear the costume and play the part of the character, but he had one lingering reservation: what if no one else knew who he was dressed as? He figured there would be a ton of different superhero costumes, but maybe he picked a character that was too obscure. He was concerned that he would only get blank stares or confused looks.

Saturday we drove down to Kalamazoo, about 45 minutes from home. As we walked from the parking lot to the convention center, his worries were put to rest. Even before we got inside, someone from across the parking lot pointed at him and yelled out 'You're from Regretevator!' His face lit up he excitedly waved back at them 'You're right!' they shouted back 'That's so awesome!'. We basically could have left right then and there, and he would have been glowing for a week! Over the course of the afternoon he was recognized eight to ten times, with one person even asking if they could take their picture with him.

The actual convention and booths? Eh, he said they were fine, but in reality, he wasn't actually interested in any of that. This was all about getting to be the character for the day and he absolutely loved it! We did check out all the different booths, seeing the cool artwork and toys. He found a plush alien that he liked, as well as a handful of enamel pins from The Amazing Digital Circus. I found a super good deal on an Avatar Banshee toy, so I was pleased. Overall, we both had a great time and are already making plans to go to the Grand Rapids Comic Book Convention in the fall!

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Chicken Jockey

As we were bringing Ledger's friends home last weekend from his birthday party, I suggested we do it again the coming weekend and this time go see the Minecraft Movie with everyone. They were all pumped at the idea, so we made it happen!

All the friends that came to the party were invited back Friday to go see the movie together. Four of the boys were free and able to come over again. They walked home together from school and funneled right into Ledger's room to continue their gaming fun. At around 6 we piled into the car and stopped for a pre-movie meal at Wendy's. Finally, it was time for the big show: Minecraft at the local movie theater!

It was opening night and all five of them were beyond excited, they had been talking about it and quoting the commercials nonstop for the last month straight, hardly taking time to breath and now it was finally here! 

Fortunately, the movie was pretty good and very funny. The crowd was all in on this opening night, even erupting in cheers when the endlessly memed lines were spoken. In fact, when Jack Black uttered the phrase 'chicken jockey' I even saw a few high fives. It was so strange, I don't think I've seen a more raucous movie crowd in my life! And it honestly warmed my heart to see this young generation loving the movies!

Afterward all the boys recounted their favorite parts and quoted the parts they loved. It was a boisterous drive as we brought each of them back home. 

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Turning the Big One Three

It finally happened: our little boy became a teenager! All right, in all honesty, he hasn't been a little boy for quite some time now- he's five foot nine! Anyway, we knew we wanted to do something special for his birthday, so we had him invite over a bunch of friends and have a party. In the past we've had birthdays with different events and activities, but this year he just wanted to hang out with his buddies. No problem, kid. We settled on 6 friends, certainly enough for a party.

The party was on a Friday, so the boys walked home with him after school. I was ready and waiting with a bunch of snacks and drinks for them to devour! After a quick feeding, they all piled into Ledger's room with their devices and played a bunch of online games together, pausing only briefly to ask what the Wi-Fi password was. Loud laughing and talking poured out of his room for the next hour or two while Diana and I tried our best to stay out of sight, letting the boys have their fun.

Eventually the pizza arrived and they all came flooding out of Ledge's room to chow down! After they almost filled up on pizza, it was time for some singing and a birthday cake. The boys were loud and rambunctious, as 13-year-old boys are want, and we just got out of their way. Now with all the food eaten, I shepherded the boys to the living room for gift time. Most of them had brought gifts for Ledge, a very nice and thoughtful thing to do, so he went through and opened each one and joyfully thanked each person he got a gift from. I figured they might get a kick out of the gift we had gotten for him, and I wasn't wrong. As Ledger opened up his last gift from us, the boys realized what it was and the room exploded with excitement! I'm not even exaggerating- when he unwrapped it all the boys screamed, punched their fists in the air, and stood up with excitement! They laughed hysterically about it for a good 5 minutes before anyone was able to collect themselves enough to make a complete sentence! (check the pics to see what the gift was)

They had about an hour or so before it was time to bring everyone home, so they filed back into Ledger's room and kept playing their different games. Finally, a couple parents arrived to pick up their boys and the rest filed into our car and we brought them home one by one. Phew! An absolute success on a fun birthday for our newly minted teen!
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Mini Clay Art

Ledger got a couple of crafting packs for Christmas this year. One of them was a kit for making cute little things out of clay. We were looking around for something to do one night and figured we could bust this thing out and give it a try! The kit itself had 8 or 10 little lumps of colored clay, a few tools, and instructions on how to make them last.

We set up shop at the kitchen table, and each grabbed a color or two. The kit itself was designed for making little trinkets for a bracelet, so we had to keep things very small. That was the best part of the project: how intricate could we make our creations while keeping them as small as possible! As expected, Diana was really good at it. She's got the steady hand and patience to really focus on the details. Ledge and I did our best at making silly creatures and make each other laugh with how strange they were. After they were done, we brushed them with the included gel and baked them in the oven. At the end of the night we had some great looking little figures and had a really fun time together!

