Drew and I worked hard (he worked harder) and got lunches packed and got to the zoo a bit after 9am.
The animals were all out, some napping, but who doesn't like to stare at a sleeping lion named Jonathon the Great?
The boys sitting in the tree, where I placed them, directly above the sign that said No Climbing the Tree. A little boy read the sign out loud. Oops. I hadn't noticed that bright red sign.
Drew, Sage and Kolby got to watch the elephant get a bath and eat. They thought that was really great. I stayed out of the way with the stroller and Levi. I was so excited to figure out how to nurse Levi in the Ergo! I'm so proud. When they came back from watching the elephant, Drew didn't know that I was nursing, he thought I had just put Levi in the Ergo.
Levi did so wonderfully in the stroller. He is usually not so chill in the stroller and wants to be held. I only had him in the Ergo when I nursed him and Drew carried him in the end when he was exhausted.
Enjoying our picnic lunch at the park.
While we were eating, we noticed 3 police officers on bikes riding around and a man and woman running around frantically. The woman was yelling "David!" As she trotted by, she said she was looking for David and Nathan, a 3 and 6 year old. I told her we'd keep our eyes out. I immediately welled up with tears and turned to Sage and Kolby and told them we were going to pray for those boys to be found. I'm sure my kids think I'm crazy with all the shaky voice crying I do, exactly like my mom. I told myself I wouldn't be like that. It drives me crazy. Anyway.
We went over again with Sage what he would do if he got separated from us. We tell him to find a mommy and that she will help him. We also told him he would be in charge of Bo and he needed to keep Bo with him. He assured us that he would pull Bo with him. I have no doubt that he would love to do that. And that they would cause a spectacle while Sage was pulling Bo. We also decided to buy a label maker and put my phone number on the back of their shirt. And when we got home I looked up safety tattoos. It scared us a lot to think of our boys lost.
Later, I saw the woman with her boys and went over to tell her we had prayed for them and I was so thankful that she found her boys. She told me that when they were at the zoo, she had told David (6) that if they got separated from her to find someone with a zoo patch on their shirt to help them. The boys had walked all the way back to the zoo from the park. She said the 6 year old, David was scared but the 3 year old was clueless. I wanted to cry again.
Isn't that sexy seeing a husband carrying the baby?! I love it.
So, how do you prepare your kids if they get lost? Any safety tattoos or labeller's out there?
i have a friend that matches everyones shirts on big adventures and puts her phone number in their pocket.
ReplyDelete1. LOVE the pic of Drew and Levi. Only a manly man can look sexy with a baby carrier.
ReplyDelete2. Don't you think they should come up with some sort of micro-chip with a GPS? It would be great for lost kids and when they are teenagers!!
Well, you are not alone, because I welled up with tears when I read your post. I "lost" Micah once for 30 seconds in an office building, but it seemed like an eternity and I was immediately filled with panic. I don't have any great advice since Micah is not at an age where I can tell him anything more than "no" that he will understand, but I think those safety tatoos sound great. I had never heard of them.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sick to think about that. Thank God she found her boys! I am all for safety tats, even though I've never heard of them before.
ReplyDeleteWhen our older kids were smaller, I'd dress them in very bright colors when we were going to crowded places---orange or yellow t-shirts, usually. They were very easy to spot on playgrounds or in crowds.
ReplyDeleteWe also tell them if they get lost to stay exactly where they are or to only talk to women with children. Never leave with anyone.
Remember the whole "hug a tree" campaign? You may not, as you are still possessing your youth...
Anytime we went anywhere (zoo, theme park, museum, etc.) the first thing my mom would do was find something, a big fountain, a statue, something prominent and tell me that that was our meeting place. If I realized that I lost my parents, I was supposed to go straight there and wait for them and they'd go there too. They also always told me to find a security guard or police officer.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Joey and I ran the "game room" last night at PNO. We had soccer, golf, and bean bag tosses. Sage was AMAZING!!! He kicked those soccer ball SO WELL and made them into the goals almost every time! We had to back him further and further away from the goals to make it harder for him and he still did great! Joey said he was really good at the golf and he had a really great arm with the bean bag toss (again having to move him back!). You may have a future little athlete on your hands!