While visiting the zoo the other day, my daughter, the Princess, decided to leave behind a memento. I should have known she was up to something when she walked quietly up to the fence around the flamingo exhibit. Next thing I know, people are pointing into the exhibit. I look in and see something pink floating in the pond. It takes me minute to realize that it is her nice pink fleece hat. I can’t believe it and try to remain calm. Princess, on the other hand, thought it was awesome and was extremely proud of herself.

This isn’t the first time she has done floating experiments involving pools of water in public places. On a recent trip to a fish hatchery, our princess had decided to do a test. She went into stealth mode, approached a nearby trout pond, and  threw her sock monkey in. My husband had to crawl under the gate surrounding the pond and retrieve it. Both of us were less than thrilled.

This time there was no way to get that hat without attracting unwanted attention. After tracking down a zoo employee, I found out that I had to report it to security. When I got to the security office, I nervously told the man behind the counter about the hat. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Fine me? Much to my relief that didn’t happen. The counter man just said ok, handed me a form to fill out, and said I would be notified when they fished it out. That was all there was to it and everyone there was very nice about it.

They called me later that day to tell me they had our very soggy, smelly hat, and that I can pick it up in lost and found. I was told that it was kind of gross but should be fine since it mostly had bird poop on it. Oh boy, I can’t wait to go pick it up and bring it home. Think it may be time for a new hat.