Of all the days to leave my camera at home.

Saturday was quite possibly one of the biggest days of young Liam's life. First, we went to swimming lessons, and he got his report card. He passed from Bobbers to Floaters! All two dozen or so skills had check marks in the boxes. After our skating report card, this was good news indeed. :)

On our way out of the Y after our lessons, we stopped to admire the fire trucks at the station across the road - they always bring them out on Saturday morning (for maintenance? To wash? - I'm really not sure.) And a kindly fireman who saw us invited us in for a private tour of the fire station. We spent the next 45 minutes climbing into fire trucks, checking out their equipment, seeing a fireman slide down the pole and a truck leave on a call (sirens on!)... I have to admit, it was really neat. I have never been in the fire station and even I thought it was all pretty interesting. The guy who gave us the tour was the nicest guy - he totally made Liam's day.

Of course I left my camera home on Saturday morning. I am kicking myself now.

I did get a few good photos later in the day, when we went to a birthday party at a local dance studio. It was Maggie's 3rd birthday and they were treated to a private dance lesson before we had pizza and cake. Here they are warming up. I have to say, the lesson was way over the heads of these kids... I don't think they know what popping their shoulders means. But they had a lot of fun.After the warmup, it was time for ballet. The instructor brought out a box of tutus and Liam went for one along with all the girls... who was I to stop him?This is potential blackmail material, I know. These pictures might resurface 25 years from now during Liam's wedding slideshow. You saw them here first.
After the ballet, the kids all put on headsets and they danced to a song called "Pop Princess". Liam was allowed to do a gangster nod instead of doing the "I'm a pop... pop... pop princess" line.After that, the instructor clued in that the oldest kid in the room was 6 and really... these complex choreographed routines were way over their heads. So she brought out a box of coloured scarves and let the kids run around with them. Big, big hit!! They certainly slept well Saturday night.