Please don't sound the siren!

When you have a volunteer firefighter in your church small group, you get to have your own special visit to the neighborhood fire station.  Our small group kiddos were super excited about the visit to the fire station that our friend, Corby, planned for us on Sunday afternoon.

Inside one of the fire trucks.  Luke's friend, Dylan (in the striped shirt), was very concerned that the fire engine was going to sound its siren. He was prepared with his fingers in his ears just in case.  

just in case...

Checking out the couch on the back patio of the station.  Plugging his ears...just in case.  :-)

Abbey located a tractor she needed to try out.

Luke's friend, Ford, was excited to try on real firefighter gear.  (This picture isn't that sharp, but I like the lighting so I included it).

Krystal tried the gear on also.  (Notice Dylan in the background--plugging his ears just in case.  This makes me smile!)

Little Miss Spit-fire wasn't too excited about trying on the gear.

The firemen even let the kids try out real fire equipment.  This was actually on and Ford got to operate it.

Luke's friend, Luke, exiting one of the fire engines.  I like this picture.

The kids had such a good time.  We were there for over an hour, and these boys spent almost the entire time inside a fire engine.  

Luke's favorite thing to do was open and close the huge doors of the fire truck's rear cabin.  You could hear the hydraulics pull the steps up or push them down each time the door was closed or opened.  Of course, there were many things Luke enjoyed about our visit.  And, you better believe the picture below shows one of his favorite things about the visit:

Cupcakes! Hey, when you don't keep sweets at your house, the times that you do eat them are extra special.  That is why we call them "special treats" at our house.  I'd say he enjoyed it.  Wouldn't you?

Yum Yum!

It was REALLY hot on Sunday.  Abbey decided she wanted to go inside (in the air conditioning) and look at the fire engines from there.  Here, she was asking to be let indoors.  I seriously don't know how the firefighters fight fires with the gear on in temperatures like that.  It made me appreciate them even more than I already do.

Watching the kids play on the truck.

Playing with her shadow...in the air conditioning.

And by the end of our visit, Dylan decided he no longer needed to plug his ears.

Later that evening, when we returned home, we got a special welcomed surprise: rain.  It wasn't much, but we were so excited to see it and smell it that we let it rain on us outside for a bit.  

Enjoying the lovely rain.

Thank you, Lord, for wonderful friends with whom we can share these experiences.  Thank you for the rain.  Thank you for the time you give us to share together as a family.