(see the finished figures here)

Icy Fun

The snow has been coming down pretty good this week, covering the landscape in beautiful white. Unfortunately, the extreme cold comes with it! The past day or two it's started to warm up a little, which means there are a bunch of icicles coming off the house. After pointing it out to Ledger, he decided he wanted to check it out! He went outside, without a coat as only teen boys are foolish enough to do, and broke off a few of them and crashed them on the deck, throwing them up in the air for maximum impact. I tried my best to stop him from licking them, but again, he's a teenage boy, so all my attempts were in vain. 

We've been huddled inside trying to stay warm so long that it was great to see him brave the outdoors and play around for a while! I'm sure it'll be a long winter, but at least we can enjoy it.

Taller

We don't know exactly when it happened. Maybe we weren't paying close enough attention to it. Nonetheless, we realized it today: our son is taller than his mother! What?!? How did this happen? He's not old enough! Diana is far from short- he's not supposed to be taller than her, is he?

Well, it turns out that against or strong objections, Ledger continues to grow up. Our adorable little guy is no longer little (he's still adorable though!). He has shot up over the past few months, and his voice keeps getting deeper and deeper. Before we know it, he will be a full-grown man! Diana and I are going to have to do some real soul searching to make peace with this idea, that our little boy is growing up to be a great man. The old adage is true: the days are long, but the years are short!

Library Battle

When Ledger was little, the local library was a godsend! A public place with special events for kids where they could learn and play- exactly what we needed! Since then he goes less often, but they still have great activities. Most, as you would expect, are geared toward little kids, but our local library also does a bunch of events for the older kids. They have a 'teen room' filled with the latest tech, things like professional level computer drawing pads, VR headsets, and 3D printers that they can come and use. Ledge loves to go there from time to time and play in the teen room. They've also got some fun special events as well. One of the coolest events they have is a 'Nerf Night', the kids are invited after the library is closed, to come in with Nerf guns and go nuts! Ledge invited his friend Emmerson to join him and the two of them had a blast. He said they played a bunch of games including 'capture the flag' all around the library, shooting off their nerf darts at each other. At the end they even had cookies and juice. What an awesome event- I wish they had done cool stuff like this when I was a kid! 

A Song in His Heart

Fa la la! It's time for the annual Christmas concert with the ol' middle school. When first entering sixth grade, Ledger wanted to be in band. After trying out a couple instruments and realizing the amount of practice he would have to commit to, he quickly changed his mind and settled on Choir instead. We have been very happy with that decision ever since. For us it means we don't have to suffer through him practicing an instrument either, and also it means that our house is often filled with singing from a beautiful little boy's voice! Though he may not exactly like all the songs his Choir teacher picks, he is still using his voice and getting very good too! I was never a very good singer, once puberty hit anyway, but Ledge has continued to use and develop his voice- and it shows! Diana and I always look at each other with delight when we hear him singing any old random song from the other room- we just love to hear him!

As usual, we invited Mema and Papa to join us in listening to the middle school choir concert. It was surprisingly good- in fact, the choir teacher herself talked about how this has been one of the best classes she has ever had! The nice thing about that is she challenged them with some of the more interesting Christmas music. So we got to hear quite a few unusual and impressive songs during the show! Though our boy didn't have a solo, Diana swears that there were a few times that she could hear him individually. Afterward, all four of us got to heap praises on him, which he liked of course,

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My portrait

I've recently been doing a few different things online, making some changes. I left Twitter, for obvious reason, and instead made a profile on Bluesky. Along with a new profile, I figured I could use a new profile image. I asked my son, the resident artist, if he could make an image of me in his style. Here is what he came up with- and I love it! Is he way too generous with the hairline? Sure, but I'm willing to pretend its accurate...

Spooky Haunted House

Ledger has always loved Halloween. It's his favorite holiday, second only to getting all them gifts on Christmas! He's always loved the cute version of the holiday, pumpkins and cute ghosties and the like. Well, he's getting big enough to take it to the next level, I think. We've talked a bit over the past week or two about if he would be interested in going to a haunted house or something. He was pretty pumped about the idea, so I found one that may be a bit scary, but not too scary.

It would be to scary, of course, for Diana, so Ledge and I made plans to go to it just the two of us. It was a bit of a drive, going all the way up to Grand Rapids for this fright fest. I haven't really ever done the 'haunted house' thing before, so this was going to be a first-time experience for both of us!

We got tickets at the door and headed in. There were a couple waiting rooms that were decorated like a crypt, setting the right mood. We must have picked a pretty good night, because it wasn't too busy. Sure, there were a couple hundred people there, but we got to zip right through the first waiting area, so I'm sure it's a lot busier as it gets closer to Halloween. Ledger was getting a kick out of it, pointing out some of the details of the creepy decor. Eventually we made it to the front of the line. I double checked with him to make sure he was really up for it- don't want him getting too spooked, after all.

The whole thing was really cool! It was set up as six different themed areas, we made our way through the 'abandoned farmhouse' and then there was another small waiting area. After about five minutes we entered into a 'spooky psych ward'. Eventually we made our way through each of the six areas, one of them even had special glasses to make the black light effects even cooler! There were a bunch of scary parts and really well-designed traps and pathways. My only problem was that we were put with a group that must have been pretty scared, because they forced us to race through the different areas so we didn't get a chance to take it all in.  The coolest area was the black light dayglow 'Alice in twisted Wonderland' theme- it was really rad!

Finally we emerged from the haunted house and into the gift shop. The whole way home Ledge and I laughed and recounted the good scares and awesome costumes we saw. We will definitely be doing the haunted house thing again next year!

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