On Saturday, we stopped at South Coast Plaza for lunch. We were originally planning on going to the Rainforest Cafe where the kids have eaten before (it’s often rated highly among kid-friendly restaurants), but we were given a table near the gorillas, and before we were even seated, Eleanor decided the place was too scary. We ended up at the Claim Jumper where the kids enjoyed some pasta and quesadillas.
Afterward, we rode the merry-go-round and then went on to Agnes’ parents’ house so the kids could take a nap. After the nap, we went to Heritage Park in Irvine, where we saw a concert the Pacific Symphony was holding. We went back home again, and while we were convincing the kids to take a bath, Eleanor asked “where’s my froggie?”
We didn’t know. The last we remembered, I had asked Eleanor not to put her frog stuffed animal in the food at the Claim Jumper, but we weren’t sure if we had it later. I called the Claim Jumper, and they said that no one had turned it in.
Later in the evening, I unloaded the pictures from our camera, and found this one.
I had taken the picture after I put our leftovers from Claim Jumper in the car, and ran to meet Agnes and the kids at the merry-go-round. They were walking on the upper level. You’ll notice that Eleanor isn’t holding her frog–that’s a drink in her arm. I checked Agnes’ backpack and didn’t find it there.
That night, I went online and searched for a replacement frog. A friend of our had bought it from Old Navy in March of 2006, and I just couldn’t find it. The Old Navy site was down for maintenance, the Google cache of the site didn’t show anything promising. Ebay showed only frog outfits from Old Navy. I even looked through thirty-three pages of listings at Dirty Butter Plush Animal Shoppe (a place to look for rare replacement stuffed animals), but didn’t find the frog listed.
On Sunday afternoon, while the kids were napping, I called the Claim Jumper again, and this time, they confirmed that they had it! As we were returning home from visiting my parents, we took a detour back to the mall, where I went in and retrieved the frog. Here it is:
Eleanor hadn’t really complained that we didn’t know where her frog was, but I’m glad we recovered it anyway.