Roundabout

Tuesday was an exciting day for our family. We attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a roundabout in Nampa--a roundabout that Ryan helped design!
Ryan started working on the project several years ago. That's how long it takes for engineering projects to go through all their steps and finish construction. Ryan also worked on this project very recently, helping the construction crew sort out some issues. This is Ryan's first project that he's seen all the way through completion, so we are all very excited about it!
Ryan's become somewhat of a roundabout expert. I've learned a lot about them, too. Did you know that they're safer, cheaper, and reduce pollution? Who knew!The mayor of Nampa invited the roundabout designers (Ryan and his former co-worker, the guy next to Ryan) to stand with the city council and other honorees as he spoke. Then all the kids were invited to stand behind the ribbon with them.
The boys were very curious about those giant wooden scissors. How in the world could wood cut ribbon? So they asked if they could inspect the scissors. The nice woman in charge was happy to show them that they have metal blades embedded in the wood. Then she pulled out some extra ribbon and let them try out the scissors!
How fun is that? The boys brought their snippets of ribbon home as souvineirs.
Then the city's oldest fire truck got to take the inaugural spin around the roundabout, followed by Nampa's newest fire truck.
I was nervous about the long ladder truck making it around the turn, but of course, Ryan had designed it for such things and wasn't worried at all.

Then they removed the "Road Closed" signs and the roundabout was open for traffic. The first cars to come through had no idea they were so priveleged. We went around it twice, just to try it out. Turns out it was a good thing, because our second spin made it on the news! Here's a link to the video. That's our light silvery green van. I think it's awesome that they just happened to tape someone to whom this roundabout actually means something.