Erin and I went to Dallas on Halloween with some friends. Tommy had a football game the next day so he stayed home. The trip was to go to Six Flags and spend the weekend riding rides.
We got there and the workers at Six Flags were dressed up for Halloween. All would have been fine but I totally blame Walking Dead for the scary costumes and make up. They scared even me! The kids didn’t like them at all and one of them got in Haley’s face and scared her to death. It almost ruined her trip!
My little daredevil did not disappoint. She was game for every ride and roller coaster and wanted to ride the big ones too. Thankfully she wasn’t tall enough to ride those yet! I would have been a nervous wreck if she had been. Most of the bigger rides she was tall enough if accompanied by an adult. I’m glad I am a rider too! Her Daddy would have been hurling.
After a fun day at the park, we went Trick or Treating in a fancy Dallas neighborhood. There probably wasn’t a house on that street for less than a million five! The kids wracked up the candy. Erin dressed as Mal. She’s a character from the Disney live action movie “The Descendents”. Mal is the lead and Malificent’s daughter - the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty. Mal doesn’t smile much until the end of the movie so when I would take E’s picture she would put on her Mal face. She refused to smile! It was hilarious.
All went well until 2:00 am. We were at the hotel sound asleep when the fire alarm went off. I sprung out of bed and opened the door to see the hallway full of smoke. I stayed calm and started throwing clothes on. Erin slept for a minute then finally woke up and came literally screaming out of the bedroom. I had to calm her down and explain what was happening without completely scaring her. We got her dressed and we headed down the fire escape. My heart was racing 100 miles an hour. Of course when we get outside, it’s raining.
Five fire trucks showed up and a couple of police cars. After about 30 minutes outside we were let back in. Someone in one of the rooms on our floor just down the hall had put a Hot Pocket in the microwave and caught it all on fire. It was put out, but so were we. The damage was done at 2:00 am. (Damn drunks!) We had to sit in the lobby for about another 45 minutes while the smoke cleared the hall. We finally got back to the room and it took Erin a while to settle down and go back to sleep. If I’m being honest, I was keyed up too.
Poor baby is still scared of the fire alarm and keeps telling me not to turn it on while she’s sleeping. I’ve promised her there will be no midnight fire drills. She was so distraught that the only thing she would tell Tommy about the trip was the fire alarm. She didn’t even talk about Six Flags and the rides!!!
We were back home and everything was back to normal then on Tuesday Tommy heard the school having a fire drill! It freaked her out again and now we really have a scared kid. Hopefully she’ll settle back down and we can go back to our normal bedtime rituals and not promises of no fire drills!
The moral of the story is tell your kids what a fire alarm in a hotel is all about BEFORE they go to sleep. I just know Erin is scarred forever by hotel fire alarms.
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