Vacation Out West: Part III Farmington Days Parade

After Zabien and Eliza attended their first parade on the 4th of July, they told my mom they would only give her a kiss if she took them to another parade.   Fortunately, their wish came true a week later when we took them to the Farmington Day Parade to see Grandpa Smith on a float for the veterans.  In their minds, this one was better than the first.   Not only were they experienced at picking up parade candy, but they got to do it with their cousins Ezra and Samuel.  They were all really cute sitting together waiting for the parade to start.  I grabbed small Ziploc bags from grandma Richards' house before we left, but they both decided that the big bags grandma Smith brought were even better.

 

Zabien wouldn't let go of his goodie bag for anything, and was pretty determined to fill it up before the afternoon was over. 

 

(In the bottom left corner, you can see Ezra and Eliza enjoying their Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches. Eliza was pretty sad when she didn't get one.  Grandma Smith loves that girl enough that she was willing to get any extra's from the people sitting down the road from us. She knew them so it all worked out, and the tears quickly turned to smiles.)

 Hazel got the best parade seat of all - Uncle Paul's lap.  She was pretty content for a while sitting there. 

Zabien's favorite part happened right at the beginning - the fire trucks. 

 

This is the best picture I got of grandpa on the float - he is the one in the blue shirt on the front row.  It was fun to see him waving to everyone from the float. 

 

Only in Utah would you see LDS missionaries riding a bicycle built for two in a parade.  It was quite fun to see, but I had to chuckle.  We would never see anything like this out in Pennsylvania. 

 

I appreciated this float dedicated to family.  The family really is the basic unit of society and what will forge us through trying times.

Pictured below is some of the Richards crew.  It was such a beautiful day, and thanks to Aunt Annette and Uncle Randy, we not only had saved front row seats, but we also had water and treats to munch on throughout the ordeal.  I must say, this parade was much longer than the first one the kids attended. 

 

 

Eliza managed to catch a T-shirt from a local dance studio.  It has now been dubbed her favorite nightgown, and she wears it frequently to bed. 

 

Luke and Samuel chilling on the side.  Samuel was too afraid to walk into the road for candy.  He had Eliza, Zabien, and Ezra pick it up for him and hand deliver it.  That's the way to do it my friend.  Hazel continued to look adorable - her best talent. 

 

 

 I liked this giant tooth float that went by.  We were not fortunate enough to snag free toothbrushes, but I thought it was brilliant to throw toothbrushes to the kids who were already picking up way more candy than they should be allowed to eat. 

At the end of the long parade, we headed back to grandma and grandpa Smith's house for some yummy lunch and good company.  Hazel enjoyed the swing with Aunt Laurie. 

This airplane teeter totter was a big hit with Zabien and Eliza.  If ever I couldn't find where they went, they were either riding the airplane, picking raspberries, watching the sheep, or feeding the chickens.  Eliza still talks about those yummy raspberries, and Zabien asks daily if he can go and feed grandpa's chickens again. 

 

 

It was a busy day in Farmington, but not our last fun day.  We had many more fun get togethers at grandma Smith's house.