Fire Trucks galore!

A few weeks ago, after Trey's swimming lesson, we stopped by the fire station just across the street from our YMCA and thought we would take a chance on them letting us take a look at the fire truck. The firewoman we saw was so nice and showed us all around the engine. She even let Trey sit in the driver's seat while she turned the lights on! All of us learned that there are two types of fire engines - ladder engines and those that carry water. This one was a water engine. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (or even my wallet) with me since we'd just been swimming.

Ever since that visit, Trey has talked nonstop about the fire truck and the nice lady who turned the fire truck's lights on. And every time we drive down that particular street (at least twice a week on the way to swim lessons or gymnastics) he asks to stop by the fire station. So this weekend, I decided to take him to the Houston Fire Museum so that Trey could once again see some real fire engines up close and personal.

The museum was smaller than I expected, but Trey's admission was free and mine was only $3, and I'd say it was worth that. We saw a couple of really old fire engines, including one that was horse-drawn, which Trey found to be pretty cool. We also saw the old bunker for the dispatcher, which I explained to Trey was where the fireman slept (knowing he wouldn't understand what a dispatcher was), and he asked if they turned out the lights when he slept, and I said yes (which I assume is true). This apparently made an impression on Trey, because ever since he has talked about seeing where the fireman turned out the light and went night-night.

The toddler play area was one of the highlights. There was a birthday party going on in the area while we were there, and we felt a little guilty playing alongside the birthday kids (which we were told to do -- the party area is not private), but Trey loved it. They had the front cab of a real fire engine for the kids to play in, a locker area with real fireman gloves and coats, and even a fireman's pole, which Trey enjoyed sliding down (I didn't get pictures of that because I was using both hands to spot him!).

But the big highlight was when some real firemen came for a visit. This doesn't always happen -- we just got lucky on this particular afternoon. They showed Trey their fire truck (a ladder engine this time, which meant it had no hoses -- who knew!), and let Trey and a couple other kids climb inside the back part of the cab. Trey, having just done this a couple weeks ago, was far less impressed than the other two children.

But he did very much enjoy the tour of the exterior that the nice fireman gave him. He showed him their version of "blocks" and all the compartments around one side of the engine. Pretty cool!

And Trey got to take his picture with a REAL fireman. He talked for a long time afterward about how his gloves were yellow (you can see them in the picture above -- we got in trouble for taking them out of the museum), and the fireman's gloves were black (he had taken them off by the time I snapped these pictures). All in all, it was a great outing!