Thursday, March 5, 2009

Lost and Found

Today it was a record breaking high of 85 degrees, so naturally we had to get outside and soak up some of that sunshine. I took the kids on a walk with some of my friends and their children. I had Charlie in my Maya Wrap and Marley in the stroller. We walked until the sun started to get low in the sky and then turned around. We discovered, once we got back to the car, that we had lost Marley's little brown bunny somewhere on our walk. My back was killing me, from having 12 pound Charlie strapped to me, and it was getting dark, so despite Marley's protests and tears I told her we couldn't go back. We had probably walked close to a mile on the trail and a mile back, who knows where it was.
Well my soft side got the best of me, when at that same time Steve called and said he was just getting off work. I asked him to go home and get some flashlights and meet us there for a night walk/bunny finding adventure. Reluctant at first he decided we should give it a try. He probably heard Marley crying in the background. Luckily I had both of the strollers so I didn't have to carry Charlie strapped to me that whole way again. When Steve arrived we headed out. Meantime a couple with a baby had been the last people to come from the trail and I asked them if they happened to see a bunny. They said they had, but they did not pick it up. I asked them how far back it was and they said "a ways back." As we took off on our night walk equiped with a flashlight, a head light (like a miner would wear), two kiddos in strollers and eyes peeled to the ground, we weren't quite sure where to look the paved sidewalk path or the grass along side the path. I knew exactly where we had turned around the first time, so I knew how far to look. By now the moon was high over head and the stars were bright. It was a lovely evening. We kept hitting patches of cool air and then warm air. It was the strangest thing. At one point we smelled a skunk, which made Steve very nervous, and he enclosed Charlie in the stroller/carseat just in case we were to be sprayed, Charlie would be spared. Marley, well I guess she would have to fend for herself.
We scanned the ground in front of us, the whole time Marley saying she really hopes we find her bunny. Things weren't looking good when we got to the point where we had turned around the first walk, there were no signs of little bunny. We knew it wasn't on the sidewalk because we would have seen it, so we decided to really check the grass around us on the way back. The farther we went the more I was convinced that either we missed it, or somebody had picked it up (it is very cute), or even maybe a dog or animal carried it off. Marley decided a bird must have carried it away. We were almost to the end of the trail, and I had convinced Marley that we would have to call Grandma Vicki and see if she happened to have another one of the small bunnies at her house in Georgia (that's where she had received the bunny.) If I remember correctly she didn't have any more of that bunny left in stock (she sold them at their bakery, and since Marley had hers the rest had probably been sold.) All of the sudden low and behold, on the opposite side of the path, at least a foot into the grass Steve spotted the little bunny. We were all so excited, it was really a fluke that we found it, because we hadn't really been looking over on that side all that much because I thought we had lost in on the way back.
Luck be a lady tonight, at least she was for us. Steve thought we should immediately go play the lottery, but we didn't. Marley kept saying she was so happy we found her bunny, and secretly I think I was more upset that we lost that bunny than she was, I've always thought it was adorable, kind of Velveteen Rabbit looking.
When we got home, I took Marley's photo with it, and then sprayed it down with Odoban which kills 99.999% of germs, just in case one of those nasty skunks or some other animal had carried it over into the grass. Because we were never in the grass during our walk, and Marley didn't remember dropping it, so I know she didn't throw it over there. But long story short, we lived happily ever after. The End.

2 comments:

  1. Where in Ga does "grandma" live? I am from Georgia.

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  2. Hey Megan!

    I am really glad that you are posting on this blog - a great way to see all the fab pics of the kiddos and hear what is going on with you guys. Congrats on all of your recent photo awards, you are really capturing some great stuff!

    I hope all is well in Topeka - sounds like everyone is healthy and happy!

    Hope to see you guys soon!

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