Nyan got a lot of birthday gifts and wishes, including an excellent one from Uncle Mike, Aunt Sarah and cousin Mia: a tour of the Iowa City Fire Department’s headquarters! The little guy was over the moon happy (Mia was pretty glad to take the tour as well). The firefighters showed us the pole, their living quarters, the administrative offices… and of course, the fire trucks.

And yes, as you can see, they let him sit in the driver’s seat:

The highlight of the visit, though was when the speakers came to life and our tour guide said he had to go out on a call! Nyan got to watch them climb into the truck and take off:

It was just a medical call; someone fell and hit their head; the firefighters handed the victim off to the ambulance and returned to finish the tour. We hate to say we were lucky to see a call – someone was hurt, after all – but still.

BONUS: A few days later, Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy walked with Nyan to the neighborhood fire station. It was a hot summer day, and the firefighters there welcomed us inside and gave us yet another tour. This station is HQ for the county Hazardous Materials team, so Nyan not only got to sit inside a fire truck; he got to get behind the wheel of a huge HazMat truck too! Pure bliss for this four year old boy.

Oh, they gave him a souvenir fire helmet too.