Bring your own uniform day at the fire station

My boys love fire engines. They have so many toy ones and I have to pass the fire station whenever I am driving through Croydon so they can check how many engines are in that day. When I drop Big Boy off at summer sports camp we pass the fire station about 4 times and Baby Boy gets terribly excited. Mostly because last week we made a special trip to see the station with a lot of friends from Big Boy's school.

It was such a lovely sunny afternoon when we made our visit and we went straight outside to see the engines in action. The officers on duty were kind enough to let the children play with the hoses and sit in the driver's seat.

The Mums were invited to take part and Lucille was keen to get involved - as you can see. I ended up in the full fire kit - less said about that the better really ! 

Big Boy has been to the fire station a few times and he likes to go in his own fire officer outfit. I think he looks very professional. 

He insisted on holding an axe from the back of the engine - a tense moment for all the adults, but he was fine and very careful with it. 

Then we went inside and watched a re-enactment of what happens when a fire is reported. There is a lot of noise then the fire officers slide down the fire poles. 

This was Big Boy's favourite bit - he loves to pretend he's on a fire pole. Being allowed to go on a real one was the most fun. 

Then both boys raced off to see who would get to help open the big doors. 

Big Boy is taller so he won this time. 

Thanks to the lovely staff of Croydon Fire Station who made us so welcome when we visited. We all had a great afternoon. 

This post is being shared as part of the #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill - our favourite family holiday destination. 

  

Move aside make way, for a half term Fire Station visit

As you probably know we are big fans of the fire service and I had promised my boys a visit to the fire station during half term. It was all because the lovely guys from our local fire station had been in our street a few months ago and they had said to pop in any time to have a look around.

Is it Big Boy or Darth Vader ?

Big boy was so excited - even more so, because his friend A was coming along again and they are both big fans of fire engines. Baby boy was visiting for the first time and despite his initial reservations he got stuck in and had a drive of the engine too. Big boy wore his Fire Officer outfit to the station - it was so funny seeing him in the kit room surrounded by grown up uniforms wearing his teeny tiny Early Learning Centre version.

It was very rainy on the day we went, but the guys were amazing and let the children open the big doors of the firehouse and play with the hoses outside. I was very glad that big boy was wearing his waterproof outfit I can tell you !

It was this Fire Officer's first day - no joke !

As they drove the engine outside the children sat inside and were very excited to have a ride. At one point we were inside the control room and saw the engine driving off the station forecourt and I joked, "the kids aren't still inside are they ?" Apparently they were and as it disappeared from view I considered escaping for a cup of tea with A's mum and the baby siblings. As it turns out they were just taking the engine round to the back of the station to refill the hoses with water as they'd been so liberal with the target practice earlier.

Just checking out the dials

We were invited back on a sunnier day to have lots more fun with the hoses and I was advised to bring a change of clothes for big boy in case he got carried away.

I can highly recommend a visit to the fire station as the officers are so kind and always really happy to see children and to show them around. It's definitely something we'll be doing again.

This post is being shared as part of the fab #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill.

  

Scooby Dooby Doo it's an Autumn rainbow adventure

So, this has been our first half term holiday. My boy has had two weeks off school so it's been a bit of a mission filling the days. The first week we went to visit grandparents and he stayed over with them. This week he met Scooby Doo, did some Halloween themed crafts and had a spooky face tattoo:

The best thing of all, however, was the visit to our local fire station. My boy is obsessed with fire engines and wants to be a fireman - I may have mentioned this one or twice before. We went with a few of his little friends and as it was such a nice sunny day - in October, I know !! - they let the children have lots of fun learning to use the hose and creating rainbows. Did you know that firemen can make rainbows ? No we didn't either, but they can. The staff at Croydon Fire Station were absolutely amazing and made a real effort for the children.

Training with a real fireman

It's a real rainbow !! 

Making sure the hose is really empty

This has been, by far, the most enjoyable out of everything we've done this holiday. My boy has plenty of special memories to tell his class about on Monday at school.

I'm sharing this post as part of the #countrykids linky with the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill.