A Walk To Remember-wrapping up our communities study

We wrapped out study of the community a couple of days ago but since blogger was down I had to wait to update. We spent the morning pretending to be "on call" firefighters. The kids took turns laying down and "sleeping" as I would awaken them with an alarm that there was a fire. They quickly got up, "dressed" in their boots, pants, coats and helmets, jumped into their firetrucks and sprayed the fire. Also, we talked about if there was a fire, how we would crawl, would we stand, etc. We practiced crawling on the ground and talked about not hiding under beds, in closets and I showed them pictures of firefighters and how they were there to help us.

The kids also painted, colored, stamped and created their own firetruck out of a diaper box. They worked pretty diligently on this endeavor for 30+ minutes and it was pretty cute when they were through. Finally, we went outside and took turns helping to hold the "fire" hose as the kids put out the flower fire. I still want to have them visit the local fire station but honestly, with everything I have going on this upcoming week I am not sure that will be possible. We ended our time reading Curious George and the Firetruck, and a few related firefighter books 

It was really nice, the morning was cool and sunny. All three kids jumped on their bikes, I put Hannah in the stroller and we set off to see how many community workers we could find. The really cool thing about where my house is located is that it is near the Town Hall, Fire Station, Chamber of Commerce, etc. We walked/rode down the quiet streets, passed the fire station observing the clean fire trucks inside their garage and crossed the street to the Town Hall.

There is a beautiful fountain that we sat and enjoyed for a few minutes and then walked over to the chamber of commerce to get a map of our town. We noticed construction workers, firefighters, ambulance drivers, town employees, police officers, and park workers. The kids ran around the playground after our walk. I chased them some but Hanns was in my arms so it was slow going for us. I pulled out the chamber of commerce map and we practiced locating coordinates, ie: E2 for different business or town sites. The kids also enjoyed hiding in this huge bush that has a peek hole with purple flowers all around it. I can only imagine how exciting it felt to them to be in their only secret "fort".

I remember, as a little girl in kindergarten, getting off the school bus in the winter and feeling so excited and full of adventure as I walked to the huge snow forts my Dad would create for us with all the snow that was plowed out of the street and into our yards. My Dad would carve out, with a shovel, rooms and crevices, walkways and paths and I would pretend to carefully tread along the winding path that wove its away against the jagged points of a cliff. I would sit inside the cave feeling cozy, warm and alone. This is a very special memory for me so I enjoy watching the boys create this in their own lives as well.

We headed up after being gone most of the morning and as we were walking home Austen heard a train sounding its horn ( is that what its called?) and he goes, " Look, it's in the community" - ahh, success :)

Last week in Cooperation- studying the family and church and the need for cooperation!!!! Almost DONE!!!