Ashden is at it again!

Ashden is going to make my hair gray! The other day we went to the park. Ashden and Mayce had doctor's appointments but we had just enough time to go to the park and play for a while. It was such a nice day. We played at the park for a while and then Ashden noticed there was a little trail that went back into the woods. We decided to go for a hike. It was such a beautiful hike all the flowers are in bloom. There was a river that was going right a long side of the trail. It was very peaceful and the kids were having such a great time. After hiking for about 1/2 hour I decided we had better turn around because I didn't want to be late for the doctor. Ashden still having lots of energy complained and didn't want to turn around, but I insisted and told him we should race back to the park. Well with that being said I told him to stay where I could see him and off he went! I yelled for him the whole entire hike back but he never answered and I could never see him. I didn't panic yet because he has ran off so many times before, I just assumed I would see him back at the park. I hurried back to the park fully expecting him to be there waiting but sure enough he was no where to be found. I yelled and yelled for him but there was no response. I back tracked back into the woods calling for him but nothing. It had been about 5-7 min since I had seen him. So I thought well maybe he didn't see the park and kept going on the trail, because the trail kept going. I walked past the park and continued on the trail yelling and yelling but no awnser. After walking for about 5 min I thought he had to have seen the park, he wouldn't keep going. So I turned back around and ran into a lady and asked if she had seen a 5 year old boy. She said no, and began helping me look for him. By now it had been about 10-15 min. I now started to panic. Every thought entered my mind. Was he in the river, did some weirdo take him, is he hurt, where could he be! It's one thing to be lost, but lost in the woods just feaks me out! I continued to run up and down the trail yelling as loud as I could when a jogging man came out of no where. He asked if I was alright. I began to tell him I lost my boy it's been 15 min and I didn't know what to do. He immediately told me he was on the SWAT team and was calling in a missing person report and would have 3 policeman on seen with in 5-10 min. As I recounted the story to him and gave a brief description sure enough 3 policeman showed up with in 5 mins. Impressive hu! I had completely lost it by now and was sure Ashden was gone forever and I was never going to see him again. I then had a quick feeling to go check the park one more time. It had now been 30 min. The policeman were talking about which areas they were going to cover when I just ran back to the park at a full sprint. When I got there sure enough here comes Ashden sliding down the tube slide. "Hi mom, what took ya so long." Was his response. Then he could see how upset I was and that I was crying. He was so dumb founded on what had just happened. I explained to him the whole situation and told him he was in trouble for running from me but then wrapped him so tight in my arms I had a hard time letting go. Ashden continued to tell me he was just waiting for me in the tube slide. The police man came over after a couple min wondering where I went and was very glad to see Ashden there. It was a great lesson for Ashden, the police man talked to him and gave him a good scare. I had to do a lot of explaining in the car because Ashden was so confused. He kept saying mom I didn't get lost I was just waiting for you in the slide. He wasn't even intentionally hiding he was just patiently waiting in a place that seemed good to him. Well at the doctor we found out Ashden had an ear infection in his right ear and when he gets ear infections he can not hear at all! So that may have been why he could not hear me yelling for him. What a STINKER!