Fire Station Field Trip

(we now interrupt this vacation recap to fill you on the rest of life...I will post pics of the ocean when I feel like reminiscing during the cold snap about to hit ;)

On the Tuesday after we got back from vacation Mimi's preschool class had a field trip to the fire station. I was so glad when I heard that siblings could come. It was a WARM beautiful fall day, and Longmont's charm was full force. We walked to the station, crunching through leaves (with the stroller moms bringing up the rear). I just kept noticing how old Mimi seemed. I barely talked to her the whole time because she was with her friends. I was so proud of how independent she was. And when she walked into her classroom for the first time in a couple of weeks, I heard a voice call out in excitement, "MIMI'S HERE! MIMI'S BACK!!!" It was so sweet. 

The kids sat through a pretty long presentation. I was so impressed. At the end, I was the one getting antsy for it to be over! (Maybe due to my growling stomach and tired arms from trying to contain Bode!)

 Then it was time for each kid to get their turn in the fire truck. Mimi was apprehensive at first, but came around.

Bode was SO into the truck. The only way I could keep him from pushing random buttons in the garage and crashing the presentation was to let him touch the back of the fire truck. We'd touch the lights and yell out the color over and over and over...

When it was time for the kids to get in the truck, Bode just yelled from my arms "DAT DAT DAT" and pointing to the seat. He wasn't going to leave without a turn. I waited until the last preschooler had gone and then sheepishly asked if he could have a turn. The sweet fire fighter said sure and lifted him up there. (He also assured me that he could catch him before he scurried away in the truck AND had a good reach to prevent him from driving away...phew!)

Bode was BEAMING.

He was just so purely happy. I don't think I've ever seen that "pure joy" expression from him like that before. It was adorable. I couldn't help but giggle. Of course he didn't want to get down (so I took him back to the lights on the truck), but he wiggled away from me. And luring me into a false sense of security, he just aimlessly walked around for a second. UNTIL, he walked past the girl fire fighter, looked up at her face and kept walking until he found the man who'd put him in the big red truck. Without hesitating he walked up to him, smiled and held up his hands for him to pick him up. FUNNIEST THING EVER. He's never done that to a stranger before. I loved seeing his brain work-he knew who to find. The sweet man AGAIN hoisted our boy into the truck and everyone around us laughed. It was quite the story. 

On our way out one of the fire fighters said, "I have a feeling we'll be seeing you around here again sometime." :)

And now we know that Bode likes fire trucks.

xoxo

Thanks big sissy for letting us tag along on your field trip!