Iceberg

From 01/05/2012 (by Eye-Fi)

We're having an Epiphany party at our house tomorrow morning with a bunch of moms from my Catholic Moms group, so the kids and I went to Trader Joe's today after we got Gail from school to pick up some snack-type foods. I haven't been to the store with all three of them (or any of them, for that matter) in a long time, but the whole outing was a pleasant one. We got beautiful flowers, for one. I love the picks from Trader Joe's. The kids were all in good spirits... well-behaved... considerate... even helpful. And as we were nearing the last aisle, I spied a stuffed Emperor Penguin stuffed way back on one of the lower shelves. I pointed him out to the kids and said that some poor kid had probably put him back there while playing and was missing his buddy right now. I was glad Iris didn't mistake him for her own "Chick-Chick" penguin puppet that she got for Christmas. We walked him up to the front of the store, where I got a woman's attention and told her my suspicions about the lost friend. She had a spark of mischief in her eyes as I handed the penguin to her, and she told us to wait right there. She told the man sitting behind the little closed in office area, and he perked up, "Ah! Where did you find him?" I told him, and he commanded the woman, who had already gone to get a Trader Joe's reusable bag that was filled with something, "Give them a lot of treats!" Then he spoke to the kids, "You found Iceberg!" Jack had been holding a reusable bag of our own, and the woman asked if she should just put the treats in his bag. I said "sure," still not sure myself what was going on. It was all very bizarre. The kids were excited as heck, though, and now Jack has the idea that he's going to hide his animal friends and have our party guests find them tomorrow for "extra food." So, take heed, if you venture to the Bethel Park Trader Joe's, keep an eye out for a rather large stuffed penguin, and you too could be the recipient of a few fistfuls of organic fruit leathers and candy sticks.