The Big Trucks Return

Just a year ago, Finley and I checked out a "Touch a Truck" event in Newton and while he was just beginning what is now a love/obsession of big vehicles, the morning was quite memorable.

http://findingfinley.blogspot.com/2011/09/touch-truck-aka-wait-in-line.html

 Yesterday, we went back again and it was a very different experience one year later since Finley is much more vocal, articulate, and opinionated plus I had Dagny strapped to my chest ;)  On our way to the event, Finley and I chatted about what we be going on and I reminded him about waiting in long lines to sit in the trucks and the possibility of some loud horns, sirens, and such.  He said he didn't want it to be noisy there (too bad) and that he could wait his turn (he did).

Turns out it was super loud near the police cars, but whenever we were in a line or a truck that wasn't near them, it wasn't bad at all.  The lines were awful but the most awful part was the seemingly clueless parents/grandparents that didn't realize that keeping their kids sitting in the trucks for over 5 minutes was the reason that the lines were all so long.  I kept an eye on my watch each time Finley finally made his way into a truck and we were in and out within two minutes--sometimes less if from the high vantage point, Finley would see another truck he wanted to check out!  Here are the first couple of trucks we checked out:

1. backhoe - can you sense the excitement???

2. front loader

Waiting in line was much easier with a snack in hand!

3. supermarket big rig (Finley was psyched it had a green cab, his favorite color).

4. dump truck

He looked so much bigger in the trucks than he did last year, but still pretty tiny in comparison to the scale of the vehicles.

5. crane

6. moving truck (using the free flashlight keychain like a key).  He said he was driving us to the "new yellow house" - so sweet.

The back of the moving truck had empty boxes that were a big hit.

We took an ice cream break (yes, there was an ice cream truck there! These touch-a-truck people aren't idiots) and then made our way over to the louder side of the parking lot to see the fire truck.  The lines were MEGA-long to sit into the truck, so we opted for the shorter line to sit on the fender and ring the bell.

Nearby was a flatbed trailer that Finley eagerly climbed aboard and had a dance party on.

Dagny woke up and made it known that she had had it, so I asked Finley if it was okay for us to head home and he kindly said, "How about one more truck, Mommy?" I couldn't turn down such a polite request and lucky for us, he spotted an ambulance and said that would be a good one.  To his surprise, the driver/paramedic was inside!  They chatted for a bit and then we were off.

There's another such event 5 minutes from our house next weekend, so we'll see if Aunt Caitlin wants to see this fun in person!  I assumed Finley would pass out on the 30 minute ride home, but he was too busy talking about all the trucks and snacking on some pretzels.  This made for an excellent afternoon nap later on :) Everyone wins!