Every year we head up to Idaho to spend time with Darren's family at their cabin. This year was no exception. The only difference was we decided to go straight to the cabin first and spend time in Utah afterwards. Which meant that we drove a different path and got to drive through Jackson Hole, WY and see the Grand Tetons! I really love going that way because it is so beautiful. Here we are documenting our drive:) Colby was sleeping and it was not worth waking him up to include him in the picture!
Apparently it was our lucky day because we saw a herd of buffalo was grazing right off the highway. The kids loved it!
My kids got a hold of our ipod and ipad and took pictures to their hearts content (like a million). This happens to be one of my mine though.
We made it to Jackson Hole and decided to be tourists for a few hours. Darren was in heaven. Can you tell?
The girls and I preferred the amazing geods! Have you ever seen one so big? Seriously, I have a weakness for geods and have since I was young. Something about the sparkly inside I guess. If only I had an extra $1200 and room in the van, this baby would have come home with us;)
And some nice people we passed had a pet bird. Random. They took him around in a cage with them. They were nice enough to let the girls take a lookie.
There was one terrible incident that happened while we were traipsing around Jackson. We had all gone into one of the little shops and gone downstairs to a toy shop that had an area set up for kids to play in. They had a train set up and a kitchenette and some other things. Darren was sitting on the stairs watching the kids and I had gone to look at the toys to see if there was something we could pick up for Jace's birthday since we would be at the cabin on his birthday. I was gone for 10-15 minutes and when I got back everyone was gone except for Brooklyn. So I asked Brooklyn where everyone was. She gave me a blank stare, said "I don't know" and went back to playing. So I shrugged my shoulders and went back to searching the toys.
As I was headed around the corner I ran into Darren who had Colby. He had taken Abby to the bathroom (right down the hallway from where the toys were set up for kids) and was coming back. But he didn't have Jace. And he didn't know where Jace was. So I started searching through the toy store (which was jam-packed with toys and corners and dead ends) to find Jace. Couldn't find him. Headed back to Darren who still didn't know where Jace was and then upstairs. I looked and looked and looked through the store and he was nowhere.
At this point I was beginning to panic a bit. I had been searching for at least 10 minutes and hadn't seen him for longer than that. So I went back downstairs and told Darren that I had looked through the entire store 2-3 times and he was not there. Darren gave me Colby and went to search.
Meanwhile, Abby is still in the bathroom.
So I go make sure everything is fine with her so that we can all start looking for him and I'm 90% sure we are going to have to look outside. Which meant he could be anywhere. But then, I remind myself he could find his way back to the toys and what if no one is there. So I don't know what to do and am really starting to not be able to breathe when I decide to focus on Abby and her bathroom problems. And she was having problems. No toilet paper.
So I say, "Ok, Abby, just let me in and I have some Kleenex in my purse."
Abby: "Noooooo! I'm not getting up I haven't wiped yet!"
Me: "Abby, it's no big deal. You're not going to get messy. Just reach over unlock the door and sit back down."
Abby: "NO!"
Me:"Abby! Seriously! We have to go!!! Your brother is missing and we have to FIND HIM!"
Abby: "Mom. I Am Not Getting Up Without TOILET PAPER!"
Just so you know there was a line (of course there was. She'd been in there for 20 minutes). And they were listening.
So, I ran back out to find the teenage boy who was at the checkout counter and asked if it was possible to get some toilet paper. And to unlock the bathroom door. So I could get in and get on with the urgent matter of finding my lost son.
After we had that all taken care of we were going on 25-30 minutes of not seeing Jace. And I started rambling to the teenage boy asking if they had a "Missing Persons" protocol in place and who should I contact. He was no help but at this point lots of parents have overheard all of our conversations and are promising to keep and eye out and I am about to lose it.
I still haven't heard from Darren but I do have 3 of my kids so I decided it would be best if we waited upstairs until Darren got back and we could decide what to do next. We found some couches to sit on and that was when my phone rang and it was Darren telling me he had Jace. Relief flooded over me and I just sank down into the couch thanking Heavenly Father for keeping him safe.
Darren found him two blocks away from where the toy store was wandering around looking for our van. When Darren took Abby and Colby to the bathroom Jace didn't notice Brooklyn (playing right beside him) and thought everyone had left him. He wanted to make sure to get to the van before we drove off without him.So he headed out of the store and began walking. Luckily, there was a group of people (there were lots of people out walking around that day) that noticed Jace looking lost and grabbed him. They were just about to call the police when Darren showed up. When Darren left he picked a direction and just started running the streets hoping to cover as much ground as possible. Poor Jace was traumatized. He just burst into tears when he saw Darren. Needless to say, we had a good talk about what to do if you think your parents have abandoned you. And it didn't include walking outside of a store looking for your van.
