Our typical Sunday often includes a bike ride up Mount Rose for Brian while I try to wrangle the boys into the tub and get everyone ready for church. This Sunday we decided to bypass the visit to church mainly because we are all just now feeling back to normal after a week of cold/allergy symptoms and have no desire to go through that all again. The parishioners at St. Patrick's (http://tahoeepiscopal.org/) are a very loving group and they flock to our kids during the greeting portion of the service. I can't say that this is how we all picked up the cold bug but it's certainly a possibility. Needless to say, we chose an alternate community activity for this Sunday...The Washoe County Sheriff's picnic and Lifesaver's Appreciation Day at the Village Green.
Several agencies were present to help the community understand the role they play in everyday emergencies and disaster preparedness. There were fire trucks, rescue boats, all terrain vehicles, bomb squad units, K-9 units, the fire department training tower, SWAT vehicles and gear, and HELICOPTERS!!!!! There was also a barbecue for everyone and a bouncy house for the kids in the Aspen Grove picnic area.
Ben had a great time climbing into and on lots of the vehicles and bouncing in the bouncy house. But above all he loved the helicopters. He politely asked the pilot of the medical emergency helicopter if he could sit inside and was thrilled with the positive response. Sam chose to nap for much of the excitement.
Following our barbecue lunch, Brian and Ben watched a demonstration with one of the K-9 units with a Sheriff's dog taking down a "perpetrator." They used a percussion grenade to signal the dog as they might in a real situation. Following that the bomb squad detonated a couple of things with a huge crowd looking on. We watched alongside Santa Claus, a local in Incline, fellow parishioner at St. Pat's, children's advocate, and Presidential write-in candidate (http://www.santaslink.net/). He also chose to miss the church service to be at the picnic (his reason was much more commendable as he was there as part of Incline's Community response team for disasters).
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