Fire Station Field Trip

This year's fire station field trip had enough changes from last year that it felt like a different field trip entirely even though we returned to the same location. The Burbank Fire Station is a fire fighter's training center where fire fighters learn to scale buildings, put out car or house fires, and get other types of necessary training for their job. So this field trip included a bit more than just walking through a fire station, viewing a truck, and receiving a hat. Abby got to put out a car fire!!!

Last year's "welcome" speech was given by the Captain of the station, I believe and included a lot of information about what a fire fighter does, what to do in case of a fire, how to call the fire fighters, etc. This year's speech was given by the fire fighters themselves and basically included the Stop, Drop, Roll, and Crawl Away speech and then "Let's go check out the trucks!". LOL. Both talks were well received by the kids but there was definitely a difference. :-)

Patiently waiting in line for her turn in the fire truck.

Getting some help down after checking out the backseat of the fire truck.

One of the fire fighters demonstrating how they walk up and down the ladder.

LOVE her silly grin. She's the best picture taker in that whenever I pull out my camera she immediately smiles and says "cheese".

Her turn "driving" the fire truck. She even pretended to honk the horn and turn on the sirens.

Abby remembered the sirens accidentally going off last year, so as soon as we walked over to the care fire demonstration she immediately put her hands over her ears to block out any loud sounds. (The water truck is just off to the side.) Ms. Addie kept reassuring Abby that there wouldn't be any loud noises this time, but I don't think Abby believed her. :-)

Watching the fire fighter put out the car fire.

And then getting her own turn!

Another view of Abby putting out the fire.

It's amazing how something as simple as rocks can entertain someone for so long. ;-) While waiting for the rest of her classmates to have their turn at putting out the car fire, Abby played with the pebble rocks around her.

This picture right here shows how much we both LOVE Imagination Studios and the teachers there. Abby had been holding my hand as we made our way over to the garage housing the other vehicles, when Ms. Addie passed us. All of a sudden Abby told me she wanted to walk with Ms. Addie and raced over and grabbed her hand. Ms. Addie immediately grabbed Abby's hand back and talked to her the whole walk over and continued the hand holding and talking well after we'd arrived at our destination. These teachers truly have a love for their students!

Checking out the ambulance.

Showing off her fire fighters hat.

Abby's teacher and classmates (with a few extras thrown in). Abby's class has 10 students but a few couldn't make the field trip and a few other younger students couldn't resist having their picture taken. :-)

As this is most likely Abby's last field trip to this fire station (I haven't heard of any non-preschool field trips here) I'm glad that there were enough differences between last and this year that the trip was still a lot of fun and not just a repeat of what she'd already done. Only hiccup on the trip was that I totally took the wrong exit while leaving and found myself heading in the exact opposite direction that I was intending. (For all who know me, they know this is not an unusual thing.) I was so disgusted that I'd added extra driving time for a very hungry little girl that we got McDonald's instead of just heading straight home. I don't think Abby ended up minding the detour after all. :-)