This morning, after sleeping in the tent last night, we had our annual Primary Pioneer Day Parade and Pancake Breakfast. Say that three times fast. Bet ya can't! Blythe wanted to wear the same thing she wore last year, but I didn't take the time to look at last year's blog entry to see what she actually had on, but we approximated, giving her an apron and a basket to carry. She was insistent on the basket because she was convinced there were going to be lots of people watching the parade and throwing candy at the paraders. I tried to tell her that we could just put the candy in pockets, but she didn't believe me.
We did not have nearly as many marchers this year as last. I think lots of people were out of town, and some might have forgotten. We had very few watchers too; there were less than ten people cheering us on. As a neighborhood, we haven't quite embraced that part of the activity. We have marchers, we have breakfast, we have no observers. It doesn't seem to dampen spirits, however.
We had a lovely breakfast prepared by the high priests. Kent said they were incredibly well organized, food prep went smoothly, and apart from having Tang to drink instead of actual orange juice, it was all very tasty. I didn't think people actually drank Tang. Blythe rejected it wholesale, taking one sip and deeming it "disgusting." Too true.
Let's see if I can name everyone.
Back row: Halle Bensen, Hannah Bensen, I'm not sure, three granddaughters of someone, Abbie Drake in the pink headscarf, Susie Clark, Blythe, Brandt, Cole Currey and Jack George wearing matching bandanas, Steven Benavides holding the flag, McKenna Currey just recently recovered from rheumatic fever, Gavin Drake all bear chested being Native American-ish, and Madilyn George.
Front row shorties: Paul and Bryce Moreland, Quentin Drake, Faith Currey, Asher and Evan Runia.
A fine looking crew all the way around.
When we got into Normandy Village, Brother Thomsen was there offering kids rids in his replica old car. Brandt and Blythe both thought it was fantastic. There was also this funny little plane that Brandt wanted to slide into, but he was too big.
The small, pathetic candy "haul."
I knew it would all fit in her pocket.
A neighbor let me borrow this apron and bonnet.
Don't I look authentic?
Just like someone ready to walk and walk and walk.
In her flipflops.
And while we walked, Kent cooked food.
Then he served it to us all.
Mmmmmm. Bacon!
After our morning festivities, we went down to North Park for the annual Pioneer Day activites. The pioneer village is open, there are booths with all sorts of exciting things you can make and do, and lots of vendors and displays. Blythe wanted her face painted--check!--and both children wanted us to buy them a cheaply made but very expensive toy. That didn't happen. We listened to live performers, had a snow cone, walked through a maze and played a cow pie (fortunately made of cardboard) gathering game, walked through the village and bought a sucker, than called it good.
Authentic Indian warpaint
Listening to the live music.
On the way home, as we neared our house, we saw a very large, very low flying helicopter that swooped up the mountain and dumped water on a wispy smoked fire. It was a tanker helicopter that looked like a weird sort of ginormous bug. We followed it up to Rock Canyon Park, just up the hill from our house, and watched as it flew and hovered to suck up water from a large inflatable pool and then go up to dump the water on the fire. It was very exciting because the helicopter came right down over our heads. It was loud and created such a strong wind. It was capable of holding 2500 gallons of water and had the sucker upper hose dangling from below. It was just cool to watch it and we were there for close to half an hour before it flew off, likely to refuel. It must have been effective because the fire, almost certainly caused by a lightning strike as it was so high on the mountain, didn't really spread.
Coming down right on top of us!
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