LOST and FOUND

At age 8, Colton was given the awesome opportunity to go on his THIRD snow ski trip with Grandpa & Mimi over Spring Break, 2009.  He and his cousin, Matthew, age 6 were loved and played with by their very generous grandparents.  Among skiing and all the hot cocoa they could ever dream of, Mimi & Grandpa braved a brand new activity in the Colorado mountains with their 2 young grandkids......

Dog Sledding!! 

The boys had a blast. I think Colton talked about that day more than anything else when he came home. And as a souvenir, they were given a stuffed wolf, just like the ones they ordered directions to on their sledding adventure.

Well....Colton took this newly beloved friend with him just about everywhere he could. He even named his wonderful new wolf pup after the lead dog of his sled, Risky. They were now officially pals, buds, best of friends!

Like I said, Colton took Risky EVERYWHERE with him where mom thought it would be okay.  So it seemed natural to bring a wolf to The Great Wolf Lodge, right? 

Neal had a good ole' time teasing him and cousin Sam about getting eaten by wolves there!  The boys had a blast running me up and down stairs, up and down, again and again on their magic quest treasure hunt.  Waterpark?  What waterpark??  Yah, that's pretty cool...but we can go up and down hotel stairs all day instead, mom!  Heck, if I knew that's all they wanted to do I would have just bought the silly wand and stayed at a cheaper hotel. 

I guess the waterpark was for me : )

(BTW - you can do that...just buy the wand and let your kids play the Magic Quest game w/o staying at the hotel or going to the park.)

They did enjoy the new outdoor waterslides and restaurants inside, though!

So, back to my original story....

Now that we have packed, come home from the fun themed hotel and unpacked our belongings, guess who we can't find for bedtime...

RISKY : (

It was very sad.  We thought for sure Colton simply left it at the hotel and forgot to pack him and his longer time friend, Rodeo - a gift from Nana and Pawpaw when we went to Colorado to visit cowboy Jason for his 30th birthday.  Oh no.  Two friends, lost all at once.

And now...5 months later

Who else would be the hero of this story but......

DADDY!!

As Neal began packing for a business trip to Oklahoma, he pulled out a suitcase which had 3 of Colton's favorite LOST buddies stuffed inside!

Just look at that SMILE!  He couldn't wipe it off his face for a whole hour.

What once was lost......now is FOUND!