Dylan's Dream Come True - Open House at the Fire Station

One of Dylan's favorite things to do is walk by the fire station every day an see if any of the fire trucks are out in the parking lot.  He gets so excited he jumps up and down, points his fingers and shouts "Mommy!  Weee-oohhhh! Weeeee-ooohhh! Tee-tee taa-taaa!" (the sounds that a fire truck makes in Germany) and runs around the parking lot in a crazed state of excitement.

So, we knew it was going to be a pretty exciting day for Dylan when the fire station had its annual Open House last Sunday.  They had food and beer tents set up, all of the trucks were out and to Dylan's delight they allowed kids to sit  in the drivers seat, climb around and push all the buttons they wanted.

We planned on taking Dylan over there after his nap, but since we live directly behind the fire station there was simply too much noise and excitement happening outside of his window to make a nap possible.

The day would have been perfect had Dylan taken a nap.  It also didn't help that in the morning we tried to tire him out by taking him on a picnic to a nearby playground and lake, and let him run around for a few hours in the sun.  But it was clear after 45 minutes that he was not going to sleep, so we gave in and walked over to check things out.

Everything started out pretty well and Dylan was generally well-behaved until he realized that he was actually allowed to sit in the trucks and play with things.  He was good with sharing the back seats with other kids, but he went off the rails when he had to wait in line to sit in the driver's seat.  He cried and screamed a little louder with each kid who got a turn before him and, of course, like magic the tears immediately ceased when it was his turn.  He pushed all the buttons and pretended to drive the truck, but when his turn was over getting him out of the seat was a huge task.  Bryan had to grab him by the legs and was holding him completely horizontal while Dylan held on for dear life to the steering wheel and screamed at the top of his lungs.  Yes, we were those parents and he was that kid.  Needless to say, we didn't stay too much longer after that incident.  A pregnant lady looked on in disgust as she plugged her ears to stifle Dylan's nearby shrieks.  Bryan said to her as we passed, 'Just wait, your time will come soon.'

I asked him who he was talking to and he said "Oma" (Grandma)

This looks like a kid who's on a fast track to a meltdown.

Smiles after watching a demonstration of how the crane works.  

Finally, it's his turn!

"Don't you dare try to take me out of here!"

Watching another demonstration...

Dylan fought off some older kids to sit on this seat.  All those sit-ups and push-ups that he does at home (seriously... but that's a story for another blog post) have paid off.

Last photo taken on our way back home. He was one tired kid.