Grandpa takes Peppa Pig on a vacation adventure for his granddaughter
When his 5-year-old granddaughter secretly hid four Peppa Pig figurines in her suitcase, David Zielke did what only the most passionate grandfather would have done: take the piglets on a big adventure in Mexico, film it all to take it home for the little girl. .
The Sacramento, Calif. grandpa first filmed Peppa, George, Mom and Daddy Pig at the pool at his resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Soon he was filming them on a whale-watching excursion, then a tequila tasting and several fancy dinners.
Zielke’s simple act of love has now gone viral. Zielke’s own daughter, Tanya Marie Zielke, was so tickled by her dad’s little project that she started filming him filming the Pig family.
She posted the video on TikTok and it had over 14 million views as of Friday.
A pig surprise
Zielke’s 5-year-old granddaughter, Lisette, had to slip her Peppa Pig dolls into her grandfather’s suitcase the day before he left with his wife and another family for Cabo for a wedding.
Zielke, 64, said he didn’t know they were in his bag when he closed it the morning of the flight, but he quickly found them later that night in the vacation rental of the family.
“I open my suitcase and I unload stuff and I look at my wife and I say, ‘Look at this, the little stinker put her little Peppa Pig toys in our suitcase,’ Zielke told USA TODAY. “So I think “That’s awesome. I’m just going to take these guys everywhere with me.
Zielke knew how discouraged Lisette had wanted to make the trip. He figured showing her the video of his toys on vacation would cheer him up when he got home.
“I was like, ‘This is going to be fun, I’m really going to get into it,'” he said. “I did almost 40 video segments. I took them everywhere, to the fancy restaurants we went to, by the pool, by the beach, on the boat when we went whale watching.”
He said he got a few funny looks, but locals and tourists were thrilled when they found out what he was up to.
“Even in Cabo, people know Peppa Pig, so they were all like, ‘Oh, Peppa!'” he said.
Go Viral
Zielke’s daughter, Tanya Marie Zielke, is a 29-year-old TikTok creator with nearly a million followers.
When she saw her dad filming the toys by the pool, she took a short video and shared it on Instagram.
“I initially went to my Instagram stories to say, ‘Oh my god, do you want to see the cutest thing? Look what my dad is doing, it’s super cute,'” Tanya Marie Zielke told USA TODAY .
She said she was a little surprised at the immediate and enthusiastic response.
“People were like, ‘Keep us posted on where Peppa Pig is going!’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, people are really into it,'” she said.
Once she had a longer video on TikTok, the replies showed she touched a nerve.
“CRYING,” wrote one user. Another commented that her father “is such a treasure”.
“The purity and wholesomeness of it all, OMG,” said another.
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A lesson
Although he is not a social media influencer himself, Zielke said he thinks he knows why the video ended up getting so much attention.
“It’s just joy,” he said. “I think the video shows the playful joy of me as a grandpa having fun with it and being like a kid.”
Her daughter, who has a background in the news industry, said she thinks people are eager to read stories that make them smile when so much of the news shows the violence and tragedy in the world.
“Things like that, they warm your heart,” she said.
Although Tanya Marie Zielke is a creator who has gone viral before, this is totally new to her father, a 32-year-old high school math teacher who has never posted from TikTok himself.
“It was a unique experience because we kind of do our work anonymously,” he said, adding that his students knew he was famous on TikTok within 48 hours of posting the video. .
“They were like, ‘Oh, you’re a celebrity,’ and I’m just like, ‘Oh great, OK,'” he said.
But the whole experience only validated her belief that “life is a gift” and her own father’s last words to her before his death.
“Be kind to each other,” he said. “Try to be a source of light in our world.”
USA Today
