Not Your Ordinary Spring Lemonade Stand

Saturday, Will held his annual lemonade & Cookie's cookies lemonade stand at my parent's house.

He raised money to benefit our local Children's Miracle Network.  

(Will & Ellie are this year's Miracle Children!  More to come soon about this incredible organization.)

When I was a kid, we used to hold lemonade & cookie stands all the time.  My parents' home sits on a beautiful street and this time of year they get a lot of tourists looking at the historic homes and spring blooms.  Seriously, there are busloads of tourists on the weekends!

So - there is great potential for lemonade sales.

But in all my years of selling famous cookies and mediocre lemonade, never once did the 

ENTIRE POLICE FORCE AND AMBULANCE EMT CREW COME!

Not once.

But for Will?

Oh, they came.

They came in full force!

Saturday morning, Will's Cookie & Lovie picked him up to go meet Larry Boy (a Veggie Tales superhero) who was making an appearance at a local Christian bookstore.  Will was armed with a Larry Boy book and a sharpie for his autograph. 

While Larry Boy was cool - he was nowhere near as cool as the police officers also in the store...

(& it just so happened that Will had dressed up as a police officer that morning - he had no idea what was in store for his day!)

(I love the face that he is in some sort of costume every single day!)

 Larry Boy did not get a Will hug.

This guy did.

 Somehow, in the course of their conversation about important police matters, the sergeant found out about the upcoming lemonade stand.  

And apparently, he then got on his radio and made an announcement to all on duty police officers, firemen, & EMTs as to the location of the sale.

Then things got really exciting.

Will was made an official officer and the policemen called him "Officer Will."

They let him get in the various cars (there were several at a time pulled up in front of the house) and test out the microphone, alarms, sirens, and lights.

It was a little boy's dream come true!

(I kept expecting neighbors to start calling wondering what in the world was going on at my parents' house!  We did see some potential customers make u-turns when they saw a street crowded with police cars with flashing lights and an ambulance! No worries, though, this was so much more exciting!)

 

Will served each of his customers a famous cookie and fresh lemonade.  Cookie stayed busy making more cookies - we never expected this rush of important community helpers!

 It was cool to get in the back of a real ambulance (and not be injured or sick)

(He also got in the back of a police car.  I told him this better be his only time back there.)

There were lots of high fives

 and hugs

 Ellie wasn't scared at all from the uniforms or the sirens

 Even our neighborhood grocery store managers stopped by with a generous donation!

 In between exciting new customers in uniform, we picnicked on the front lawn.

Doesn't Ellie look adorable wearing my old overalls?!

 This officer is new on the force.  Will told her he is new too - he informed her he has only been on the force for a month.

 This officer is our new friend.  She has a four year old and is coming to picnic with us this week.

(Also - she just happens to be the officer who caught a real life bank robber last week at gunpoint!  We got to hear the story & Will was fascinated - he has been playing a lot of bank robbers and policemen recently.)

(She will be a fun picnic guest with lots of fun stories, I think!)

 We heard a loud noise & then this guy showed up...

 Will loves motorcycle men & does a hilarious impression of them.

A motorcycle man who happens to be a policeman is the icing on the cake!

 He fitted the newest officer with a helmet

 and let him take a (pretend) spin!

 Will had fun playing with his sirens & radar

 Then, the officer called the dispatcher on the radio and had Will introduce himself on the radio as "Officer Will."  The dispatcher went right along with it and talked back to him over the radio, closing with a "10-4, Officer Will."

I mean... WOW!

 Finally, this trusting officer allowed Will to handcuff him.

 Which Will proceeded to do all by himself.

Finally, Will found the keys and released him before serving him lemonade.

It was a very successful lemonade stand!  He made a lot of money and had a blast.  

Thanks to our local police and EMTs for making a little boy have an extraordinary day!

Thank you for serving our community so faithfully and for serving one little boy especially yesterday.

(As a sidenote- we have a sheriff election coming up and Will has been rather upset at all the political signs in people's yards.  He thinks he will be the next sheriff so he doesn't appreciate the competition.  Especially the green signs and the ones with the star on them.  (There's a lot of those two.)  He wants to go vote with me and I assured him I will take him to meet the new sheriff so he can check out the office.  

One of the officers yesterday invited Will up to the station to see the police department, the SWAT armored cars, and more!  He is going to have a fun little field trip soon!)

After the stand closed, we headed to the pool for our first swim of the year... in March!

The water was too chilly for Ellie - she loved kicking (& wanted in but I wouldn't let her.)

 Will was so happy to be back in the water... my little fish

A PERFECT way to spend a Saturday morning!

(Thanks, Cookie & Lovie for hosting, setting up the sale, and spreading the word!  We appreciate you!)