Beloved Teddy Bear is Reunited with Family after Fun Airport Adventure
TORONTO, Cn. - Traveling with young children can be tough. Add in to the mix misplacing a little girls favorite teddy bear while racing from terminal to terminal at the airport and you've got an emotional disaster of epic proportions.
"She pretty much had a break down on the plane. She was really tired and so it was a bit of a rough flight," Jen Steel is talking about her four year old daughter Phoebe.
Jen, her husband, Phoebe and Phoebe's younger brother were on a layover at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The group was traveling back to Saskatoon, Canada from a trip to the UK. They had quite a rough time at the airport . They had missed a flight, been delayed and then had to race to their plane. In the process, little RaRa, Phoebe's Teddy bear went missing.
"I think we probably lost him near the departure gate," claimed Jen.
But it wasn't noticed until the family had already boarded their plane for home, hence the meltdown. Fortunately, this beary bad day has a happy ending. Steel called the airport and after a little searching RaRa was found! That was on September 16.
However it would be a few days before this beloved bear could be flown back to Phoebe. So the airport decided to make sure the bears pint sized owner knew RaRa was not just stuck in a drawer in lost in found, but on a very big adventure instead.
Over the next few days RaRa was spotted venturing through security, traveling down the moving sidewalk, cheering for the Toronto Blue Jays, hanging out with some other stuffed animal friends at the gift shop and even found a new companion to travel back to Saskatoon with!
"There was a mishap with the shipping company so the airport decided to overnight RaRa to us and he arrived on Friday, September 25."
In the package was a second Teddy bear friend, dressed in an airport T-shirt.
"Phoebe was ecstatic. RaRa didn't have to travel alone. She promptly named him Pearson after the airport," said Steel.
And perhaps we should explain why Phoebe is so attached to the beat up little bear in the first place. The four year old has had RaRa since she was in the womb. Her parents got RaRa and a second bear as a baby shower gift. They admitted they lost the first bear when Phoebe was a week old, but this one "It's all she's ever known is that little bear. That's why it was so important to get it back," claimed the mom. "The past few days she has been much more attached to RaRa and not wanted to put him down. She's carried him around a lot more than usual."
And at the end of the day there's few things better than seeing a huge smile on a little girls face as she's reunited with her favorite toy. Good job Toronto!