Their Hero (And Mine!)

Without a doubt, there is no man larger in the eyes of my children than Tyler. He is the unchallenged hero of their world. And on Monday, he took his heroism to even a higher level!

We had just finished a long, but really fun day at Playmobil Land and were heading out for home. Of course, you have to pass through the gift shop to get out of the park, so we let each of the kids pick a playmobil guy to take home. I told them they were not to open the guys until we got to the car. They were able to wait until we got TO the car, but then they were pulling the pieces out of the packages before their little rear ends even had time to drop onto the seat.

Suddenly there is panic in the back seat as Briggs realizes that the Dragon Warrior guy - that is supposed to be Sawyer's - has two left wings that attach to his back in stead of a left and right. "Run!" I say to Tyler. "Go switch it before they close and lock the doors!" Tyler hardly has time to protest since the kids immediately take up the cheer, "Run Dad! Run!" So Tyler - such a good sport - grabs the little plastic bag with guy and accessories and sprints from the parking garage back to the park entrance.

Since we had waited until the last possible minute to leave the park, and then stopped for potty breaks before the car trip home, the park is closed. However, much of the gift shop/exit building is glass, so Tyler goes to the window and starts tapping on the glass. There is a worker still inside. She comes close enough to the window to tell him they're closed and everything is locked. Tyler holds up the figure and tries to explain that there is a problem and he needs a new one. "I'm sorry. We are closed, " the worker tells him. "Come back tomorrow."

"I live three hours away," Tyler informs her through the glass. "I can't come back, I need you to trade it for a new one today!"

She is unmoved. "The money is all locked up."

"You don't need the register. Just switch the guy for me."

She tries another route, "The doors are all locked."

"Then how are you getting out?" He is undeterred.

She then points to the glass sliding doors that open inside of the park behind the locked five foot fence, surely thinking she has him there and is safe. And, most people I think would have accepted defeat here, but not Tyler! "Great!" he says. "I'll meet you there!"

"No, no! Sir?..."

But Tyler has already taken off. He climbs and jumps over the fence and dashes to the doors before she can escape. He makes it just ahead of her and the doors open. She tries to block him from entering with both arms up. She is not a small woman.

"I just need you to switch this guy for me. You can fix it in the register tomorrow. It's your mistake and I need you to make it right."

She protests some more, but can see he is not going to leave and is finally resigned to making the switch. Tyler thanks her, smiles, and jumps back over the fence, returning triumphantly to the car, winged Dragon Warrior in hand. I could have sworn he was moving in slow motion with some distant theme music playing.

It made it even more dramatic as we are still sitting in the parking garage and as the story is unfolding and the kids become certain that the worker had called the Poliezi and they are undoubtably racing down the street towards us, sirens blazing. "Let's get out of here," they're yelling. Adrenalin is rushing as they can't decide whether they are excited or scared to death that Tyler is going to be cuffed and dragged off to jail any moment.

Unfortunately, the parking ticket machine is not working and we are not sure that we aren't locked in. Tyler heads for the parking gate anyway. We'll see what happens when we get there. And maybe it was just because the park had closed, but the gate is up and we are able to make our escape - not only without having to pay for parking, but before the poliezi have time to get there and surround us. "And that," Tyler says. "Is why we pay our tithing!"

So it's a full day. We played hard, there were unparalleled feats of heroics, narrow escapes, and a Gospel lesson to boot. What lucky kids to have such a great dad! He even let us get McDonalds on the way home!