Summer Fun: Days of '47 Parade, Trafalga & American Fork Steel Days Carnival

Days of '47 Parade. Today was an awesome day, and I'm glad we were able to make it to watch the Days of '47 Parade.  My kids enjoyed it, and so did we.  The highlight for us was the Polynesian Cultural Center Promo Team. They had did their "HA, Breath of Life" show at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center last Thursday and Friday, and I was sad we couldn't attend, but when I found out they were going to be in the Parade I made sure that we would be there to see them.  Maybe it's because I haven't been home since January, but whatever the reason I was in need of some familiar faces from good ole' Hawaii-nei!

We made plans with my sister-in-laws and at about 11pm last night we met up at my in-laws house, packed up and drove up to Liberty Park, where all the polys camp out at! We had actually scored a good spot on the corner of 900 south and 500 something east. We kicked it with the family for a couple hours and then we headed home. We didn't want to sleep over, well 1. because we weren't prepared too, and 2. I didn't want to have my baby Hinckley sleeping outside, so it was home for us.  We woke up at around 7:30am this morning and then got ready and headed out to Liberty Park. Let me just say that we will never attempt that again. lol. Traffic getting up there was crazy, and then we had to park at about 400 east and like 850 south, so it wasn't too far from where my in-laws were, but still... finding parking was a pain.

It was HOT as heck (for us people without umbrella's) but I'm grateful that my baby slept through the whole thing.  My brother in law held him while he was seated under the shade so I was able to sit on the road with my other 2 kids and my hubby in the blazing hot sun! lol.  I haven't seen a parade since I was a teen, so I was excited to be able to watch it again.  My kids loved it, and loved seeing all the floats and horses.  Every time a float would come with the princesses, my son would say "Mom that's Saia's princess ok?" lol.  (We call our daughter "Saia"... it came about because Moe couldn't say her whole name "Kesaia" when she was first born, and so it just stuck.) Like I said the highlight of the Parade was when PCC came through, we got excited because one of our good friends saw us and came out and gave us hugs and said Hi, and then as he was leaving someone else ran to me and said Hi and it was one of the girls I grew up with in the same ward, and she was one of my young women when I was serving as a YW Girls Camp Director.  Just seeing all the familiar faces got me so happy and excited, but more-so homesick. lol. But not to worry cause next week Monday me and the kids are headed to Hawaii for a week! So I can't wait for that!

Anyhow, after the Parade we just headed home, and my poor husband had to go to work an hour later.  It was funny because as soon as we got home and parked, it started pouring rain! But the rain definitely help set the mood, cause right after that we all knocked out for like 5 hours.. hahaha, talk about catching up on sleep. Today was a great day for family time, and I'm loving all the things we have been able to do this summer.  Here's some pics:

I also wanted to throw in our activities we did last week... We went to Trafalga last Tuesday, and then to the American Fork Steel Days Carnival last Thursday.

Trafalga. We used the perks of our Pass of all Passes and went to Trafalga in Lehi. Baby Moe loved the go-carts and had a blast going on it with Daddy and he even went on the little "boats" thing he calls it with Daddy as well.  Kesaia probably didn't have as much fun because she couldn't go on the rides Moe went on because she didn't meet the height requirement, but we all still had fun as a family.

American Fork Steel Days Carnival. So Thursday started off with us going around to all the Kid-to-Kid's to look out for a stroller for my Baby Hinckley (I have yet to find one).  We didn't have much luck at the stores in Salt Lake, so we decided to just drive out to the one in American Fork.  On our way there I had seen an instagram post from a friend who had taken her kids to the American Fork Carnival.  I figured since we were going to be in the area, why not check it out.  So I googled it, and found out where it was held at and after going to Kid to Kid we headed over there.  The kids had no idea where we were headed because we kept it between the two of us, but as soon as we drove past it they all got excited and were so ready to get out of the car.  I was glad that we went to this AF carnival because we weren't able to go to the Taylorsville Dayzz Carnival because I had given birth the day it started.  We probably spent a little too much money than we needed too, but money doesn't matter when your kids are having fun and we're able to enjoy some great family time together.