Tots and Trucks

A few weeks ago now, Juneau had a city wide day of play.  There were tons of organized FREE activities for families to take part in at just about every facility operated by our city's parks and rec department.  We literally could have spent all day hoping from one event to another. 

But I try to keep our Saturday's as calm as possible.  In many ways it feels like the only day the kids can relax and play without worrying about a schedule.  It's generally a work day for my hubby so staying home as much as possible also means we get to maximize our family time.  And since everyone else in town seems to hit the big shopping stores on Saturday's, it doesn't seem crazy at all in my mind to run my errands on other days.  Of course, we don't always have a clear schedule on Saturday's.  In fact, aside from the usual soccer game on Saturday, we only have a free and clear day about half of the time.

So anyway, we had a day of play back in September and I didn't feel like fighting the crowds for the free hour of swimming at the new pool and some of the activities conflicted with either the little babe's nap or the afternoon college football game I didn't want to miss.  So I settled on the Tots and Trucks event.  It was scheduled for after the start of the little babe's nap but after Shawn would be up for the day, and would end just before kick off.  Plus it was happening close to our house.  Perfect!  So daddy stayed home to wipe the sleep out of his eyes while the little babe slept and I took the older two yahoos out for a surprise outing.  They were pretty excited when we pulled into the high school parking lot to find it filled with all kinds of city vehicles: buses, snow plows, dump trucks, fire trucks, and even a helicopter!

The little man had several times when I could tell he was in his own little dream land.  Like this time, when he waited for his sister to get her fill of the driver seat of this bobcat.  As soon as she left, he wanted me to close the door, he fastened the buckles, and his eyes went into a bit of a daze as he slipped into complete imaginative play.  Who knows what kind of a load he was moving with the bucket in his own little mind?

Plowing the streets

Waiting in line--check out the tires on this snow plow!

 

One of the snow plows in Juneau's fleet.

This is why our city doesn't shut down for a couple of inches of snow.

They were both pretty excited about the chance to shoot water out of a hose with a fire fighter.

 

The funny thing was, the little man decided he was done with it after about 5 seconds.  The firefighter had to turn off the water without him!  He did enjoy it, just ready to move on to the next thing I guess.

To top the afternoon off, they enjoyed getting up close and personal to a helicopter.  I think it was the closest either of them had ever been to one--actually I think it was the closest I had ever been to one too.

 

I'm glad I got to spend time making this special memory with these two kiddos.  Thanks Juneau for a fun event.