Ding Dong Ditching

SO I know that posting about this is totally going to blow our cover- but it's just too hilarious not to post. First, let me preface by saying that b/c I live in a very spread out town- most of our friends (and even people we know) do not live within walking distance. The neighborhoods of my youth where you can run to ding dong ditch your friends or cute boys you liked are pretty much non-existant. I remember summers in Prescott with the Halterman's, running down the street to ding dong ditch the Crockett boys. And then waiting at the girls' window which overlooked the front door to see if they would ding dong ditch back- they did. (Sigh I also remember hide-and-go-seek-in-the-dark at Taylor Hicks, another neighborhood staple that my kids will probably never get to experience, but I digress.)
So when I came across this post- I knew I wanted to teach my kids, but I also knew that I had to be creative. SO I became the getaway driver and decided we would drive to a few places.

It's spring break this week and our original plan was to do it during the day. But we went and the first 3 houses we went to no one was home and let's face it: ding dong ditching is nooooo fun if there is no one home!

So tonight, when the kids' cousins came over to spend the night we decided to try again.

It went much better- and way funnier!
I'm pretty sure no one was home at the first house, cuz Zach was out in the yard for a long time. He actually rang twice and nothing. So, then we go to the next house and park a little ways away from the driveway. Jared is good friends with the guy who lives there so he decided to help Zach with this one. As soon as they get out of the car a dog barks like crazy and they both dive back in the car! Zach is yelling,

"Warewolf!"

And Jared is just shaking! It took a couple of minutes (maybe because I was laughing so hard) to convince them that there is no possible way the dog they heard was a warewolf, but once they calmed down Jared says,

"Mom, I'm not doing ding dong ditching! Ding dong ditching is way too scary!"

But Zach decided he was brave enough, so we parked away from the dog and tried again. Zach did pretty good- even hiding on the side of the house while the answered the door. Unfortunately, while he was gone I looked at the floor of the car and discovered that the spot they had dived back in the car was right on top of the pile of ding-dongs. So, I must apologize if your ding-dongs are alittle squished!
So then, we head to my nieces' house. They were so excited to do their own house! Talking all the way over there about how they were going to be sneaky and ask their parents about it tomorrow.


But once we got there, neither of them wanted to actually ding dong ditch! So, Zach volunteered again, and to my surprise, Jared decided he was brave enough to try again. So we park in a pretty good hiding spot ;) and I turn off the car. I got out of the car thinking this is a good spot to take pics. I hear running and snap a pic of Jared.


Then I wait a couple minutes till I hear more running and get ready to snap a pic of Zach, but I hear

"Stupid dog! Go away!"

and snap the pic just as Zach and Pepper (my SIL's dog) come running around the corner! It's tough to see in the pic, but Pepper is right behind him.


Well, I couldn't drive off cuz that dog would not have gone home. So I had to chase her till I caught her and bring her back up to the house and tell Andrea,

"Shhhh you didn't see us!"

It was pretty funny! Ahhhh the memories we make! The other couple stops were pretty uneventful, I'm pretty sure they weren't home. So when we got back to the house I let the kids eat the last box- they earned it!


Hopefully, they will remember their mom as a fun mom and have good memories of their childhood- they sure give me good memories! I love them so much:)