Pioneer Day!

I love Pioneer Day! I love remembering the pioneers and all they did to journey here and all they did to establish Salt Lake City. I think it's great to have a holiday to honor them and a reminder to teach our kids about them and their sacrifices. AND, I love the Pioneer Day parade! So all in all it's one of my favorite holidays. Having Kissie and Pata live downtown makes it even easier to celebrate! 

We started off Wednesday night playing at City Creek and bringing dinner to eat at Kissie and Pata's condo. The kids still always fight over a chance to hold baby Bentley! 

 

 

 After dinner we headed out to scout for a place to watch the parade. The great place we had last year was blocked off already, so we got to experiment again. I figure we will know a little more each year which spots are the best. This one was pretty good, our own patch of grass in front of a tire store. 

 It was fun to hang out there a bit that night and watch everyone getting their parade gear set up. Lucky for us, Kevin doesn't mind staying out overnight to watch our spot. Cora and Violet slept at Kissie's and the littles and I were in a hotel. It worked out well! Pata relieved Kevin at 6:00 so he got a chance to rest just a bit before the parade. The rest of us walked around in the morning checking out the floats, all lined up and ready to go. It fun to see them up close!

Luke liked this dinosaur one. It was pretty impressive! And it moved and roared when we saw it in the parade. 

 Look at our little rebel, Violet, making a U sign on the BYU float-- Just to push Kevin's buttons!

 

  

 Watching the parade was so hot and so bright. Certainly not the miracle overcast weather we had last year. We filled the kids with cold drinks and later dumped cold water on them. That seemed to help! They were too hot and antsy this year to watch the whole parade sitting still, but we had enough flat space to have them roam around a little. 

 

 

Evelyn was thrilled when she found the ice in the cooler near the end of the parade. Here she is planning her attempt....  

  putting ice under Pata's hat, 

 and sneaking some down his back... while Cora is planning some ice mischievousness of her own. Pata was a good sport!  

 After the parade the kids cooled off in the fountain, we had a yummy lunch at Kissie and Pata's and everyone zonked out on the way home.

 

It was a fun day!