Public Works Day

Last Thursday was one of our favorite Eugene events - Public Works Day. We went for the first time last year and decided to make it a family tradition (for one more year). Although, next year it might be worth the 5 hour drive down from Seattle. On Public Works Day all the public works departments in Eugene bring their big machines to the public works yard and put them on display so kids (and/or parents) can try them out. They also put out several exhibits for you to learn about all the things that the different departments do around the city. As you can imagine it is a little boys dream to be able to "drive" trackers, police cars, police motorcycles, street sweepers, pumper trucks and to see dump tracks, excavators, and mini bulldozers in action.
This year Matthew's favorite machines were the red ones. Red has become his favorite color . . . you know, "Red like a fire truck." Luckily there were plenty of red machines to be found. We went after preschool, right during lunch time, so there weren't many lines to ride the machines. Matthew had free reign to bounce from machine to machine and ride them multiple times. At first even an ice cream bribe couldn't get him to leave, but after some more heat and exhaustion and the promise of a goody bag at the exit, we prevailed.
Matthew brought home several new treasures from the day, including another hard hat. So, with his hard hat from Kevin and Mary, the one from Public Works day last year, and the one from Public Works day this year, the whole family is equipped with hard hats. Let us know if anyone runs across a tiny hard hat for Little Brother. We wouldn't want him to feel left out come July.