Jenna Bush Hager briefly lost one of her daughter’s friends at a waterpark while celebrating oldest daughter Mila’s 11th birthday party over the weekend.
“Mila and her friends had a blast, and it was wonderful –– until we lost one child,” Bush Hager lightheartedly told co-host Hoda Kotb on Monday’s episode of “Today with Hoda and Jenna.”
Bush Hager, 42, explained that she and her husband, Henry Hager, brought 15 girls to the American Dream mall and waterpark in East Rutherford, NJ, and tried to make everything run smoothly by incorporating the buddy system.
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“I thought, ‘You know what? I was a teacher. I took 24 kids on a subway in Washington DC, by myself. I got this.’ Well, turns out, I didn’t really have it,” Bush Hager said while laughing.
The former first daughter asked the 15 girls to stick with their partner until returning to a meeting spot, but nobody returned on time, and when they did, they were missing her middle daughter Poppy’s friend.
“I panicked, because the smallest among us –– Poppy’s little friend –– who’s the cutest, sweetest. Like, I wouldn’t choose which child to lose, but I would not wanna lose her! If I could save one child, she’s who I would — I mean my children too,” she said while laughing.
Bush Hager then had to go look for the “missing” friend and called the whole incident “horrible.”
“How do you think I acted? Absolute panic!” she admitted.
Bush Hager shared that she scolded Poppy, 8, for not following the buddy system after her friend didn’t want to go on a “scary ride” with her.
Thankfully, Bush Hager ended up “finally” finding her by a lion statue but had to search through a wave pool full of children before that.
“I realized –– I love Mila, happy birthday –– I am retiring from waterparks,” she declared, while later adding, “I am retiring from big parties. I’ve decided, nope! I’ve said, ‘You can have your cousin and a friend. You can do small things,’ [but] no more! Mama is done!”
Bush Hager has yet to share any photos from the birthday extravaganza, but she frequently talks about her children on “Today with Hoda and Jenna” and has occasionally brought them on the show with her.
Most recently, their youngest son, Hal Hager, 4, made his debut on the show’s fifth anniversary last week.
