Makeshift Story: Lost

Does it get any better than a yarn bombing exhibit and free ice cream?

I have some fun summery pictures for you this week, to go with the (mostly) fun, summery times that we had. But first, I thought I should share a story that falls more into the "terrifying" category than the "fun times" photos that follow.

So. It was Friday. The kids and I were stoked for what promised to be a pretty spectacular day at Heritage Museums & Gardens - a bit of a drive, but a favourite spot to spend a morning (or a day, if you don't have nappers). What's more, the weather was gorgeous, and we were meeting three other families there with whom we love spending time. All signs pointed to awesome.

Map of Heritage Museums and Gardens

As you can see from the map, the grounds are extensive, and have any number of pretty amazing features to visit. Right now, they have a giant bug exhibit, where you find truly ginormous ants and spiders and other such things displayed at various different areas throughout the gardens and grounds.

The kids stumbled across a spider in a web

As a kid, however, the highlight is truly "Hidden Hollow" (the green area in the upper right hand corner of the map). It is a hike to get there from the parking lot, but absolutely worth the price of admission, all on its own. It is this HUGE outdoor area with countless different whimsical play areas, and a massive treehouse overlooking it all. It is magical.

Linden poses on a stump on our long hike to Hidden Hollow

So naturally, though we spent a nice amount of time poking around different trails and paths to get there, Hidden Hollow was the main attraction. It was a zoo - completely crawling with kids and families, but with 5 adults between all of our kids, I was not worried about where my kids were most of the time. Correction - I was not worried about where Juniper was at any given time. Linden was being particularly difficult that day - going out of his way to be defiant and just generally unpleasant. So I mostly stuck very close to him to make sure he wasn't throwing marimba mallets at unsuspecting kids or purposely sabotaging someone's painstakingly built lean-to.

Anyway, the kids played there very happily for a good couple of hours, and had managed to stuff some lunch in their mouths, and visit most of the different areas. Juniper wanted to check out the tree house, so I let her do that with the intention of packing things up when she emerged at the bottom. When she got to the top, I waved and yelled, "Hi, Juniper!", then turned to extricate Linden from a squabble that was starting to erupt between him and some not-very-nice older girls who were in the middle of saying "go away little boy!" (this particular altercation, for the record, was actually not his fault).

Finally, I managed to get everything packed up, strapped Linden into the stroller, and turned to wrangle Juniper from wherever she was playing. "Juniper!" I yelled. No response. Stroller in tow, I started systematically poking around all the corners and all the different play areas, asking the kids who were with us if they knew where she was. I did the loop about three times before I started to get a little panicky. She wasn't in the tree house, she wasn't in any of the different stations, and no one had seen her in a little while. Hidden Hollow is big, but contained, and by all accounts she had vanished. I left Linden and the stroller with a friend, and started running. I left Hidden Hollow shouting her name, everyone else doing the same. I did a large loop around the perimeter - nothing.

By the time I got back down, I was in tears, and the woman in charge of Hidden Hollow asked if I wanted her to contact security. Yes, of course I did. She was very reassuring, telling me how the security guards there are amazingly good at their job, and that they would find her in no time, but by that point I couldn't even give a description of her clothes without sobbing. Somehow, in a relatively short amount of time, there was a man in uniform, with a walkie-talkie, asking me "what's her name, again?"

"Juniper", I managed to tell him.

He nodded. "We've got her - she's at the gift shop".

"Oh my god, THANK YOU", I managed to sob, and took off at a run.

The way back seemed to take FOREVER. If you look at the map, it is actually a pretty good distance between Hidden Hollow (top right), and the Main Gate (bottom left), which is where the admin buildings and the parking lot are.

As it turns out, Juniper had made it back to that area ALL BY HERSELF. Two kindly old ladies found her just before she reached the admin buildings, and took her to the gift shop to wait. This still completely boggles my mind. It is not a straight or intuitive path to get from one to the other, and we had meandered and poked along different paths on our way there. That she didn't just get completely lost along the way is kind of a miracle.

Apparently, when I was waving and saying "hi" when she was in the treehouse, Juniper thought I was waving good-bye. When she got to the bottom, and didn't immediately see me, she just assumed that I had already left, and decided the best course of action was to make her way back to the car and meet me there. We had a good long talk about that, and what she should do next time if she was in the same situation.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I was that terrified. I would just break into tears throughout the rest of that day whenever I thought about it. But all ended as well as it could have, and hopefully (at the very least), it was a good lesson.

BIG BREATH.

So that is my long, terrifying story. The rest of the week was pretty grand, and ended in a spectacular Sunday, where (among other things) Juniper and I went to a celebration at Highfield Hall and Gardens. Free ice cream, lots of great activities, a yarn bombing exhibit, and the opening of a fabulous installation put on by some wonderful local potter friends of ours, called Collaborations in Clay (see here). I actually really wish I'd gotten a picture of that, because it is put on by Kim and Hollis, both of whom I feel lucky to have met through my pottery journey here, but (more to the point) Juniper truly considers them both dear and bosom friends. I will make sure to snap a photo next time around.

And... here are those photos I promised. Have a great week!