Field Trip Day

Posted on January 7, 2009. Filed under: Homeschool | Tags: EDITH, field trip, fire station, firehouse |

Today was the day that the boys have been anticipating for weeks: field trip to the fire station. And what good mother wouldn’t take her camera with her when he son is completely obsessed with fire trucks? Um, yep, this one. Did not even cross my mind. No camera, no phone, nada. So you’ll just have to imagine the experience.

Let me set the stage for you: cold, dreary day in the middle of winter in North Carolina. Weatherman is predicting up to four inches of rain, couldn’t be snow, it’s too warm for that. Three little boys with no jackets because they can’t seem to be found anywhere, oh, you left them in the car again, thank goodness! Then it’s on to the missing shoes. Finally get shoes on two boys, Gio cannot find shoes anywhere so he wears his flipflops, yes 40 degree weather and he’s wearing a short-sleeved polo and flipflops. Wish I had a picture of that one. What a surprise when I tucked him into bed tonight and found his shoes neatly hanging in the shoe rack in his closet. Who would have ever thought to look there. Anyway, I digress….

Okay, everyone. Clothes: check; Shoes: close enough; Coats: think so. Time: oh shoot the timer went off I didn’t hear it. We’re late guys. Hop in the van or we’re going to miss it. Um, what’s that smell. Now? I just changed you. Okay, guys, hold up a minute. I’ve gotta change Jake again. Walk to the stairs, housekeeper is literally in the middle of the stairs mopping them. No way are we going to make it up the hardwood stairs safely to get a diaper change. Just go with it. Not too bad of a smell. Let’s head out. Make it all the way to the fire station. Everyone is still in the parking lot as we pull in. Whew! We made it. They wave and walk off. Um, hello, wait for us please. You said 9:50 and it’s only 9:49. I’ve still got one minute. Guess we didn’t synchronize our watches today. Quickly park the car and get the boys up to the firehouse in the increasing rain. Everyone makes it safely inside.

Time for the tour? Nope, time for the safety lesson. We get to watch a cartoon about EDITH. It was actually really educational and reinforced a point that I’ve been wanting to work on. Yeah, another project for homeschool. I think I’ll use it for my art lesson tomorrow. DJ is getting really bored with the movie at this point and really wants to see the fire truck and the pole, but he holds it together the best that he can. He did manage to get a chuckle out of the fireman a couple of time with his enthusiasm. Let’s just say that “rhetorical question” has not come up in homeschool yet, and he’s an eager student.

Finally, the magic words are spoken, “Does anyone want to go see the firetrucks?” DJ was thrilled and Gio crawled under the table. Fortunately, peer pressure won out and Gio came out from under the table with very little coaxing. The firefighters were great. They explained what a few of the different buttons and levers did, then they let each of the children walk through the fire truck.  DJ was proud to be the first one to go through, and Jake followed soon after. Then as the other children were climbing through, DJ went over to the two other firefighters and started asking about each button and lever, wanting to know what they did and how to make them work. Some other parents got a picture of all the kids in front of the firetruck. If I can get a copy, I’ll try to post it here later.

Then the fireman finally went down the pole. DJ was really hoping that he could go down pole as well, but children were not allowed for saftey reasons. He did however notice something that none of the other children noticed, or at least were not brave enough to ask. There was a “trap door” on the pole. I had never seen anything like it and was curious as well. The fireman explained that it was for safety reasons. Many children come through the fire house for tours. During one of the tours, a boy got too close to the pole and fell down. Now they have the trap door on there to prevent accidents. It requires at least 45 pounds of pressure before it will open. He demonstrated by pulling on the pole, then allowed all the children to take turns pulling the pole to see if they could open it. My determined little 38 pound monkey went right up there and yanked with all his might and pulled it open at which point the firement told him that he was welcome to come upstairs and fill out an application to join the force.

On the way home, we had probably the most beautiful moment of the trip. Gio, who will seldom admit to having a good time even if he is laughing so hard he cannot breath, quietly told me that he had a really good time and that he was glad he came on the trip today. As much as I loved watching DJ’s enthusiasm, my heart melted when I heard Gio volunteer that little tidbit.

*Just a quick sidenote from me. If you don’t have a home safety plan setup, take the time to do it. That’s our project for the week. The link I posted above was one of the best that I found on the internet. I hope we never need to use this knowledge, but if we do, it’s great to be prepared.