All The Fun

Have I mentioned I'm big into making memories?  I am.  My own mom was beyond fun and I have some of the best memories from things she did with us.  The world is a rough place.  I really want my kids to remember their childhood as fun!  My oldest is a serious guy, who has his parents' tendencies towards realism (note that I did not characterize it as pessimism...optimistic of me, huh??) and over responsibility.  So, whenever I can encourage him to get crazy, I do.  My little girl loves to have a good time, but she's going through some wonky stuff right now.  She's afraid.  A lot.  Of everything.  Being the good googler I am, I've read up.  Apparently, it's developmental.  Somehow this never makes me feel better.  Life can be quite hellish during "a phase".  So, I'm pushing her to get crazy, too!

Anyway, last week my good friend Lissy invited us to meet them for an event called "Touch-a-Truck".  Whoever thought of this idea is a genius.  I have so many memories of being a kid and seeing a cool vehicle on community helper day and thinking, "I really wish I could just get in there."  Well, at this event everything is fair game.  The kids had a blast, and to be honest, I thought it was super cool.

Drew and Etta learning about all the knobs and buttons

Drew IN the fire truck driver's seat!

A "punch buggy" state trooper car!  We are WAY into punch buggies!

My little farmer girl

Drew on a police motorcycle

You might be tempted to think I was shunning Emily all day.  What with the one picture and all.  I wasn't.  It just took her a minute to warm up to things.  And then of course, I had to watch her a little closer while she was exploring the vehicles.  Her favorite of the day was the Nashville Party Bus (is anyone surprised?)  It was the "Glow Bus" edition and had black lights and sparkle lights and hip hop music.  And a pole.  Emily had a great time dancing on the pole.  I tried to take a picture of that and send it to Big Dan for Father's Day, but it didn't turn out.  I didn't hate the Party Bus.  It was air conditioned.  It was also some mighty fine people watching.  

The last thing we checked out was the Nashville Swat Team Hummer.  I really struggled with how to tell Drew about a Swat Team.  I just told him it was special forces for the police department.  I was on one side of the vehicle while he was climbing around inside.  All of a sudden he came running up to me and said, "MOM, there is WAR stuff over here!!"  Here's what he found:

A gas mask-he had seen one of these in his war books (You can see Emily holding her ears...)

I think the skulls on his shoes really add to the effect, don't you?

The highlight of the day was watching a helicopter take off.  I had never seen that before!  And then, it made a surprise reappearance so we got to see it land and take off again.  We were tired, and sweaty, and excited when we were done.  Great memory!  Great friends!