Fire Station

We went on a tour of a fire station this morning. Our homeschool support group set up a tour for the "birth - 6 year old" group, which we fit in quite nicely. All my kids seem to love fire trucks, shouting whenever they see one while we're in the car, so I figured this would be a good field trip to attend. The firemen showed us their trucks and the things they carry (jaws of life, hoses, axes, etc.), and let the kids climb through the front of the truck (and the moms too, if they wanted). They showed us all the gear they wear, talked about safety, and showed us inside the building (offices mostly). They then showed a video with a silly fire dog and robot, but with little safety tips added in throughout the videos.

My son was thrilled, and kept pointing at everything and naming them ("Firetruck! Firetruck!"). He wanted to touch and climb on everything, of course, so I ended up holding him probably half the time. He was better than I expected - at least he didn't continually run off and escape me.

My oldest daughter was interested, but stuck close to me most of the time. She enjoyed climbing through the truck. She made some friends as soon as we arrived too, handing out hugs left and right.

My youngest daughter was really fascinated and paid extremely close attention to everything the firemen said. She often walked off ahead of me, following the firemen whenever they said, "Come this way." She just had a lesson on a fire station yesterday, so this was really good timing for her. I was surprised just how attentive she was, though, especially for a 3-year-old. She could probably relate to me everything they said!

All 3 kids watched the video raptly, though Ryan did squirm a bit near the end. They all got a bag of goodies and a plastic fireman hat, which all 3 refused to wear until we got home. Then the 2 younger ones put them on and marched around the house playing fireman. And of course, during lunch we had to watch our own fireman video, which is one of their favorites. All in all, a successful field trip!