Old Fogeys and Firetrucks

I truly experienced my first feeling of "gosh I am old" at the graduation party of my cousin Joseph, the oldest of my younger cousins. There is a 12 year age difference between me (the oldest and only girl) and Joseph, and a fairly substantial age difference between the first batch of cousins and the second.

Joe graduated from Plum High School in Pittsburgh. He is going to attend Community College to obtain his EMT certification. Like my uncle Rick (Joe's dad) Joe wants to be a firefighter. Naturally then, the party was held at the Holiday Park VFD where my uncle is a captain.

We always have a wonderful time getting together, and as the boys grow older, they at least have started talking to me :) Morgan continued to charm everyone, there was cake, so she and I were both happy, and we had lots of fun chatting with my mom's siblings and their families.

Me and The Boys (Jeff-29, Joe-18, me, Stephen-16, Zachary-15)

*absent are my two cousins Andrew and Matthew, the second half of the older crew**

The highlight of the party (at least for me and Morgan) was the chance to get a ride in the brand new, 1.3 million dollar ladder truck that the VFD had just received a few months before. It's always been great having family involved with the fire department. I remember sleeping in the firemen's bunks during my uncle Rick and aunt Dawn's wedding, getting to wear the fire gear as a kid, and just being amazed at how fast Uncle Rick could tear out of the driveway when the fire whistle blew.

A bunch of us loaded up and like kindergarteners were ooohhhing and aaahhhing all over the place. We were pressing buttons, opening boxes, playing with equipment, and just simply had a good time.

Captain PaPa

Lovebirds (SIL Cecelia and brother Jeff)

Uncle Rick took us up to a school parking lot where he put down the braces and raised the ladder on the truck about 105 feet out at a 50 degree angle. We played with the sirens, Dad ran right up the extended ladder, and believe it or not (see the video proof below) I climbed up the ladder when it was about 45 feet extended. For someone deathly afraid of heights, I was amazed at myself! Up wasn't so bad. Once I realized how high I was, down was terrifying! But I was the only other one to do it other than my fighter pilot dad, so I was proud of myself.

Oh yes folks, this was my view from the bottom!

Yikes!

Morgan had a great time. She rang the bells and watched the lights. In all honesty, she was the best one about wearing her seatbelt and not touching things. The adults, on the other hand, were not the best of role models :) But hey, we had a great time!

We returned home utterly exhausted. Thankfully the swing set was up, and Morgan was asleep so it was going to be a big surprise Sunday morning.