The various fire stations around Blaine/Spring Lake Park have been hosting open houses. We went to the one last night at the station down by Calvin Christian School. John was so excited to go. He said "I'm going to go be a fireman!" And on the drive over he said a few times to Hanna "I'm going to be a fireman, and you're going to be a firelady!"

When we got there, first thing they did was get to help spray a fire hose. Then, they clambered around a big fire truck. Sparky the Fire Dog (a person in a costume) was there, and both kids liked giving Sparky hugs. We had some popcorn and cookies and koolaid. There was a police car they climbed through. And an ambulance. The ambulance periodically sounded its sirens, and that got John a little nervous. It was kinda loud.

On the way back to the car (we parked by Calvin) we ran into Jack and Julia and Jace, who were just arriving. Then, the kids played on the playground till dark.

I have school tomorrow. Twins play tonight and tomorrow afternoon. I'm not crazy about their chances.

I submitted a guest column to the Star Tribune, but they didn't print it. So, I've put it on the website. You can find it here.