summer adventures, part 1: fire station

I read on one of my Facebook groups that the Lynnwood Library was offering guided tours of the Lynnwood Fire Station in July. We've never been on a real fire station tour, so I thought the Wesley-buddy would get a kick out of it.

We first met at the library where they read fire station-esque books to the kids while we were waiting for people to arrive. They had a TON of books there, and we even chose one to check out:  "Rhinos Who Rescue."  A book literally about rhinoceros firefighters. Awesome. 

It was a little rainy that day, but we fared just fine walking from the library to the fire station (not too far, but I was hauling a baby and my ginormous diaper bag, so I broke a teensy sweat).

There, we met our tour guide, the Fire Chief. He showed us where the firefighters sleep and hang out when there isn't an emergency (big TV and Xbox, plus a huuuuge DVD collection), plus their offices. But the exciting part was getting to sit in both a fire truck and one of their ambulances.

The real-live firefighters were very helpful and so nice. I recognized the name of one of them, in fact, and it turns out he's the brother of a guy in my new ward. Funny!

That's him, below, with the suit on. There were two guys who had a race to see which one could get his suit on the fastest. They even put the masks on and talked to us, and that scared Wesley. 

I thought it was a fun trip. One of the interesting things I learned is that this particular fire station in Lynnwood is suuuuuper busy. We were there for about an hour and the Fire Chief commented that he was surprised they didn't get a call to leave. Lucky us! As we walked back to the library they DID get a call, and we saw the trucks take off. I also asked a brilliant question -- what do real firefighters think of firefighter movies? They said most of them are pretty bad -- Kurt Russell's Backdraft is AWFUL and I shouldn't believe any of it, but Ladder 49 with Joaquin Phoenix wasn't too bad, pretty close to real life. These are the types of questions I simply must ask.

We got hats and fake tattoos as party favors. In fact, Wesley's tattoo just washed off today. It  was on his arm for a least a week. His Sunbeams teachers must wonder what we teach at home. 

 

My cute little fireman-in-training had a great time! Laurel was happy in the baby carrier. I wish I had worn real shoes and not flip-flops. It was a fun thing to cross off the summer Bucket List.