Emergency vehicles and personnel were gathering there for a large showcase of emergency preparedness and response.
I was surprised at the number of different types of vehicles and mobile command units that are available depending on the nature of the emergency. We toured through firetrucks, ambulances, decontamination units, buses converted to multi-person emergency treatment vehicles, police cars, a police boat, armoured units, and search and rescue mobile units. They also had a police helicopter and a news helicopter there, but no ambulatory helicopter. It surprised me, but the boys were adamant that they did NOT want to see in the helicopters, so we skipped them.
We were able to meet and pet two search-and-rescue dogs and we had a nice long chat with a search-and-rescue volunteer. It surprised me to learn that all search-and-rescue personnel are volunteers, requiring approximately 300 hours of volunteer time per year. I talked to her for a good long time before Cris excused himself and Toviel followed suit. Elijah and I remained and talked some more with her about the nature of her work, training, sleuthing, the processes and procedures they use, the other teams they work along side, and how heavily they rely on evidence. I was very interested and when we got home I was surprised to hear Elijah say how he was very interested in what she had to say. I just about fell off my chair as I'm fairly certain I have never heard those words come through his lips unless he was referring to something completely mythical or magical. I am afraid to pry much further to discover what interested him the most, or ask if he would like to find out more for fear of overwhelming him or seeming pushy. I'm just excited he was interested enough to stay in a hot stuffy bus, listening to a stranger go on and on about her volunteer work...and on and on and on. But, I agree with Elijah- it was totally interesting!
We spent a short time at the playground before heading home, after which we went to CanadianTire and purchased a 14' trampoline and safety enclosure. We will have to spend some time levelling the back yard before we set it up, but we are all pretty excited!
Before bed the boys played Minecraft and I went for a walk. Instead of me reading, we continued listening to the Ralph S. Mouse audiobook. I recently discovered how to borrow audiobooks from the library by download. It's nice to know that I can still learn things, including how to post blogs with a mobile app!
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