Day of the Dozer

Last Saturday, we spent the morning and part of the afternoon at Day of the Dozer.  It's a fundraising event for the Community Cancer Center.  Many of the local construction companies donate their equipment and time to let kids have a "real" construction experience.  We went to this when the boys were just 2, and they were enamored w/ the big equipment, but would not go on anything (even though we spent an hour in line:).  This time, they were definitely up for the experience and enjoyed every minute, well, except maybe for the waiting in line part:).  Warning - lots of pics ahead!!

 To start the day off right, Corny happened to wander by while we were waiting in line.  This was awesome, as the boys LOVE Corny!!

Love the excitement on Kyle's face - we saw a lot of this throughout the whole experience, which was so fun:)!!

 Hugs for Corny from Brock!

"Gimme 5, Corny!!"

 Yippee!!  Time for the first ride - on the big orange excavator!!

Looking at how the whole thing works.

 These poor operators dug the same hole from 10am until 3pm.  I only saw one guy take a break the whole time we were there, which was over 3 hours!!

Now, Kyle's turn.  The number of volunteers was awesome.  Not only did they have the operators, they also had people to escort the kids to each machine and to "direct traffic".  Lots of man power and so well done!!

 I thought it was funny how this guy stood the whole time he was in there:).

Still digging that same hole:).

Here was part of the line-up of diggers.  There were also several bulldozers and a whole bunch of haulers (semi trucks, dump trucks, etc) that we didn't get a shot of.

Trying to find a little shade to wait in - under the grandstand.  This was our longest wait - over an hour to ride in the bulldozer.  It was a slow moving line, but well worth it because when it was your turn - the ride lasted a long time.  

Daddy's turn to sit.  Overall, the kids were great while we waited!

Sweet boy!!

Love my crew!

Finally, it was their turn.  They were SO EXCITED!!

The fans waiting and watching:).

Kyle climbing up the dirt to get on the dozer.

 Up he goes!!

 Seat belted in and ready to roll.

 I had to make this one bigger so you could see the smile:).

And this one,

and this one, too!!  He was super excited and it was so sweet to watch:)!

 This next part was pretty cool, and fun to watch..............until it was my kids on the machine:).  It did not make me nervous when watching all the other kiddos, but watching mine made my heart beat a little faster:).

They would drive the dozer all the way up to the top of the pile,

sit on top for a moment,

 and then quickly back down!!

The boys thought it was cool, but I didn't anticipate the butterflies in MY stomach:).

Then, it was back up to the top and down the other side.

More

of those

AWESOME smiles:)!!

Boo:(.  Kyle's turn was over:(.

But, it was finally Brock's turn:)!!

Seat belted in and ready to go. 

Mommy was VERY glad for that seat belt, especially now that she had already watched one of her boys ride!!

More smiles!

"Can you believe how far down that is?!?!?"

Headed up for his ride down backwards!

Hang on to your hard hat, buddy!!

Moving some dirt around.

Then, back up to the top,

And over he goes!!

All done!!

Next, it was on to the backhoes.  This time they got to dig at the same time, on machines right next to each other.

Love how you can see him helping move the digger arm.

Brock smiles:).

Kyle smiles:).

Bonus cool thing:  the ISU basketball team were some of the volunteers helping get the kids on and off of machinery, and we just happened to bump into Jackie Carmichael - so cool - and he is so nice, too!!

One last "ride" all by themselves:).

Such a fun day!!