Kyle's 4th Birthday at the Fire Station

I didn't even know you could have a birthday at the fire station until we got the invitation for Kyle's 4th birthday.  How cool is that?

The party started off with one of the firefighters talking about fire safety.  Telling the kids they should sleep with their doors closed and reminders to crawl on the ground, not touch hot door knobs, and of course to stop, drop, and roll.

One of the kids asked several funny questions, and kept his hand up most of the time until the fireman had to tell him that they would have to hold questions to the end.  :)

Then one of the fireman donned their fire suit as they told us what each piece was and why they needed it.

The fireman then went around and gave each of the kids a high five and talked about how if there was ever a fire in their house that this is what the fireman would look like and to not be afraid.  The boys didn't mind at all, but some of the other kids even after seeing just a normal man get dressed up into a "costume" still weren't so sure about the whole creepy darth vadar sounding man right in front of them.

Afterwards we went out to see the fire trucks.

They opened up all the doors and talked to the kids about what the various tools were for.  Tools for putting holes in the wall, and pulling walls down.  Landon's Dad Wade joked that by the end of the day someone would have a hole in their wall as the kids played fireman at home.

After the tour they let the boys sit in the fire trucks. 

Ryan and Kyle even got to drive it.

Connor was one of the first kids in and one of the absolute last to get out despite my repeated attempts to get him out short of going in after him.

Needless to say - he really enjoyed getting to sit in the fire truck.

And how many firefighters does it take to get 15 preschoolers lined up to take a picture?  At least half of the department.  :)

When we got back inside, Kyle's mom Lisa tried to set the fire station on fire with her lighter.  When she first clicked it over the cake it shot out an almost foot long flame.  They immediately took it away from the kids and were trying to turn the flame down to a more manageable level.  This was as low as it would go.

And how many fire fighters, and parents does it take to figure out how to light candles with a flaming blow torch.  Once again, far more than you would think... One of the mom's finally stepped up, pulled a candle out, lit it, and then used it to light the other candles on the cake.  Doh.

With the candles finally lit everyone sang Happy Birthday to Kyle and we all enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Afterwards, they pulled out one of the fire trucks and hosed the kids down with it for a few minutes.

It was actually pretty funny because they had blocked off the side entrance to the fire station so the kids had plenty of room to run and play.  All of the parents stood safely to the side near the fire station to avoid being sprayed and left the kids out in the field by themselves.  The second they turned on the fire hose the kids ran away screaming and made a beeline for the road. 

I was the closest to the kids taking cover behind an SUV hoping not to be sprayed and once we realized where the kids were headed we realized that at least some of us should stand out there to keep the kids from running into the thankfully pretty distant road. 

The kids really enjoyed being sprayed by the hose.  They particularly liked the game when the fireman would turn the water off, the kids would edge closer, and closer until the sprayed them all as they ran screaming away.