The Note

Hanging out with friends in lovely Panama...

The gorgeous guest bedroom...(you can see the note propped up on bedside table)

So we arrived safely and happily in Panama without too much palaver.  Having scored bulkhead seats, the three hour flight was a relative breeze (discounting the fact that Dumpie was sat between me and a bleached blonde honey with a heaving bosom which must have undoubtedly proved a distraction for the Dumps who spent the trip alternately fluttering his eyelashes at her and repeatedly trying to plug his earphones into her seat jack.)

Our friend was waiting for us at the airport and despite having followed this blog, still willingly brought our shambolic crew back to his breathtakingly beautiful home.  Brave soul.  As we were tucking the boys into bed last night Egg chirped up, "I like this house...I wish we lived in a house like this."  (Umm...us too Egg!)

It is a beautiful home, and not only has it's own outdoor pool and lush garden, but has double height ceilings, is all glass and full of beautiful art and furnishings - with a lovely piano to boot.  I feel like I'm walking through the pages of Elle Decor or something.  If all that weren't enough, they also have two gorgeous singing birds in a gilded cage, two adorable four month old little black puppies, and two darling little boys aged three and five.

With a mixture of shock and delight we were, on our arrival, introduced to not one but three lovely nannies (one thoughtfully brought in especially to help with the monsters while we're here) and for most of yesterday the husband and I gratefully sat back and relaxed as Egg and Dumpie were fed, watered and taken off to the park for playtime and swimming while we got to dine in civilised fashion with our friends and sip lovely wine.  Ah, bliss...

Everything was perfect...too good to be true.  Until one of the nannies interrupted us mid-afternoon to ask if we knew where Egg was.  Um...no we didn't.

A giant search then ensued, with even the neighbours roped in to help us locate our missing child, once it had been ascertained that he was nowhere inside the house.  After some time I started to quietly panic, and everyone was dispatched to various places around the neighbourhood to search for our missing Egg.  The security guard at the entrance of the complex was alerted and our friend chose this time to mention how a crocodile was sighted a few weeks ago crawling around the area.  (Gulp.)

All three nannies were (understandably) upset, given that the nanny to child ratio of 3:4 should have made this occurrence rather unlikely, and they insisted I check our bedroom for the third time.  I was on my hands and knees, looking under the bed when one of the nannies pointed to a slightly ajar wardrobe door.  I raced over, threw open the door, and there in the dark, sitting scrunched up at the back, clutching Bacon the bear and playing his new Nintendo, sat Egg.  Urghhh.

The search party was called off, Egg was made to apologise to all and sundry, and it wasn't until later that the husband noticed the 'note' on our bedside table, written by Egg before he 'disappeared'.

It said,

"I am in a secret hiding place where you will never find me bye bye love from Eggie"

How right he was.

It was all there...in black and white