Glasses for everyone! Ok, not really. Just glasses for Alan. Nathan is in the minority now. And they’re not glasses like my glasses. You know, blind as a bat glasses that I wear all the time. They’re reading glasses. Wow, that was a shocker for me. Alan usually has no problems with his eyes. I joked that we must be getting old. After he got them he played around quite a bit taking the glasses off and putting them to his lips, that pensive, I’m thinking look. Bwa ha ha!

And on a less funny front…news on Isabelle’s eyes. We’ve been patching now since the end of August. Isabelle’s eyes actually seem worse. Two years ago, when the optometrist checked Isabelle, she said she was seeing 20/40. At her last appointment it was like she couldn’t see anything. At home, she has to put things inches in front of her eye to see. It’s a lot disheartening.

I am a little irritated with the opthamologist’s department. First, I never really cared for the opthamologist. He made us feel bad the first time we saw him, like we did everything wrong. For years. Like we should have been patching or doing something way earlier. Like we are big failures. Poop on him.

Second, his nurse, though usually nice, seems not on top of things. For Isabelle’s last appointment in August, she called and left a message saying she would call us again to reschedule but she never called back. Then when I’d call I’d get a full message box. Then for our appointment this week I called and left a message to have someone call me to cancel and reschedule the kids’ appointments. I never got a call back. I ended up canceling it online. I received an email today and only Nathan was rescheduled.

Third, the hospital is not convenient for us. It’s a half hour away over a toll bridge. There is one closer to us, half that distance. I guess that last complaint isn’t a biggie but when you add it on top of the first two…SIGH.

I must call tomorrow and see if we can go to the closer hospital. I can’t remember now why we were sent to the further one? Maybe the opthamologist is a pediatric opthamologist? Big old poopy one. BIG SIGH again.

Sorry such a downer post. Tomorrow (or the day after depending on Nathan’s temperament and his willingness to let me sit at the computer) will be a happier post. A fire station tour post!! Whoo hoo! Whoo hoo!

This week our homeschool meetup group went on a fire station tour!! A FIRE STATION!!! Ok, I may be a big kid because obviously I was super excited about it. I told my sister and she was all, ho hum we’ve been to a fire station. Whereas I’m all, FIRE STATION!! Maybe it’s because I don’t ever remember going on a tour of a fire station before as a kid. It’s a new experience.

No, who am I kidding? I AM a big kid. FIRE STATION!! I think I was probably more excited than Isabelle to go.

See, she was a little hesitant.

Right when we walked in, I was surprised. It wasn’t what I was expected. I guess I’ve been watching too many movies. When I think of fire stations in movies, they are old and made with brick, with a fire pole, and a big space upstairs where all the firemen sleep.

Well, this was nothing like that. This was a new fire station, only one floor, and no fireman pole (we learned that the only fire station in Contra Costa County with a pole is located in Pinole). And not a big spacious room upstairs for all the fireman to sleep in. Instead, small bedrooms. They even had an exercise room.

That station only has three firemen on duty at a time. Three! That was quite a surprise too. I always thought there would be more. And I believe there were three bedrooms there so each fireman had his own space though I think all the bedrooms had three beds in it.

The firemen talked to the kids. It was all so interesting. They talked about drop and roll if you’re on fire. Calling 911 in an emergency. Crawling out of a house when there is a fire because smoke is so thick you cannot see you fingers in front of your face. Replacing fire alarm batteries with the time change. Replacing fire extinguishers every year or two; you can practice with the old ones. I think ours are probably ten years old! They talked about how a fire station was closing nearby and how that effects us. They can’t go into a house for rescue unless there are more firemen. That means waiting for another truck to arrive. And seeing how there are only three firemen to a station, that makes sense.

Fireman Chris (I think I got his name right. We were a few minutes late, oops, so must have missed the introductions) was telling us about this big map they use when they got a call. Or is it called dispatched? I don’t know. Anyhoo, they had to rush off.

That was another surprise. They get ten to fifteen calls a day. Wow. I didn’t know that. They are not all fires. They go out for medical and other calls.

This call happened to be right down the street so we hung around the station while they went off real quick with sirens blaring. When they got back, we went outside to check out the fire truck!

They talked about the tools they use, like the jaws of life, axes, and chain saws. They talked about their firetruck and how it holds water and foam for fires. Then fireman Chris let the kids try on his coat and hat. I even tried it on but no pictures. And I couldn’t get Isabelle to try, so no pictures of her in an oversized fireman’s coat either.

Then fireman Chris put on his entire outfit to show the kids. In a fire kids are usually frightened already. But then you add a fireman breathing through a mask like Darth Vader coming for them, they get even more scared. So, Chris showed them that there was nothing to be scared of.

I think the funniest thing Chris said here was, he asked the kids if they knew why firemen wore suspenders. To keep their pants from falling off. They get very heavy in the water.

We followed that with sitting in the fire truck!

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a fire truck. But now I have!!

Then all the kids got to try a hose!!

Isabelle liked it so much she wanted to line up again.

I even got a try.

photo by Kelli

Can you see how happy I was? Ecstatic. Me = goober.

Then we ended with the kids getting some firemen gear.

A little toy hat, pencil, and a sticker badge.

With a final picture with fireman Tom we were done with our tour.

It was awesome!

I am thankful for so many things but mostly for my little family.

Here are our monthly family photos.

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

We had a nice Thanksgiving at home. I made something easy, no turkey. A roast beef with herb and garlic crust, a couple of gigantic baked yams (or are they called sweet potatoes), loads of baked potatoes and a small batch of brussel sprouts. The most difficult thing I made was an apple pie right when I woke up in the morning. One like this apple pie with individual leaves. But the rest, I just threw it in the oven all together for about an hour or so. Easy and yummy.

My friend, Olinda, and her friend, Keith, came over for a short visit. We ate, talked, and played with the Wii. Weeee!! And I was mentioning how I haven’t practiced the guitar in months. Or drawn. I’ve been missing it. Do you know the last time I sat down at the computer to draw was back in May? And I haven’t drawn anything in my sketchbook since probably September.

So, yesterday, while people were out shopping, I stayed home nice and warm playing with my guitar and drawing. I did this on the computer. It’s me, missing drawing.

And then today, I sat down to draw again because I do really miss it.

I didn’t take any pictures of our Thanksgiving meal so that’s what I drew.

What did you do on Thanksgiving? Did you go out and brave the crowds on black Friday?