As the door of the van closed we turned and another younger sibling starting calling toward her "Eehh eehh". We went over to say hi and to get in line to get him from his classroom. "Eehh Eehh eeeehhh", the other little sibling was insistent on being eye to eye with her, so I took him I my arms so they could chat, eye to eye.
After giving him back and gathering him and his stuff we make it back to the van. After getting the kids loaded we head back to the house as always.
Once I realized not only did I not take the picture, that I left the phone we began to double back. On the return trip I scanned the opposing "gutter" for signs of the phone. Nothing but beer cans mostly.
We return to the parking lot and park in the same spot. No sign of the phone.
There were a collection of workers (tree trimmers clearing around power lines in the area) parked in the lot for lunch. We "knew" them as they have been parking there recently when I pick up from school both in the van and on the bike. Nothing phone wise was found around the parking lot.
We head into school to see if perhaps it had fallen and been returned ... Not the case. As we were turning to depart we were greeted at the door by the two tree trimmers; they saw me come in, and realized the images on the phone (kids and bikes) matched me.
They had been working on one of the corners on the van path to and from school. They saw the phone and picked it up on the way to lunch. So it had made it about two miles down the road.
Sadly, the fellow who found it was looking for his phone: a different model in a bright green case. Mine is a bright green phone in a rather strong grey case. Should I see his on a ride, I know where I find him.
