"Katie fly helicopter later"

Katie's current obsessions include flags, water towers and helicopters. She has decided she is going to fly helicopters and talks about them a lot. Sometimes when you pick her up out of bed, the first thing she says is, "Katie fly helicopter later."

So you can imagine her excitement when we recently attended Tyler's 4th birthday party at the nearby fire station, which includes a helicopter. We weren't able to climb aboard or even nearby, but we were lucky enough to be there when it lifted off. Katie was thrilled until it actually flew away, at which point she sobbed. We think she expected to be aboard.

Tyler, the birthday boy, and Katie

Cooper was the oldest child at the party, and he relied on his past party experience and extensive fire safety facts, showing the kids how to Stop, Drop and Roll and answering lots of firefighter questions.

It's not so easy to gather 20 or so toddlers for a group photo.