Delta

 

Independence Day found us in the close-knit community of Delta, Utah, where we were attending a family reunion on Steve's side.  It's a smallish town out in a fairly remote area of the state, but I was impressed by the pride that the residents of Delta took in their hometown, and the quality of their festivites.  There was a very well-attended kiddie parade (which I have no pics of because I was walking with our kids in the parade...the kids LOVED being in a parade!) and later they had a big parade with lots of horses,

 

cool grandpas on even cooler old tractors, big fancy decorated floats, and

plenty of CANDY!  Which was, of course, the kids' favorite part of the whole thing. 

Eliza and Hyrum were scoping out the next float coming by, mentally calculating how generous they were likely to be in throwing out "the goods."  There's nothing competitive about my kids, no sirree.

 

Here they are, waiting in eager anticipation for the parade to begin.

Hazel's primary occupation that day, like any other day we drag the stroller out, was pushing the stroller herself.  It's always an adventure trying to follow her around to keep her safe, but of equal concern is to make sure other people are safe around her!  That stroller gets pushed around at breakneck (toddler) speed, in wacky and totally unpredictable directions.  Since she can't see above the top of the stroller she has absolutely no concern or care as to what (or who) she rams the stroller into.  Such is the life of an active and fiercely independent child.

Hazel was sporting a cute little hairbow that I made just before leaving for the airport, and she actually left it in her hair long enough for me to take some pictures of it. She forgot it was there, in all the flurry of excitement about the other activities.

 

We were all fascinated/grossed out by some giant wasp-looking things that were hanging out on the sidewalk.  I put a penny there for scale reference...these things were huge!  Not sure if they were really wasps or just flies that looked like the real thing, but in either case they were the biggest insect of that type that I had ever seen.  Eeew.

 

That evening all the extended family went to the big demolition derby that, apparently, is an annual tradition in Delta and must have drawn in crowds from all the outlying areas.  It was my first (and probably last) experience at such a thing, but I have to admit that it was fun to see the cars bang into eachother, and it was pretty interesting to observe the demo derby culture.

  

Dirt was flying, radiators were bursting, and the crowds went wild.

 

And then, when it was all over, the trusty tractors dragged the limping old cars out of the arena.  Such is the life of a demo derby car.

After dark, they interrupted the show to light the fireworks so everyone in the stands could see them.  The kids oohed and aaahhhed with the rest of us at all the pretty lights and exciting noises.  They had a great time and were so tired that they fell asleep on the floor of Steve's cousin's house before we even made our way back to the hotel, which NEVER happens.  Never say never, eh?  Hopefully they aren't too young to remember all the fun they had in Delta - they had a wonderful time playing with all their cousins and enjoying all the 4th of July activities.

 

Until the end when we tried to get a big group photo of all the cousins after church, and Hyrum and Hazel simply did not want to cooperate.  Yes, that's them doing all the contortions in an attempt to escape picture time.  The only two kids acting up in the whole bunch.  They had had ENOUGH and it was time to move on. 

Comments

[Wendy]

How fun! I have spent the Fourth of July in Delta before!