*Five. One. Four.

I'm writing Friday's blog on Sunday because I just got back from a wonderful weekend in St. Augustine with my sister. Oh, and last night we saw Wicked in Jacksonville. Amazing! But this blog isn't about my love of musicals, so let's revert back to Friday.

Friday was Field Trip Day! But before we left, I had Bubs and Z work on their name activity. Bubs was almost able to do it without her name card! She only mixed up the last A and H in her name.

Around 10, we gathered up the homemade cupcakes (for a quick picture) and headed off to the fire station!

We got to the first fire station and the bay doors were closed, which means they were out on a call or training, so we had to go to the next one. We showed up and I knocked on the door to ask if visitors were welcome and with a HUGE smile, the Lieutenant said, "Absolutely!"

And let me tell you, the kids were certainly welcomed. They walked in and practically ran the place! It was only the Lieutenant and one firefighter at the station and they were so happy to have the kids in the building. The kids were shown EVERYTHING.

The very first thing they got to do was go in the fire truck. They were buckled in, tried every piece of clothing on, pushed buttons (the truck was off) and the firefighter was blowing up rubber gloves as balloons. The kids were in heaven! Sensory overload!

Wow. It was intense. They nearly got to touch everything. And that was only outside! Then they got to go inside and get a tour of the place! From their rec. room to their kitchen to their bedrooms to the office.

You'll never guess what they got to do next! The Lieutenant asked me quietly if they'd be OK using the hose. The actual hose that's connected to the fire truck. I couldn't believe it! I said yes and the firefighter asked the kids if they wanted to pretend to be real firefighters putting out a fire.

"We can use the hose?!"

Babe made the connection immediately. They ran outside and the truck was started so they'd have pressure to the hose. They put out a cone in the parking lot for the kids to try to knock down with the water. It was great! I was still in shock that permission was granted for this to be done!

Can you believe it!? It was fantastic. Everyone had a great time and I think the fire staff had more fun than the kids! We took one last picture of everyone before we thanked them a million times and headed back home.

But of course the kids wanted to go back into the truck, so the guys let them!!!

Obviously, everyone had a great time. We made it home in time for lunch, and I let the rest of the day be chill-day. However, Babe got a piece of mail from her aunt, a teacher at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. The letter was written in Braille! Since Babe is the same age as one of the oldest blind pre-schoolers at the school, they will become pen pals. So to end the day, Babe wrote a letter to her new pen pal.

We also sent him a fork. My sister is going to try to get a video of him guessing what it is. Then this preschooler will write a letter back to Annabel with a blind-related game (probably something to do with Braille), and then we will send him back something to try to guess. Fun, huh? My sister and I both think it's a great opportunity for both kids!

What do you think?