Wheeeee woooooo

Yes, that's right! T has loved emergency vehicles since he was tiny (alright then, tinier!)

As the day of his operation is coming closer and we're all suddenly realising what he won't be able to do for a while afterwards - eat his beloved brownies, eat his hehe ray ray (- what he calls cornflakes because of course it's not a kangaroo on the packet but a DOG silly!), jump on the new trampoline, play in his sandpit (sand in healing incisions...don't think so!) or even be too easily transportable - we decided to try and pack in some fun things for him now.

P sings with someone who is also a volunteer fire fighter and had said a number of times that we should organise a time for us to bring the boys down to the station - so we did it this Saturday.

He showed them round all the different compartments and what all the things do. Unsurprisingly N was taken with the tool called a Hoolahan (named after the man who invented it) but they all call it a Hooligan tool - axe/crowbar/metal rod/whatever other wrecking tool you can name! N's eyes lit up at the idea of being ALLOWED to wreck things - a career plan change might be happening for him, especially when he discovered that so long as you are strong enough to carry the gear there is no height or weight restriction for entry into the Fire Brigade here.

They got to get the hoses out and even spray a little. W got really into that...T did the typical thing you see with little kids and garden hoses, right up to the face and then started to fiddle with the triggewr part - that was before he flicked the switches and let them play...

They saw the gear they'd need to use if our hillside went up in flames as well.

Then they got to go inside and try on some of the gear - W had a ball in a helmet and coat carrying round a hose to show that he could take the weight. N nearly dropped an oxygen cylinder!
T looked fantastic in a proper helmet (he'd insisted on wearing his toy one to the station) but declared the boots "too big Mummy!"

Due to N's interest we learnt how the radio works and the different stations called out for different events.

Then we went for a ride! Sadly he wasn't allowed to use lights or sirens because he wasn't on an official job but did let off a whoop as we pulled up outside the station.

He showed us how sprinkler systems work and the benefits and negatives of smoke detectors.

We were there for about 90mins and the boys all had a fantastic time!

I managed to take a number of good photos and have edited and printed them already and put them in T's photo album of current or important events to show people as a talking springboard. He'll thrust them under the nose of anyone prepared to stand still for a minute!

So hopefully when all the post op restrictions come into play he'll have some cool things to look back on - it's only 21 days away now!