FIRESTATION

Today was Ms. Betsy's preschool's annual trip to the firestation. I was a driver for this event, which is something I love to do. It's fun to be a part of what my kids are doing, and I try to offer to attend as often as possible. This year, knowing that we'll have a baby almost a month from now, I probably won't have as many chances to tag along, bummer. When we drove up, the firefighters directed me to park in the handicapped spot - not sure why (other than the parking lot was packed full of cars and there wasn't really any other option), but I took it... I figured they told me to park there, we weren't going to be there long, there probably wouldn't be anyone else coming to the station, and I wasn't about to turn down a good parking spot. The kids were all lined up behind the pumper truck (large fire engine that pumps the water), meeting all the fire fighters at this station that were on duty, and then the guy assigned to do the presentation started. He was really funny and the kids seemed to love him. He went over what they do during the day, who is required to go on calls, how many people they usually take with them, where all the tools were etc.

After his presentation, the kids were able to get into the fire truck, see all the equipment, then a different firefighter put on all the gear and let the kids come feel how heavy their helmets are, etc. When the firefighter was in all his gear, he turned on the oxygen in his mask so that the kids could hear how it sounded, and then he invited the kids to come up and give him a high 5. Most of the kids were intimidated by him with the sound, the gear etc., but Ethan announced that he sounded just like Darth Vader, and he walked up and gave him a high 5. Note to self: Star Wars is beneficial when trying to teach kids to feel comfortable around search and rescue crews. ( :

Then the kids were able to walk through a fire fighter/ paramedic ambulance. They talked all about the machines they use when someone is hurt, how they check people's hearts in a trauma situation etc. I've been to my fair share of

Fire Stations, and have walked around a number of the trucks, but I've never seen them go through all the machines in such detail. It was great, and the kids loved it. Ethan used to be completely enchanted with fire trucks - so watching dvd's from the library, such as "Lots and Lots of Firetrucks" sure paid off when it came to his (and my) knowledge about the machines and their functions. Just for the record, those shows also taught all of us a number of catchy tunes, like "Dial 911, Emergency". Brynn even loved the field trip and stole the hearts of some of the fire fighters.

After we dropped the kids off at school, Brynn and I went to run some errands. We stopped to grab something at WalMart on our way back to get Ethan. While we were in the checkout, I kept seeing Brynn up on her tippy toes adding little treasures she wanted me to buy. I would remove them and put them back almost as fast as she put them up. The sucker in the photo was her last attempt. We didn't buy it, but I did get a picture to document just how funny it was.