An escalating problem

Okay, remember I told you in a previous post that there was a bit of an "incident" that happened while I was buying The Elf on the Shelf book and that I would post about it later? Well, it's later.

Let me set the scene. It took place in a giant Barnes and Noble store at the San Tan Mall which is super close to our home. I took the girls there to let them look at books, and play and to secretly come home with an elf. We played, we read books, we rode the giant escalator up and back down, so I only had one last thing to do: Purchase The Elf on a Shelf. The girls new we were getting the book, but I could not let Cambry see that the elf actually came with the book because he was supposed to magically appear at our house from the North Pole, and being bought at a Barnes and Noble did not seem magical at all. The display for Elf on a Shelf was on a tall wall that at one time had been full of books and was now down to the last five on the bottom row. I noticed that you could get your elves with different traits like lighter or darker hair, different eye color, or different skin tones. I really wanted one with super dark hair and blue eyes because it reminded me of Drew, so I was on my knees trying to go through the boxes trying to secretly peek into them without the girls seeing that the elf was in the box. I told the girls to stand right by me. I thought we were in the perfect spot because the display wall was away from all of the other bookshelves so their would be no pulling-every-book-off-the-shelf game going on while my back was turned. Just the display with a nice place for the girls to stand right next to me blocked in by the escalator going up. Perfect. Until I hear the blood curdling scream. I looked next to me and Colbie was standing there just as I told her, but no Cambry. I followed the sound of the scream and looked up and saw Cambry dangling on the outside of the escalator!!!! No joke. She had grabbed onto the outside of the escalator and was too scared to let go so it carried her up. I don't know exactly how high she was but I had to reach up to get her, so she was over my head. The display wall was the only thing that stopped her from being taken all the way to the second floor!!! She was bashing her head on the display wall and screaming as the escalator rail was slipping through her hands. Scariest moment of my life? Maybe. I reached up and got her down, grabbed Colbie and ran out the store. Once outside I inspected every inch of her. She had a goose egg on her noggin, but that was all. Mostly, she was scared out of her mind. Me too. We got ourselves together enough to go back in and by the Elf on the Shelf and go. (We got a medium dark hair on with blue eyes, but that's okay - we all lived which was a bonus) Surprisingly, Cambry got back on the same escalator the next day with no fear. Granted, she was holding my hand riding on the inside which I imagine is much less scary than dangling from the outside.