Fire Station Tour

Last week, Jackson and a few friends took a tour of our local fire station. It was on my list of field trips for the summer and it was super fun!

To start the tour, we watched a short cartoon.

And then we took a tour of the facility. We got to see the bedrooms, weight room, dining room, the TV area. Of course our kiddos were most amazed by the THREE refrigerators.

 

And then came the REALLY fun part—checking out the fire trucks! There are so many compartments on the truck and lots of big tools and gadgets! 

The kids got to climb up in the trucks

And practice driving!
 

They LOVED playing with the gadgets and levers! 

The got to explore the back of the ambulance too! 

Jackson was super excited to wear his fire helmet that day. But then he got to try on a real fire helmet! It was really heavy! And it had a flashlight—Jackson’s favorite part!

And right after we took this picture of the kids on the truck…

  

They got a call about a brush fire. So the kids got to watch the fire fighters suit up, load up, and take off!
 

And in case you didn’t notice the kids in the above pictures… this is what they looked like. The sirens were very loud.
  

The idea of touring a fire station came by a local cable guy who was very friendly about Jackson oohing-and-aahing over his work truck. {all you mothers of boys—you understand this!}. The man was a former fire fighter and he told me just to call and set up an appointment to go visit! That was almost 18 months ago. I was super nervous, but it was totally easy. I didn’t have to have a group {though we did go with a few friends} and I didn’t need a specific reason or anything. They were happy to do it… and apparently they do it often enough because they were total pros at letting the kids look/climb/talk. This would be a fun birthday party idea. {I read somewhere that October is Fire Safety month so it fills up quickly.}

Destination: Fire Station
Location: Local
Cost: Free!!
Pros: High interest!! It’s educational, introduces kids to the people who might need to help them, and a way to discuss fire safety.
Cons: There is always a possibility that the team may be called out during your scheduled appointment.
Time: We spent about an hour at the station.
Bring with you: camera!

Jackson still talks about going to the fire station. I’ve checked out several books about fire trucks/firemen/emergency vehicles from the library and so he’s really learning about how they can help people. I’m so glad we set this up! You should too!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

...We have a winner! 

Congratulations to:

 A Little McD said... I voted for ya!

This was a whole lot of fun for me. I got to meet so many new bloggy friends and I love being able to make someone super excited about winning! A friend even contacted me about doing a giveaway with stuff from her company so I am gonna chat with her soon about that and let you know. Can we say..."Yay, for free stuff" anyone?

This really is a blog about me and my family and I don't have any intentions on filling my space with reviews and giveaways all the time. Just a here and there kind of thing if it works out, so it won't take over the original purpose of my blog. Thanks everyone for participating!

Friday Night Flicks

I was running behind and didn't get to share about the tons of fun we had last Friday night! I will tell you all about it today and you'll know exactly what we'll be doing again tonight!

Friday night + July + Kansas City = Free Friday Night Flicks!!

I just love the summer movies at Crown Center and I'm so thankful for our friends Justin and Audrey who got us hooked. It's fun to get out of the house, hang out with friends, have a picnic, and lounge around until dark for the movie to start. 

But before the movie fun could start, we got their early to save our spots and enjoy some fun at Crown Center. We walked around a bit, picked up some dinner, and then headed over to the fountains to let Jackson have his fun playing in the water.

Jackson didn't care much for the fountains when they were taller than him, but he loved to go splash when they were small. At 7:00, the fountains put on a show that was choreographed to some music. That was neat to watch and Jackson loved to dance. Jackson colored on the sidewalk and had lots of fun walking up and down the stairs.

But then we settled down, got comfy in our chairs.
(I snuggled up in a blanket on the ground).

And we waited for the movie to start around 9:15ish
(after it gets dark).

Last week the movie was Pretty in Pink, a 1986 chick flick. I spent the entire movie trying to figure out why that one kid looked so familiar and was proud of myself when I figured out he was the guy from Two and a Half Men. When I mentioned it to Derek, he was like, "Uhm... yeah, they mentioned that before the movie, but you were still reading your book." Ugh...

Tonight's movie is Jurassic Park and we've recruited some more friends to go. The more the merrier! 

Deanna Rose Farmstead

Yesterday was opening day for Deanna Rose Farmstead. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and Elizabeth (Chacey's mom) had the day off work, so we loaded up the kids and headed out to visit the animals. This is some of the best, free fun to be had in Kansas City.

We found the chickens first

Stopped to play at the playground for a bit

Jackson walked right up to the calves and couldn't get enough...

...until he found the Mama cow and tried to climb in.

We paused to play on the tractor

Then we went to visit the baby goats. Jackson had to go make friends with every single goat in the pen. He literally waved "hi" to them all.

I don't know why this picture turned out so bright- but you can still see Jackson hugging two goats at once.

 

Chacey felt a little differently about the goats. So she decided to let Jackson pet the goat, while she petted Jackson. That works, right?

We visited some older goats next. It took a bit of convincing that the pellets were food for the goats- not for Jackson. But he got the hang of it.

We made our way to look at the bison, the long-horned steer, and the ducks. He just enjoyed taking in all the sights.

Lastly, we stop by the waterfall on our way out.

We all had so much fun.When we went last fall, Jackson was 10 months old and a little shy with the animals. This time, he had no problem walking up to pet the animals-- he was in little boy heaven. Seeing him having so much fun is my favorite part of being a mommy.