First Night

We like that this city really knows how to throw a party. Tonight was First Night and there were all sorts of stuff to discover. There were chimes to ring.


A very old fire truck. You can't see James' feet, but he has fire trucks on the bottom.


Under the 1st Street bridge was a presentation of 15 Minute Hamlet. The kids loved how silly the actors were.



There were also a pair of musical Tessla coils (yes, those Tessla coils) playing Christmas carols.


Auditorium Shores features art installations. Elena and Joseph ran around inside a bamboo tunnel-thing, while I staked out a spot near the clock tower.


People had the chance to write a resolution, wish, or whatever on scraps of wood and paper which were then put into the clock tower.


Then we burned it down. Something about the fire lifting our resolutions to the skies and the passage of time. I have to say that seeing a tower of flame with a clock face in silhouette and the hands spinning madly was moving, but I can't quite decide if it was profound. The heat was fantastic for warming up our chilled ears and noses, though, and we saw tons of spark-filled dust devils. It was very cool.


On the way back to the bus stop, we paused to listen to the Biscuit Brothers.


Happy New Year! I hope it's a good one.

Elena And The Firetrucks--2 For 2

The husband of one of the moms at play group is a fireman (captain, no less!) so we got to tour the firehouse, learn about smoke detectors and firefighter gear, climb in one of the trucks, and shoot water from one of the hoses. I forgot to bring my camera (shocking!) so I'll see if I can get pictures from one of the other moms. It took Elena a little bit to warm up to everything since it's all so *big* but she had a good time.

So good a time that when she saw a firetruck at our house, this morning (they were doing inspections and installing a smoke detector and fire extinguisher in the laundry room), she wanted to go see it. We found the firemen that went with it and chatted, telling them about our field trip the day before. On the way back to the house, we passed the truck again, and I heard a little "want to ride" squeak out of Elena's mouth.

"It's not my truck, sweetheart. We'll have to ask the firemen."

So we went back to the firemen, she stood nervously next to one's leg, then said "pleeeaaase."

"Do you want to ride the firetruck?"

"Uh-huh!"

We climbed in, tapped on one of the hats, looked at the heavy coats, and checked out the big boots. The firemen found Elena a tiny stuffed bunny and some fireman-badge stickers. Then they had to leave for their next stop and we had to hop off. It was really fun, though.