Losing Elizabeth

So we took a trip to Gilroy Gardens yesterday, which was the predicted hoot for the kids. But during lunch we had a nice ~5 minute scare when we couldn't find Elizabeth. We were in the big food courtyard, and the kids were all lingering and goofing off around the table, and then Eli was gone.

When I'm in public with the kids I'm constantly doing little audits to make sure I have them all, and it was during one of these that I came up short and said, "Where's Elizabeth." We were with Susan and Roy and their kids, and Roy had taken off with one of them, but Eli was nowhere to be found.

I did not panic, but got Rachel looking in one direction while I looked in the other, and Susan watched the other kids. I checked in the restaurant, and around all the outdoor seats, and stood scanning the crowd. It was lunch in the main eating area of the park, so it was chaos, but I could see everything across the courtyard, and she just want' there.

Down a few steps was the main walkway for the park, and I went on a quick tour of that, and no sign of here. At this point I am fighting off panic, remaining focused and analytical. I checked the men's bathroom, and back in the restaurant, and scanned the crowd some more.

Just as I'm beginning to think about how and when to contact park security, I came around the corner and saw Elizabeth sitting in the big stroller that Roy and Susan had rented for the day. She was grinning at me happily, amused with some game she was playing by herself. I'm sorry to say that I cussed her out and scared her to tears, and then I held her in my arms for the next several minutes. If I'd kept my head, I could have left her in the stroller, finished my lunch, and she'd have been none the wiser, but I was probably happier to have her on my lap, crying as she was.

It's the classic parent horror story, and I can now attest that it's horrible.