Wailea Fire Station

Dean had his first Field Trip to the Wailea Fire Station last week Wednesday (the day it turned out he was really quite sick!!). He had been talking about going to the Fire Station for weeks!! I made the mistake of opting NOT to take him to the school before going to the Fire Station (the Fire Station was just a few blocks from the preschool, so rather than taking buses, the parents all just drove and everyone met there). Well, we had to drive PAST the school to get to the Fire Station and Dean seemed to think that meant he didn't get to go to school that day. So then he wanted nothing to do with the stupid Fire Station!! He was pretty well behaved. He sat nicely and listened nicely to the Firefighter while he talked about Fire Safety and he knew to "Stop, Drop and Roll" if his clothes ever catch on fire. But the whole time he mostly said and quietly whined "I want to go to school". He seemed to be VERY concerned that he wasn't getting to go to school that day.

Much to my surprise, he also wasn't interested at all in exploring the fire truck or holding the fire hose to shoot the water. He did walk through the "bucket" on the ladder truck, but that's because I pretty much forced him to. He was just not himself at all. Looking back and now knowing that he was actually really sick, it makes sense, but at the time I was really confused by how clingy and whiney he was being (he is so NOT a clingy kid!!). He wouldn't even sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck!! Normally he would be ALL OVER that!!

I did snap a few pictures of the firemen and the goings-on. And we talked a lot about the fireman in his full firefighter gear (which probably would normally look really scary to a 2-yr-old) - we talked about how if he's ever in a burning building or somewhere where there's smoke and he sees someone who looks like that, he's supposed to run TO them. We talked a lot about how the fireman in all that gear is a Super Hero and will save you. A few of the younger kids practiced running to the fireman in his full gear (complete with face mask, breathing like Darth Vader, and carrying a big ax) and jumping into his arms. Hopefully Dean gets it.

Anyway, here are a few pics:

The firefighter in his full gear (the red thing on the back of the lockers on the left is a surfboard - I bet most of YOUR Fire Stations don't have surfboards strapped to the lockers!!):
Getting the bucket on the ladder ready to go up:
This guy went all the way up like 90 ft in the air and then "zip-lined" all the way down upside down:
One of the girls in Dean's class spraying the fire hose (I can't believe Dean didn't want to do this!!):
Me, Dean, Ellyn and Charlie (now looking at this I can tell that Dean just didn't feel well!! And yes, he's totally trying to squirm out of my lap! Poor kid):