Jenna Bush Hager Temporarily 'Lost' a Kid at Daughter Mila’s 11th Birthday Bash: 'Retiring from Big Parties'
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The 'Today with Hoda & Jenna' host celebrated her older daughter's birthday this past weekend
Jenna Bush Hager had a chaotic weekend celebrating her daughter's birthday.
The mom of three, 42, shared a story about her older daughter Mila's 11th birthday party on Today with Hoda & Jenna on Monday, April 15, noting that the party got a little out of control when she realized she was missing a kid.
"We went to the American Dream Mall, which if any of y’all visit this area or live in this area, it’s quite an extravaganza. I don’t know why I felt like taking 15 girls to a waterpark and then a theme park," Bush Hager recalled.
"It’s all within a mall, for real. You can shop at the Gap and then go on a roller coaster. It’s crazy," Hoda Kotb, 59, added.
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"It’s strange. And then the water park is in a mall," Bush Hager continued. "And we were in the water park — I forgot my bathing suit. I 'forgot' my bathing suit. But Mila and her friends had a blast. And it was wonderful until we lost one child."
"That happens," Kotb consoled her friend.
"We had a partner system. I was a teacher, and the night before I was sort of thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ " Bush Hager said. "Even in New Orleans on our road to the airport, Laura was like, ‘Get matching rash guards.’ Which was smart, but they couldn’t come in time so I just let it go and thought, ‘I was a teacher. I took 24 kids on a subway in Washington, D.C. by myself. I got this.’"
"Well turns out, I really didn’t got it when it’s your own children who don't listen to you the way that your students did. I said, ‘Stay with your partner.' That’s the No. 1 rule. And the No. 2 rule is, ‘Be up here at 2:15.' Well nobody turned up at 2:15," Bush Hager continued, noting that Poppy's smallest friend ended up being lost.
Kotb then asked Bush Hager how she handled it.
"How do you think I handled it? Absolute panic. ‘Poppy, there was a buddy system for a reason!’ ‘Well, she didn’t want to go on the scary ride.’ And I said, ‘We never leave people behind,' " Bush Hager explained.
"Finally, I found her, waiting by the lion from some movie. And Poppy did mention, ‘She might be waiting for me by the lion.’ But I said, ‘That should have been the headline!’ Because she thought she was in the wave pool, so I was looking for one child in the wave pool."
In conclusion, Bush Hager said she is "done" with water parks.
"I am retiring from Water Parks — even though the America Dream Mall, if I go to any, that’s the one I’d go to do. I am retiring from big parties. I said, ’No,' " she added.
"Keep it tight," Kotb said.
"I said, ‘You can have your cousin and your friend.’ You can do small things. No more,' " Bush Hager said. "Mamma is done. In fact, I think we need to make a ‘Mamma Is Done List’ of things we are never doing again. Big parties — Mamma is done!"
Bush Hager shares her daughters Mila and Poppy, 8, as well as son Hal, 4½, with husband Henry Hager.
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