Emergency!

This week we got lucky and got to crash a great activity put on by one of my friends who is a preschool teacher. Ben is not actually in her class, but she let us come anyway. For her end of year event she had the firefighters come to her house and bring a truck and the safehouse where kids learn what to do in the event of a fire. How cool is that? The kids loved being able to sit in the driver's seat and "steer" the truck and a firewoman led them in chants of "9-1-1" so they'd remember who to call if they had an emergency.

The funniest part for me was as we were walking up to the house. I told Ben we were going to learn about how to be safe. He said, "If there is an emergency?" I said yes, and then he ran up to the firemen and shouted, "Emergency, emergency! My bike got stuck under our car!" This actually did happen two weeks ago when Ben's bike got left out and Andy backed over it. We had to jack up the car to get it out and now Ben pedals around with a lopsided tricycle. The firefighters were kind and just smiled and let him tell them about it. I laughed thinking about Ben while we were trying to get his bike out. He kept running up to the neighborhood kids who were out playing by our house, yelling, "Emergency, emergency!"
Thanks to Heather Whitehead and Sarah Walton for taking pictures. Heather is a pro and took these very artistic shots. Kaylee, you have a kindred spirit. (Kaylee is my little sister who also has a very good eye for the aesthetic.)

The kids engrossed in the firefighter's talk.
Ben crawling out of the "smoke" in the safe house.
I can't decide whether or not to do a family night with Ben about fire safety. My parents did one with us when I was a kid, complete with a terrifying video of burning homes and people climbing out. None of us slept for days afterward because we were so afraid our house would burn down. It was one of our most memorable and scarring family nights on record.