Jessica
The other day we had some unexpected business to attend to, and I was a good bit irritated that my plan for the day was thrown. As we were running the necessary errands, I actually told the boys, "I know none of us wants to do this, and this is turning into a bad day, but let's just try to be good and get through what needs to be done." Great attitude, Mom!

But when we pulled into the parking lot of the bank, we saw something that peaked all of our interest: a police car, an ambulance, a fire truck, two helicopters, and a crowd of people. My first thought? "Oh, great! There's been some bomb threat and they've had to evacuate the bank. Now we'll have to wait to do our business. Can my day get much worse?" (Remember that bad attitude?) Then I realized the people were not panicked and kids were climbing in all the emergency vehicles. That was my first clue this was not a bomb threat.

We completed our business at the bank and decided to walk across the parking lot and see what was going on. I learned that the library, in the same shopping center as the bank, was having some special event and had brought these vehicles in for the kids. Patriot said he didn't want to get in the firetruck or the police car, but he was definitely interested in the helicopters, so we went over to check them out. He and Azlan both got to sit in the helicopter and pretend to drive (see pics below, taken with my new iPhone, thankyouverymuch).



Driving the helicopter must have warmed them up to the whole idea, so we sat in the police car and got to turn on the lights and the siren, then we climbed into the firetruck and got to turn the big steering wheel. We talked with the police officer and firemen, and generally had a really good time!

Just as we were about to leave, the propellers on the helicopters started spinning and they asked everyone to back up. We were able to watch both helicopters take off and fly away, feeling the warm wind and hearing the loud whir! It really was exciting even for Mom!

So I learned a couple things that day:
  1. A firetruck generally goes about 65 mph. A police car goes about 140 mph. And a helicopter goes about 200 mph. We thought that was very interesting.
  2. I need to just roll with the changes that come to my day, because you never know when the coolest opportunity might pop up.
7 Responses
  1. Starr Says:

    I can't tell you how many pictures I have of my boys in that same batman mask. Love it. :-) What a cool little surprise to brighten up your otherwise 'blah' day!


  2. Jan Says:

    Must have been the Bat-copter! How did the policeman and firemen respond to Patriot's mask?


  3. Jessica Says:

    Oh, he got lots of high 5's and "look, it's Batman" comments. Everyone thought he was pretty cool.


  4. Anonymous Says:

    Love it! I LOL'd at your first paragraph. "No one wants to do this but we're doing it anyway so behave." I usually add that I don't want to do it either! :) So funny. Glad it ended up better... Love your new look. I read on google reader so haven't clicked to comment in a while. so, it may not be a new new look, but love it!


  5. JTapp Says:

    Did Batman cop an attitude with the police/fire guys?


  6. Jessica Says:

    No, Justin, he approached the real-life heroes with appropriate awe and wonder. I'm curious if all that preschooler admiration goes to their heads . . .


  7. Nicole Says:

    I can't believe he's still wearing that, although I shouldn't be surprised... Malea was a cat for three months. LOL

    Awesome opportunity though! He'll be talking about that for awhile.