Yet Another Fire Station Visit

Our city had a special "visit the firehouse" kind of day recently.   The places were CLEAN (nice going, fireguys and gals) and they had all sorts of vehicles and equipment on display. 

Look closely below, and you'll see a junior firefighter driving the truck.

We had a "tour guide" for a little bit- first a volunteer and then a fireman nicknamed Scout.  But after the usual tour, with our boy still enthralled and interested, they just sorta let us roam around a bit (!).

Which is how Kaden figured out the built in truck steps on engine 9 below, and started climbing.  He was a little miffed we wouldn't let him go on the top of the engine.

They also had these awesome ATV type vehicles. Kaden jumped in, flipped the key and a switch and wa-la: lights and sirens went off. All in less than 20 seconds. No, I'm not kidding.   In another rescue pickup truck, he actually called someone on the CB- which Scout deftly turned into a siren test call (they were expecting those all day).

I think the firefolk were pretty lenient with him because he was decked out in full fireman gear. He had a fire truck shirt on (thanks Grandma), a firefighter jacket (thanks, Annette) and fireman boots (thanks Nana).  The volunteers and firefighters kept saying things like, "oh, he's ready to go if we get called" and "hey, we've got a new recruit"  

Kaden seemed to like spraying the water hose the best.  He did it three different times.  The first time, the Chief had visited and was driving away-- Scout and Kaden adjusted the water and hit the Chief's truck.  Niiiice.   The second time, Scout showed him how to change the water spray from a stream to a fan.  The third time, Kaden had picked up the hose and turned it on  before Scout was near him.  Basically, the firefighter was just holding the hose while Kaden worked the water.  Seriously.

Later, when we colored a page for a thank you, I asked Kaden what were we thanking them for (thank you fireguys for letting me in your house) and what he liked best (spraying the Chief's truck.  And driving the truck.).    Good times.