Field Trip to the Fire Station

Sounds great, right? Well, I should have titled this post "Things That Are Better In Theory Than In Reality With Two-year-old Twins."

I have been looking forward to this field trip for quite a while. I thought the boys would get a huge kick out of it, and well, what Mom wouldn't love hanging out with a bunch of firefighters for one morning. So, I told the boys yesterday where we were headed for the next day. They were pretty excited to go see "fighter-fighters," their word for firefighters. And as always, they were looking forward to sharing this experience with "Linus, Sadie, Miss Jen and Miss Jen's Toyota."

This morning did not start well, as it started much too early. But there they were, at 5:45, awake and ready to start the day. When I reminded them where we were going, Lucas said "No firestation; stay home." I should have heeded his warning, er, request. Nevertheless, we packed up and headed out.

Once we arrived, we excitedly identified the parked ambulances as Fords and waited outside for the fun to begin. Unfortunately, we don't wait very well. The boys began heading off into doorways, around buildings, up stairs, and one time towards traffic. Ethan had a time out within five minutes of our arrival. But then the firemen showed up and were great. They were very good with the kids and had firehats for everyone!




Ethan cried when handed his firehat by the friendly firefighter. But he recovered quickly and we began our tour.

Unfortunately, our tour began by leaving all the parked fire engines and heading to the firemen's living area. Lucas let us know in no uncertain terms that this was NOT a good way to start the tour. I did not learn anything about the day in the life of a fireman, as Lucas was yelling "No go upstairs; go outside; no like inside; no like kitchen; see trucks," throughout the tour. I felt for the kid, but I had to try to placate him while holding tightly to Ethan, who was itching to open closed doors or do someone's dishes.

We finally made it down to the trucks where Lucas got to sit in the driver's seat. There was a moment of peace and joy, which abruptly ended when he heard he had to get out and give Ethan a turn.


This was all just too much for my little guy. Luckily, we found an open ambulance that he could sit in while the other kids participated in some activity. But Lucas had to be extricated from there as well, since he insisted on pressing all the buttons on the console. If you hear about some poor person being ejected from the back of an ambulance in Solana Beach tonight, I will swear I know nothing about anyone pressing any buttons.






This would have been a total bust if not for Fireman Corey. O Fireman Corey, you will never know the ray of gorgeous, muscular sunshine you brought into my morning.




So, not our best morning. But we ended it at a park, where we had fun and enjoyed one of our favorite activities, lunching with the Mitchells.