Things to do with kids in the winter

We are in that lovely shoulder season of North Idaho Winter that I refer to as a very cold hell where there's no snow, its really frigid, you can't play outside without snot freezing in your nostrils and it is dark at 4pm.

Luckily one of my friends has a husband who works at the Sagle Fire Station as a firefighter and I kind of invited myself to go with her to visit him. Thankfully she agreed to let me bring my hooligans.


Oh what fun it is to take the kids to the fire station. They let them sit in the new fire truck and see the lights, hear the horn & siren, and they put their head phones on them.


As you can see from the photo Brady was so excited he almost passed out. He honestly didn't say hardly anything, he was mesmerized! (think I need to gets me some high techie headphones to keep both kids quiet!)


Then the firefighters did a fun skit about the fire danger of Christmas trees. They talked all about fire safety, gave Mark and I tips, and really talked to the kids.


Brady was a tad bit more interested in their toy helicopter, but Kaylee soaked up EVERY WORD THEY SAID and was on fire patrol all weekend, lecturing us on leaving the lights on the tree, turning lights off in every room, and telling us that the firemen would be so proud of her.


They also gave the kids their own badges, fireman hats and all kinds of goodies. Brady is now a junior fireman: before he had his own "woo woo" boots and fireman coat, he just needed the hat:





While we were there we learned that they have this FUN tradition. Anytime anyone gets in the paper, on the news, any kind of publicity (even if its just their backside) they have to buy the whole station ice cream. I asked if putting a photo on my blog would count and they said yes.


So, here's the photo: (that's going to be a LOT of ice cream)