Last weekend my husband called me early Saturday morning during his drive into work to tell me that tons of diggers, cranes, tractors, carnival slides, and bounce houses were being set up at Camp Mabry. Foster is OBSESSED with diggers, so although Jarrod was bummed he was on call and couldn’t come with us, he knew I’d love to take the kids.
After a quick online search, I learned indeed the SAFE Alliance of Austin’s Touch-a-Truck event was going on that day.
When I volunteered with the Junior League of Seattle years ago, I helped coordinate a similar Touch-a-Truck event. It was a blast for toddlers so I threw aside my highly-anticipated plans of lounging around the house and treated the kiddos to a fun afternoon in the sun with the big trucks.
Since I didn’t plan ahead, we arrived around 10:30 am (when everyone else did). The line of traffic to get to the event was not fun. After about 30 minutes winding around Camp Mabry, though, it was worth it. Well, it was worth it for the kids – it took me awhile to recover from my repressed road rage.
Both Foster and Parker had faces of pure joy as we ran into the event.
We started with some time in one of the bounce houses and then picked up some free Kind fruit snacks and H-E-B popsicles.
Then, Parker and I followed Foster around as he pointed out the different trucks and diggers he wanted to sit in.
Even though the event was PACKED with families, we never waited more than 5 minutes to sit in a vehicle.
When I noticed the kids were turning a bit pink, we headed to an area set up with somewhat kid-friendly exercise equipment.
Although my lawyer-brain couldn’t help but think of the risks involved with so many kids in a tight space with heavy (and potentially injurious) equipment, Foster and Parker loved getting to “exercise” and I appreciated the reprieve from the sun.
Next up, Foster wanted to end his truck-hopping with the impressively tall crane. This boy was in his happy zone today.
Before we left, we waited about 15 minutes to go down the big slide.
My daredevil children was thrilled and Parker immediately yelled out “More! More!” Sorry hun, this mom is ready to get us all out of the sun and you home for naptime.
Touch-A-Truck in Austin benefits Austin Children’s Shelter. For just $5 per person (over the age of 2), you have access to a wide variety of vehicles, a petting zoo, face painting, a carnival-sized burlap sack slide, bounce houses, live music, barrel-train rides, and more. We’ll definitely be back next year and highly recommend the event and the cause!
Please add your comments below if you have checked out this event. I’d love pointers for how to avoid crowds and traffic lines next year!
