Jack does Lagoon

This summer Ariane and I decided that Jack might like to go to Lagoon with us.  We were right.  Jack loves Lagoon so much he thanks Heavenly Father for Lagoon in his prayers.  When we drive by the park on the freeway Jack exclaims from the back seat, “Lagoon! There it is! Go there.”

Jack enjoys the classic Lagoon rides that have been there since I was a kid.  Like Bulgy the Whale, the Helicopters and the Bumper Cars. 

 

He really likes riding with his sister Lucy.

He also enjoys the new rides like the jeeps of Red Rock Rally.

Though his favorite is the Animal Kingdom Train.  He loves trains, animals and riding with his Mom.

 

Entertaining Jack

In the previous Entertaining Jack post I told how Jack enjoyed watching clips of fire trucks on YouTube. Well we'd had about enough of watching that same 9 minute clip over and over. Ariane went out and found something else for him to obsessed with, TRACTORS.



This clip that she found is some sort of advertisement for a tractor company in England, but it works since it keeps Jack entertained.  It has however made him obsessed with tractors. 

His wildest dreams came true when on a recent trip to Wyoming my uncle James gave Jack a ride around the ranch on a tractor.  Since then we still hear from Jack, "James, tractor, ride it, blue one". 

Now anytime we see a tractor Jack insists that he needs to ride it.  What a funny little boy.

Baseball Tee Shirts

I started a tradition several years ago where I would get Lucy a t-shirt from every baseball stadium I visited.  As seen in these previous blog posts, 2009 and 2010.  During our trip this last spring to Ohio and Kentucky I thought it was appropriate to continue this tradition with Lucy and Jack.

The Cleveland Indians

The Cincinnati Reds

 I was a little hesitant to buy Reds shirts for the kids, since they are a division rival of the St. Louis Cardinals and there has been some bad blood between the two teams the last three or four year but it’s not like there cubs shirts.

We also picked up some Eastern Kentucky University Colonels shirts for the kids and Ariane as well.

Not to forget about the Cardinals this mother’s and father’s day Ariane and I got matching Cardinals jerseys. 

What a good looking pair.

Entertaining Jack

One of Jacks favorite activities is to go the fire station and see the fire trucks or the “we-lows as he calls them. The name “we-low” comes from the sound that the siren makes. He gets kind of excited when he sees them on TV as well, so the other day I decided to pull up some videos on YouTube of fire trucks. I didn’t really think he would sit and watch it for long but the video I pulled up was nine minutes long and he sat there and watched the whole thing.


This has started quite the craze at our house. Jack often comes to me and says, “Daddy, puter, we-low”, or roughly translated he wants to watch fire trucks on my computer. So I pull out the computer and put a video like this one on. I have to say as a firefighter I’m pretty excited about this interest in fire trucks and I am going to do everything I can to keep it going.

Promotion

A couple of weeks ago we had a promotion ceremony for the Kaysville Fire Department (KFD). The Department promoted three Battalion Chiefs, four Captains, three Engineers and three new fire fighters. I was one of the new engineers getting promoted along with A.J. and Keri. The ceremony consisted of a swearing in by the mayor and a badge pinning ceremony.
For the pinning ceremony I was supposed to have a family member or someone else come up and pin my new badge on me. Ariane was going to do it but at the last second Lucy said she wanted to do it. Originally she declined the invitation so I was surprised to see her come up.
She needed some help doing it, after I got stabbed several times but it eventually got pinned on my shirt.

The whole family was there for the event, the kids even wore their firefighter shirts for the occasion.
I also had two fathers in law and one mother in law come as well as my own Dad.

Some friends and family have asked what I had to do to become and engineer and what I do know that I am an engineer. Now that I am an engineer it is my responsibility to drive the fire engine and pump water to the hose lines.
I am also assigned two department vehicles to make sure that they are maintained properly and that the equipment that they carry are in good condition.

To become and engineer I had to be certified to drive and pump the fire engine, which I had done a couple of years ago. To do this I had to take the states fire apparatus pumper course, which we did at Kaysville Fire and then pass the states written and skills test.

To get promoted at KFD once there were some openings I had to take a test. This consisted of a pumping scenario, getting water from the engine to the hose line in a timely manner and the right pressure, a driving test where they set up a bunch of cones and I had to show I could drive, and an oral board where I was asked questions about my knowledge about driving and pumping.

After all that I did not think I had done very well but it turns out that out of the five of us the tested I finished third overall, enough to get promoted. I ended up being moved up to second on the list when the number two guy got promoted to captain.

I have even had the chance to put my skills to use. We had a car fire where I was the engineer.
I managed to get us there in one piece and get water to the hose line. This job just keeps getting more fun all the time.

Lucy turns 6

Lucy turned 6 years old this week. She was really excited for her birthday this year. She got to be the star student in her class, so she made a poster about her and got to tell her class all about it. She also brought Oreo cookies to pass out to everyone. 
We threw Lucy a wild party. What kind of party would a little girl like; a princess party or perhaps a My Little Pony party? Nope, she wanted an Avengers party. Lucy is really into super heroes right now. To help with the hero theme we got Lucy a Black Widow costume, no not the gross, terrifying spider, but the super hero from the avengers. She is Lucy’s favorite.

 

She was so excited about it she wore it for two straight days, other than school. We also got her an Avengers shirt and a Thor helmet and hammer.

Ariane made super hero masks for all the kids, Wolverine masks, and we assembled the Avengers for a party.

 

It was fun, we played some super hero themed games. Like pin the hammer on Thor.

Black Widows bad guy shoot out.

They used paper plates to make their own Captain America shields.

Lucy got a bunch of fun presents from the kids.

We then fed them all Avengers cup cakes.

 

Lucy had so much fun and she is already planning next year’s party.

Christmas

It was another fun Christmas at our house. I really need to be better about taking pictures of stuff we do I didn’t take pictures of any of the places we went, parties we went to or activities we participated in. What I did get is some great pictures of the kids opening and playing with their presents on Christmas morning.

Lucy got a combination of Avengers and My Little Ponies for Christmas, both were a big hit for her.

My parents also got her this princess tent which has been a lot of fun for her.

It took Jack a few presents before he got the hang of opening them but once he did, boy look out. He even helped himself to opening a few presents that we were giving away.

His favorite present was this lawnmower that my parents got him. Jack loves lawnmowers and has made sure that the grass is really short in our house since he got it.



Ariane and I got Denver Broncos jerseys for our signature Christmas present.

They are having such a good year that it seemed like the perfect gift.



I hope your Christmas was as fun as ours and I’m sorry that your favorite football team is not as awesome as the Denver Broncos.