Gus Bus Birthday Bash

We have an AWESOME program here in town called The Reading Road Show. The program consists of a classroom set of book bags that contain books for the children to take home from day care to their families and read together. These books get swapped out once a week, so the kids are continually exposed to new books and they get excited about reading. Another component of the program is the Gus Bus. The Gus Bus is kind of like a bookmobile made for kids. It comes to area day cares, home care facilities, public preschools and low income neighborhoods on a monthly basis. While on the Gus Bus, Mr. Mike reads a few stories to the kids, sings some songs and sometimes plays a game. The kids LOVE Mr. Mike!

This program was funded originally through a grant and it is now in its 5th year. So what does a bus do to celebrate its birthday? It invites all its vehicular friends out for a party!! The JMU Convocation Center parking lot is the host for the celebration. There are motorcycles, race cars, school buses, charter buses, trash trucks, police cars, and lots more vehicles that the kids can sit in or get into. We invited Stacey and her brood out for the morning and let the kids explore. There is a scavenger hunt while you are there to find a certain number of labelled bunny rabbits. When you find a bunny rabbit, you have to write down where you found it. When you find all the rabbits, you get a prize. This year my two both picked toothbrushes. We finished off the day with hot dogs and free ice cream. Then we headed home for naps!