Wet and wild

We were on our way to the bus stop this morning when we spotted a city employee flushing a fire hydrant down the street. Carrie was amazed at the water and it was a good moment to explain how the fire trucks hook their hoses up to it when there's a fire and all that. The worker drove his truck down one of the dead ends in our neighborhood as some of the other kids were coming to the bus. He flushed that one too. The kids caught on and start looking around for the next one. Sure enough, it's right across the street from the bus stop! They're talking about why he's doing it and how they think it's because frost will mess up the water inside (we've had frost the past two nights and it is chilly at the bus stop in the morning!), etc. Well, the bus is on the main street by now and is waiting its turn to turn left and enter the neighborhood. As it starts to turn in, the worker opens the bus stop hydrant. The kids are just gleeful as they watch it gush across the street and head for the drain beside them. The bus pulls up, naturally Carrie is the last to get on. She is the smallest and youngest kid at this stop. The water is coming on the street straight for her and she has to get from the sidewalk, over the curb, over the water, and onto the bus. I yell, "go Carrie go!" and she starts chicken hopping around. So I grab her and practically toss her across the water to get to the bus. I wish someone had had a video camera so they could capture not only her frantic attempt to get across, but the bus driver's bellylaugh as he watches the whole thing. She is so tiny and the water is so fast and he's such a cool guy... it made my whole morning. And as I went back home I told the worker, "you totally made their morning!" and he laughed too. Too bad it wasn't in the summertime when they could have all really played in it...