M.F.T.U

What does Jamie do at work? I am glad you asked. Many of Oregon's fire departments are volunteer. Jamie helps the departments in his area provide training for their fire fighters. He teaches them in a class room or provides hands on training. One of the things they need most, is interaction with fire. So, he brings it to them.

Meet the M.F.T.U. (Mobile Fire Training Unit). It is a semi trailer that gets hauled all over the state, that, when set up, can provide many different fire fighting strategies. In the picture below, the trailer was set up to practice ventilating a roof and is three stories tall. They can use it for a one story house, with a bedroom, simulate fires on a second floor, or fires in a basement. Jamie worked with fire departments with this trailer for several months at the end of last year. It kept him very busy, since most departments do evening training.






I brought the kids over when the trailer was in Jefferson. I thought they might like to see what dad does, and get to see a couple fire trucks. They did ventilation the first day and fires the next two. They weren't very interested in ventilation, since it was three stories up and they couldn't see it. But they found other things to do...

...like play in a fire engine...


...or watch the football field...



But here is the fun part.





Jamie has a control room at the front of the trailer where he turns on the fire, fills it with smoke, or shuts it all off. There is also a window in there where he can watch. I took the kids in there to watch a couple attempts. JJ made us all laugh when the first fire came up in front of the window. He got a little scared, but as soon as the fire fighters came in and sprayed the fire with water, he thought that was neat, and immediately wanted to see it again. Now when we have a camp fire, he asks where the firemen are.

8

Samantha turned 8 in July. She was so excited to have a party with some of her friends and cousins. We were lucky that it still wasn't getting to hot out, so we were able to enjoy an outside party. She got many great gifts that she couldn't wait to play with. I can't believe how fast she is growing up and how much she is learning every year.

Newport

In July, Jamie had a meeting with all his training co-works in Newport. He was there for several days with an afternoon off in the middle. We thought it might be fun do drive out fore the afternoon, keep Jamie company and visit the ocean. We also took the kids to the aquarium. The kids had a lot of fun seeing the sea lions, fish, and sharks.

Washington Cousins

Grandma and grandpa watched the Washington cousins for a couple days. I took the kids to grandma's so they could all play. They all had so much fun and I know they are looking forward to the next visit.

JJ on the swing, which is now a favorite activity at grandma's.

Samantha and her cousin bumping feet.

Samantha and another cousin bumping feet.

Grandma, a couple cousins, and Riley on the big swing.

History Repeated

We have two of these Dora power wheels quads that Jamie got for the girls when he came back form his last deployment and couple years ago. They have been sitting in garage over the winter. When the weather started getting nicer, we moved them to the back yard, but then had to find the chargers. The girls love these "Dora bikes" (as we call them around here) and ask often to ride them. And the boys often try to.

Jamie has this story that he has told me a few times about how when he was a kid, he had a power wheel three wheeler. He said that after a while the battery wouldn't hold a charge more then 10 minutes no matter how long it was plugged in. Well, being the crafty guy that was (is?) he convinced the neighborhood kids to push him around on it.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. . .

Spring Concert

Samantha's school had a Spring Concert series. While waiting for it to start, I was talking with a friend about future concerts and how in a few years, I will be attending these all week since the school only does a few grades each night. Something to look forward to. . . Here is "a" picture of Samantha singing one of the songs. I have a few more, but the lighting did something really funky to everyone's eyes and they all looked possessed. Some thing to deal with if I ever find time to scrap book again.
The concert went well. They had two other groups perform that night, her's being last. Their group, I think, did the best. You could understand almost all of what they sang. They also had some extra things for a lot of the kids to do each song. Sam was picked for some lighting control for one of the songs, and was very excited about it. She did very well.

Books

My kids love books. They love to look at books. They love to read books. They love to listen too books. They love to make paths with books. They love to build with books. They love to tear books. And I love it when I find them sitting (quietly) with a book.

I love how focused he seems to be.

And, of course, the digital age has spoiled us in that we can pull out our camera for anything and everything. So a common phrase in our house, is "Mom, take my picture." And when I do pull out the camera, everything becomes posed, and they all want to be in the pictures. So here is Andrea, doing what she can to be "on film."

Andrea reading a book.

They do look cute reading a book together, though.