Fort Sam Fire Station Open House Fun!!

Last weekend we waited out a thunderstorm so we could go visit the Fire Station's Open House! (It has been on the calendar for a few weeks and the younger two were SO EXCITED about it all.)

Each girl brought her firetruck (cause, you know, we have our own toy fire fighter crew) and marched to the fire house.

There were a lot of activities inside--a cartoon about practicing fire safety at home, donuts to eat, and this super cool fire extinguisher simulator.

Julia is the queen of shyness. She's really excited but you'd never know looking at these pictures.

But, of course, the highlight of the day was getting to climb in and out of the firetrucks. Vivian, who can sometimes be super rudely shy to strangers didn't even flinch when the fireman asked her if she wanted to climb in; she just marched right up and started scrambling in. She even let the fireman pick her up! She must have really wanted inside that truck.

Elisabeth is almost tall enough to legitimately drive the truck. Sob.

My instructions: I'm going to take pictures, you make sure she doesn't break the truck.

Not, make sure she doesn't fall, but make sure she doesn't break the truck because seriously.

A genuine smile!!!

"Juju, you a firefighter now?"

The beloved ladder truck.

She just wanted to sit behind the wheel for hours. And push all the buttons and turn all the knobs and flip all the switches. She found the ignition button to this one and was determined to push it, so Evan declared her done. Yes, the trucks were off, but it's better to be safe than sorry with this kid.

I love this picture:

The ladder truck has a bell. They let the children ring it. It was loud.

Me: Everyone sit on the truck so I can get a picture.

Ebeth: (in an embarrassed exasperated tone) Whyyy???

Me: Because I birthed you all and want to photograph you so I can look at these pictures when I am old and you've moved out and I'm lonely and miss you.

Ebeth: Ok, Mom. Also, that was kind of dramatic. 

This is Hydrant the Robot. Julia loooooved him. She wanted to bring him and the firefighter that was controlling and talking for the robot home with us. Awkward.

Vivian was at first frightened of him and screamed when he tried talking to her. Then she found him amusing. Then she started hitting him with her hat.

Her face when he said, "Ouch! You hit me!":

It was a good day! The storm made it much cooler than when we'd attended the Open House in 2011. Cool days in Texas are a gift, people. A gift.

The USS Lexington

Well, I promised you a USS Lexington post and here it is!!!

You all are so good for putting up with me.

This was by far Evan's favorite part of the trip. He hates sand, thinks the ocean tastes bad, is not fond of local restaurants that give off a "weird smelly vibe", but you tell him that he can tour an aircraft carrier turned museum and he is like a kid in a candy shop.

I am not even going to pretend like I know enough about the Lexington to give you virtual tour, so I'm just going to provide commentary on the people that Evan drug toured the museum with--these fine folks:

Let's start with this rapscallion:

No, not Keith. Keith was an angel the entire time. I'm talking about Vivian. We knew darn well that this was going to either be an epic fail with her or a mild disaster. I am happy to report it was not even a mild disaster, she did sooooo well! Turns out that all those damn stairs that took you up and down the aircraft carrier, the ability to run full lengths on the top deck, and being given the choice to either hold our hands or let us hold her string to her back pack (she chose the string) worked in her favor. Who'da thunk?

Important information (which Evan talked about at great length, but which I knew I wouldn't remember, so I snapped a picture to read later. I am no dummy, y'all.)

Divergent fangirl reference:

Kyle Cain, this is for you! An Air Force "Big" moment!!!!!

Small child hilarity:

So we climbed forty bajillion stairs to get to the aircraft landing area (technical term are not my thing). Not just normal stairs, though, the scary "too narrow and steep with gapping holes that young children can fall to their doom through" stairs, so I did not walk with the children because stairs and falling are two phobias that I start getting full blown panic attacks over. (Remind me to tell you the catwalk story from high school sometime.)

Anyway, once we'd safely made it up to the top, we realized that it was a gorgeous day and that the wind was a bit strong.

So, it ended up being Julia who puttered out first. We were so worried about Vivian losing her mind, we hadn't thought about Julia's tendency to turn sluggish when she's tired and bored.

Julia thought the viewer was the bees knees.

Me: Ha! Do you think that's because they wanted the woman to know before a man walked in on them birth?
Evan: You know that means women's quarters, right? As in, where they bunked.
Me: Hahahaha. Yeah, I was just joking.
{Always check the spelling of words before attempting to be witty...}


V loved the stairs. Like, was so excited about climbing them. The girl loves her some gross motor activities.

My favorite part of the whole thing was seeing the kitchen area. They had signs and pictures up of what dining and feeding a huge number of sailors was like and I totally found it fascinating!

Creepy mannequin cooks.

I'm putting this sign up in my house right by the table.

True to form, Evan's favorite part was the engine room.

 Vivian also liked the engine room.

He cracks me up.

After a good four hours exploring the Lexington, we came out to see these skies:

Time to head home, says Julia (who is petrified of all storms).

I love this picture because I can totally imagine this scenario taking place 25 years ago with Keith taking pictures of his very excited 6 year old Evan. Isn't it nice that some things don't change?

Seriously, it was such a good trip. I loved spending time on the beach, watching the girls get to experience the ocean.

Julia voluntarily smiled for the first take:

But put her pout face back on for the second: