Touch-A-Truck (Not So Much)
20+ trucks up close. Free to touch, climb on, and honk the horn … on a sunny Spring day in Park Slope. What could possibly go wrong?
It seemed that about every little boy under six in a 5-mile radius brought their extended entourage to this hugely popular PS 295 fundraising event. It took us about 30 minutes in line just to enter the block. By that time, massive lines had formed to “drive” any vehicle of interest. Tobin had set his eyes on one of the popular fire trucks, and we patiently queued up for about 40 minutes. Above you can see how close we got … when the firemen suddenly got called to duty and had to leave the event. Crushed, Tobin and Mika just wandered past the non-lineup attractions: fire safety education, an open Corvette engine, and a few vintage cars. We spent another 40 minutes in line for food, and on our way out got lucky: 10 minutes wait to “drive” the garbage truck, right before they packed up and left as well. Note to self: next time, arrive early!
Posted in Daily Musings, Photos
cynthia responded on April 11th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Poor Mika and Tobin.
FWIW Saturday, I bumped into the owner of the coffee shop by our house before we left for Touch-a-Truck, and he was taking his 2.5 year old. This morning I bumped into him again, he asked if we went, and we both groaned and rolled our eyes at the crowds, the ONLY other person in the shop was ALSO A DAD of a little boy who was there and piped up about the lines. I shared Tobin and Mika’s Tale of woe and they all felt bad for him. (and you)
ninja responded on April 11th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
I was actually REALLY excited to take them to the event, and would’ve loved for it to work out more relaxed. When that fire truck pulled away, Tobin was too sad to even act angry. I could see his heart miss a beat and he got really, really quiet.
A friend of Mika (7) and his little brother (2) were taken by their mom as well, and she actually lost her older boy for a whole 10 minutes in the crowd. Can you imagine? But who would’ve thought it get that crazy…