The Perks of Being a Fire Kid

Too often I find myself whining about Fire Life.  This blog started as almost a therapeutic journal - allowing me to sort through the confusion of this new life we have taken on.  So there was a lot of  fussin' - especially in the beginning.  As time went by, I was introduced to a support network that I could not have gotten by without - other fire wives, firefighters, paramedics - all helping me to understand this new way of life called Fire Life.  And, as the year has progressed, I have discovered there are some perks to Fire Life.  Even some for the kids.  Aside from the numerous trips to the firehouse when Daddy has been gone for 96 of the last 110 hours, there are others.  (Especially since that is just not as exciting as it was the first few times!)  One of them is the Fire Boat - the Trident!

Daddy is a sailor, once that was discovered at Engine 2, he was put on the boat team.  Which started with the very unglamorous duty of doing a complete inventory of the boat, from top to bottom.  The training has continued and he is learned that "stink boats" can be cool, too - as long as they are fire boats.  (No love for power boats in the sailing world, sorry.)  The Trident is docked at Discovery World on Lake Michigan, along with the Schooner - the Dennis Sullivan.  D had her last trip of the year at the Dennis Sullivan - a schooner  - that I helped build through many years of schooner school with my middle schoolers, I might add!  

The 4 year-old Kindergarten always takes a trip to the schooner.  Tours are given by the crew.  This years' crew was BORING!  They didn't know how to talk to 4 year-olds, would not let them touch anything, showed them the bell, but would not let them ring it - because it might confuse the crew as to what time it was <eyeroll>.  They kept asking the kids if they had questions.  Umm, yeah - "Can I ring the bell?"  You don't let 4 year-olds lead the discussion! To top that, we had periods of POURING rain.  The kids were in garbage bags because the rain was supposed to be done by then - no one had rain coats.  AYE!  Overall, they were miserable.  Engine 2 to the rescue.  Just when I thought these tiny creatures were going to revolt, I saw the boys board their boat.  I snuck over to see if they would be willing to rescue us.

We divided the kids into two groups - one class went to eat lunch while the other got the demonstration on the boat.  The all got to board the boat, got a tour and got to spray some water, one by one.  NO ONE had more fun than my D!  She was SO proud to say that it was HER Daddy that was doing all of the cool stuff.  The guys put on a water show, sprayed water, let the kids spray water.  It was a sight to be seen, especially if you are in kindergarten.  They smiled for the first time all morning!  The guys were great with the kids.  I would definitely say it was a success!  After they were done with both groups, I noticed they got a tour of the schooner as well.  Guess that is one of the perks on their end.  Do you think they admired my handy work??

 

The boys getting a tour of Dennis Sullivan

D - the Fire Girl with her Daddy!

Can you truly ever take the
teacher out of his classroom?