Wordless Wednesday: Pictures with the New Fire Engine

A few of Rich's fellow firefighters flew out to Pennsylvania about a month ago to pick up the department's new fire engine. We went to see it the next day to get some pictures and check out all the special bells and whistles....quite literally! ;-)

This is the special bell that they had put on it.

Morgan and Blake posing with the bell.

Isn't it pretty.

Since it was in the bay, I couldn't get a full picture of it, but it sure is pretty!

Happy W.W.!! :-)

Fire Safety Day

Morgan's school has had a lot going on trying to fit some fun things in at the end of the year. A farmer came in with a HUGE John Deere tractor, read them a farm book, helped them start growing a bean and do a craft project. They've had a dental hygienist come talk to them about the importance of brushing their teeth and received fun bags with stickers, a toothbrush, floss and toothpaste. They'll be having a pajama/sundae party next week and a bowling/pizza party the following week...the day after the last day of school :-( (Only 6 school days left!)

This week, on Monday, they had a Fire Safety Day! Rich took the day off from work so he could surprise Morgan and be at the school with the fire engine. Blake and I ran back up to school, as well, to be there when Morgan's class would be learning about fire safety and seeing the fire engine (along with some other things).

In the smoke house learning about a variety of things they should know if there were ever a fire in their house.

Blake crawled in to be with his sister.

Learning to crawl out through the smoke.

Rich teaching the kids some of the tools used in putting out fires.

And then they had the chance to spray the fire hose!

Yeah...it was pretty cool! ;-)

They also learned a little bit about the ambulance and what EMT's and Paramedics do.

Plus they learned a little about police and had the chance to sit in the police car!

I'm going to be a little sad when preschool is over with. At least I have one more year with Blake starting in the fall. They do so many fun things! I think I enjoy it as much as the kiddos do! :-)

Summer 2010 Update #1

I can't believe that it's been nearly a month since I've posted! I've been keeping so busy that I haven't been on the computer as much as I thought I'd be. Hopefully I'll get by to visit each of your blogs soon! :-) I've been able to some of the things that I was hoping to do this summer. I cleaned out both cattle pens. Just finished them yesterday while it was cool out and I can hardly move today! Good workout though ;-) I figured while I was having a hard time moving I'd catch you up on what we've been up to:

I've been watching my garden grow....

...and of course watering, weeding and cultivating with this thing that I got from my grandparents' house. (Sure beats hoeing the whole thing!)

Rich took up playing waterball with the fire department. First time playing and they took 1st place!

The kids went on their first boat ride at a friend of my mom's and loved it!

Rich got our hay off. (Morgan is riding with him here.)

I just love this sequence of pictures. Blake just couldn't wait until he could ride the tractor!!

We rode in the aerial in the Annual Michigan Firefighter Associations Conference parade. (Our county hosted it this year.) I took these of the kids while we were waiting.

After the parade, Rich and some fellow firefighter raised the flag on the ladder.

Then they had some fun and played more waterball :-)

The kids are loving climbing and playing in the freshly baled hay.

And just enjoying the sunny weather.

• I've been mowing lawn every week. I think Rich is missing it, but he's just way too busy. I have more respect for Rich taking the time to do it for all these years. It takes over 3 hours just to mow and trimming is a whole lot more!


• The kids and I have been helping with chores at night too. Morgan and Blake love it!! They especially love feeding the cat (which we have to wait until the chickens are roosting otherwise they'll scare the cat away and eat her food) and checking for eggs. (We somehow lost 1 more chicken and are now down to 3!)


• The kids also went to our town's fair with their grandparents and got to ride some rides, which was a first for them. (I'd share pics but they're on their grandma's phone.) Rich and I were collecting hay bales from the field, since we didn't have a wagon to stack on and missed going, but they brought us an elephant ear! Yum! ;-)


• I made it to visit a friend that I hadn't seen in over a year. (Yes-I'm loving having the truck!)


• Rich and I also made it to the drive-in and saw Shrek 4 and Ironman 2. Always love going to the drive-in!


• The kids, my parents and I went to our towns' pizza cook-off. Four businesses competed to be the best pizza in town. I of course quickly picked out the place we always go to and voted for them ;-) They also had games for the kids and it was a great time. And we made the paper:

• We went to the first music in the park for the season in the neighboring town and enjoyed some live music down by the lake. Always a nice time, though probably would have been better if the kids weren't tired and grouchy (long summer days lately!)

That's what's been going on here. Busy and loving it! I hope you are all enjoying your summer as well!! :-)

Saying Goodbye to the Family's Farmhouse

This past Sunday brought the end of a piece of my family history. Ancestors from my mom's side were some of the first settlers in our area and our family has remained here, farming on the family farm, for over 170 years. While I was in college the old farmhouse was moved from it's original location to the neighboring hayfield, so that my aunt (who had been living in the old farmhouse) could put a new house in it's old location. My grandfather didn't want the farmhouse to be destroyed at the time. (I cannot blame him-he grew up there and he was attached to the old place.) Grandpa passed away last year and, after considering several options for the old farmhouse, my family made the decision to donate it to the fire department to use for a practice burn and ultimately have it burned down.

The fire department happened to invite my husband's fire department to join them, so Rich was able to get a little practice in as well. I had every intention on taking pictures throughout the whole process, but when I arrived, I realized that I had left the camera's memory stick in the printer. Anyhow, the only documentation I personally got was video footage and haven't figured out how to get it all in one video AND be able to post it on my blog, so I'm just going to show a few of the 20 clips of video that I took. You probably didn't want to watch 10 minutes of a house burning anyway, right? ;-)

This first video is shortly after they started the fire and Rich was getting ready to go in for some practice.


This next video is after all the firefighters left the house and it was at the point where they were going to just allow it to burn. They decided to get a group picture and if course I had to videotape it with having no camera! ;-)


This last video is when most of the house had collapsed. The kids were getting too cold being outside, so we were in my parents' house for this clip.

Wordless Wednesday: Fun Fire Truck at the Mall

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go! and Healthy Moms.