He's Home!

Ruffles is Josh's VERY best friend.  Almost every day Josh has preschool, he chooses to take Ruffles for his sharing.  Pretty much Ruffles is getting a free education.

Ruffles has become the family pet.  Or I guess we could call him our mascot.  He's always around.  He even made it into the Santa picture last year.  We've all become attached to Ruffles.  And so he went on our vacation to Disneyland with us.

Unfortunately, he didn't make it home with us.  In fact, I'm not sure where he is right now.  We called the hotel, but they haven't seen him.  We called the car rental company, they haven't seen him either.  I can only hope that he is loved as much with a new family as he has been with us.

It's at times like this that you realize that you, as a parent, are just as attached to these little comfort creatures as your children.  I was heart broken the morning I realized he wasn't with us.  So we did what all good parents do...we went back to the beginning to see if we can recreate a new Ruffles.

Ruffles was made and adopted at Build-a-Bear several years ago.  Scott quickly got online and was able to locate him on their site.  He had another one ordered with express shipping, after all time was of the essence.  While talking with me on the phone to let me know he had found a new Ruffles, he realized that there's a Build-a-Bear in Sacramento.  Why pay express shipping when you can take a 20 minute drive and make one yourself.  

So he called the store to make sure that Ruffles was still sitting unstuffed in the bins.  They let him know that he was not.  He was no longer available in the store.  In fact, he is going to be discontinued on April 15th.  How sad, yet how lucky are we!  So Scott did what every good parent would do...he called the online site and asked to have a second Ruffles added to the order (just for back-up in case this happens again).  When the lady who answered the phone heard his story, she waived the shipping.

In the meantime, we told Josh that Ruffles had such a great time at Disneyland, that he hid in the hotel because he wanted to stay.  We told him that they were going to send him to us in the mail.

So Ruffles arrived yesterday.  I wish I would have recorded Josh as we opened the box.  It was priceless.  All I got was the photo above.  Luckily, Scott was on the phone and got to hear the reunion.  Josh was so excited.  He hugged the little guy so tight and said, "Ruffles, you came home!  I love you!"  He didn't even realize that this little Ruffles is a bit fuller than the real deal (because I always ask the people at the store to not fill them all the way so they'll be more squishy and cozy to love).  Josh doesn't care.  He's so happy to have his friend home with him again.

And we're happy too!