We Got Our Tonka On

Saturday afternoon Boy 1, Boy 2, myself, and the Grandmother headed to the John Q. Hammons Center for the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas' Touch A Truck event. It was "The best field trip ever!" according to Boy1.

When we got there we went right to the Tonka play center. It was awesome. They had sand boxes with Tonka trucks in them, Tonka tents, hard hats & vest for pictures, balls to play with, balloons, and Tonka mats for playing with even more Tonka trucks. My boys probably played there for 30 minutes before they were ready to go explore some of the big trucks.

I loved that the Tonka play center was located right by all the big construction equipment. My boys went from playing with a dump truck to exploring IN a dump truck. Brilliant.

For roughly 2.5 hours my boys climbed in and out of bucket trucks, tanks, school buses, cement trucks, semis, backhoes, dump trucks, police cars, firetrucks, swat trucks, and just about every other possible vehicle or service equipment known to man. They sat on motor-cylces, ate popsicles, learned about fire safety, shot a BB gun, had their faces painted, played in sand, played in dirt, played in rice, and painted pictures. They were given treats from various vendors and sponsors; candy, frisbees, rubber bracelets, coloring sheets, pencils, stickers, and temporary tattoos.

For roughly 2.5 hours on Saturday my boys were treated as if they were "King of the World" and they were allowed to act as such.

For roughly 2.5 hours my boys laughed, squealed, clapped their hands, jumped up in down in excitement, and sat in amazement.

Thank you to the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas, Tonka, and all the working men and women of Northwest Arkansas for bringing Touch a Truck to my boys. Thank you for giving Boy 1 "the best field trip ever!'

A Field Trip Worth Taking

This morning while I was working the calendar up, and listing out all the school trips and events our girls have in the next couple of weeks, Boy 1 says to me, "Momma, when do I get to go on a field trip?"

Hmm, I thought to myself. This is harder than it seems. Here is this sweet and inquisitive little boy looking up at me with these huge puppy dog brown eyes; watching me write his sisters names over and over again on the big family calendar wondering if I'm going to ever write his name on a square.

He wasn't whining when he asked, he wasn't complaining, or jealous. We haven't taught him that level of selfishness yet. He was genuinely asking.

I said, "Well q-pie lets see what we can find. All these trips are for your girls, that's how he refers to his sisters, and they go while they are at school, so we can't go to any of these"

"Well, we should play school and go somewhere to" he says to me.

Yep, I'm raising some pretty quick kids around here.

Luckily for me, I know a few people, most of those people know a lot more people, and most of us have Facebook. I've seen a couple of my friends had "joined" a " Touch A Truck" event, meaning they were planning on attending, but, I hadn't really thought much about it.

I was busy being a superstar in LTYM remember?

But now I was thinking about it, so the FB stalking commenced.

While stalking my friend Lela's page I saw a post she had shared highlighting the Touch A Truck event. Turns out the event is THIS Saturday, May 5th, 2012, well before any of the girls' school trips. I also found out this is the 6th annual event here, which means these people know what they're doing. Plus it's right down the road from Grandmother's house, it's at the John Q. Hammons Center. I'm thinking WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!

So, I kept on reading and discovered this event is so much more than just climbing in and out of big trucks. Some of the vehicles kids can explore include construction trucks, emergency vehicles, motorcycles, tractor-trailers and boats. Not everything has wheels.

Also, there will be an awesome Tonka Play Center setup right next to the BIG construction equipment, filled with sandboxes, trucks, play tents, balloons, fun photo ops, and goodies they plan on giving away. It's every little kids dream "field trip".

Plus, Tusk, the Arkansas Razorbacks hog, will travel from his home in Dardanelle for kids to see, and that alone deserves a WOOOOO PIG SOOIE!!

There will be face painting, bouncy houses, a Home Depot sponsored building project, Daisy BB Gun target practice, performances by other local kids, AND safety demonstrations so kids can get to know more about the public workers that serve and protect them, and are there to help.

Strike the Arkansas Naturals Baseball team mascot will be there, plus other Razorback mascots, and even the Chick-fil-a Cow. All ready and waiting to pose for pictures with the kiddos.

AND, as if that's not enough, they even thought about food! There will be a full concession stand offering hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream and all the other yummy goodies you're hoping for.

BONUS!! Tickets are only $5.00 a piece or $20.00 for a family and proceeds benefit the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas mission of promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

I think we just found our Field Trip. How about you?!?