Yesterday was a beautiful fall day. The weather was cool and crisp and the leaves are pretty and crunchy. We decided it would be a perfect day to spend at the Morton Arboretum. We were shocked when we arrived as the parking lot was full and people were swarming about everywhere! Without at doubt, it was the busiest day we’ve ever seen there. We had wanted to take the hour long tram ride around the entire grounds, looking at the beautiful fall foliage. Fortunately, the 12:00 ride had not quite sold out when we arrived.
After a nice lunch we hopped on the tram, Zak and Ellie sitting across from Zoe and myself. The kids were fabulous. Ellie played with her toys, admired herself in the window in front of her, and eventually snoozed in Zak’s arms. Zoe enjoyed looking at the trees and spent the majority of the trip in my arms.
About 45 minutes into the 60 minute ride Zoe tells me she has to go potty. I tell her she has to wait 15 more minutes so squeeze tight and here’s a snack. She ate the fruit leather, reminding me numerous times she had to go potty. 10 more minutes. I tried to distract her by pointing out the trees. Zoe starts to cry. 5 more minutes. She couldn’t hold it anymore. Poor munchkin peed her pants. She was sitting on my lap still. Both of our laps went from warm to cold as the breeze picked up. Zoe is still crying.
Zak notices pee dripping onto the floor of the tram onto the tote with our gloves, coats, and camera. Zak, while holding a sleeping Ellie, tries to move the bag out of the way. The camera falls out of the bag. The camera falls out of the tram. Read that again. The camera falls out of the moving tram.
I tell Zak to jump out and get it. He wisely decided that wasn’t smart, with the baby and moving tram and the long line of cars following us. Our camera has got to be flat at this point. Meanwhile, Zoe and my pants and legs are drenched and cold. Ellie is still sleeping.
We finally arrive at the tram stop. Zak tosses me Ellie and immediately takes off down the road for the camera. I am left with Ellie, who was just abruptly awakened, Zoe, who is wet, two bags jam packed with scarves, mittens, toys, snacks, diapers, but no camera, and a wet tram seat to clean up. Meanwhile there are at least a hundred (no exaggeration here) people waiting to board the next tram.
I finally gather all our stuff and the two kids and find a patch of grass to plop down on as we wait for Zak to come back. As I’m trying, very unsuccessfully, to cover my pants up, Zoe loudly announces, “Accidents happen and that’s ok.” All I have to say about that is thanks to the umpteen thousand viewings of Elmo’s Potty Time that have taken place in our house over the last year.
So then we spot Zak running back to us, wildly snapping photos of us! He found the camera! And it works! It’s a little banged up, but those are just warrior scars. In fact he got close to the spot it left the tram and a family approached him asking if he was searching for a camera. They had looked through the pictures and were looking for a family with a red-headed daughter and that looks like they enjoy omelets. (It was actualy potato soup pictures for the food blog they saw.)
What an adventure!
