Today we attended the Fourth Annual Touch a Truck fund-raiser at University Mall. Basically, this involves a whole bunch of police cars, fire trucks, buses, construction equipment, etc parked in the University Mall parking lot while millions of screaming toddlers clamber up into their driver’s seats in order to lean on their incredibly loud, industrial-strength horns for several minutes at a stretch.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. It started at noon, and Griff is a strict right-after-lunch napper, so we knew we had a short window of opportunity. He had a great time right up until his tiredness caught up with him while waiting in line and we had to drag him off while he screamed about “MY firetruck”. For about 15 miles.

He loved the helicopter. He could have spent a half hour playing in the cockpit.

And he loved the motorcycle…

And the dump truck…

…and this giant bus…

…And the ambulance.

We grabbed lunch at the mall before the event and when Sean foolishly left to find the potty, I grabbed Griff and ran into The Red Hen, a children’s and maternity consignment shop. This place is everything a consignment store should be. It has a fantastic, clean, well-organized selection of clothes, toys, and other items, the prices are excellent, it has a play area, and the staff are wonderful. I found the most awesome Viking ship toy for Griff, and while I was checking out I commented to him that he only had to wait a few more minutes to see the big trucks outside. The woman at the register overheard this and offered to hold the item for me so I could come back with my Touch a Truck armband and get a 20% discount. SCORE!

So yeah, is this thing not amazing?

The historical accuracy is stunning. Here we have a typical Viking family of four, out for a Vike in their longboat. In the back are Pa and Ma Viking. Pa has braided his beard for the occasion.

Up front are the Vikelets, fighting over who is taking up more room on the rowing bench. “MAAAAaaAAA! Thorfinn is TOUCHING ME!”

Here we see the family as they head off to sack a monastery (we can assume this because the only supplies in the boat are an empty barrel and an empty treasure chest, so they must be planning to pick up a snack and some valuable gold altar pieces while they’re out and about). Ma and Pa are canoodling in the back while Thorfinn is making Snorri smell his feet.

The hammer of the gods/will drive our ships to new lands…