A different type of road trip

A few weeks ago Brandon asked me if we would want to represent our branch in our stake's part of the Bountiful Handcart Days Parade.  Participating would mean pulling a handcart with the kids inside.  I thought it sounded like a fun idea.  The fact that I agreed must mean my PTSD from my youth conference handcart trek 10 years ago is wearing off.  

The parade was held the evening of July 20th.  We met at our appointed spot at 5:00.  The spot was just up the road from our apartment so we walked up there with the kids in the stroller and front pack.  Then we put everything into the handcart.  

 The parade started at 6:00 so we spent a lot of time just trying to keep the kids happy. 

 We were supposed to wear pioneer clothes.  I wanted to put as little effort into our costumes as possible.  The girls wore dresses that my friend Melissa made them for Christmas.  I knew they wouldn't wear sunbonnets so I brought straw hats from our costume box just in case they felt like wearing hats. Which they didn't.

 There were 5 other handcarts families from our stakes.  We had the youngest family by far (with 3 kids under 2 years old we ALWAYS have the youngest family) but there were a few other babies around.

 Soon it was time to start walking in the parade.  The cart actually wasn't that heavy.  Brandon wore his church pants and his shirt that he made several years ago. He was worn it for every Halloween costume since. He's been Robin Hood, a Mountain Man, and a pirate with this shirt.  I joked that I should wear my Indian costume, but I ended up just borrowing my cousin's skirt and bonnet.

 We had Derrick in his bouncy chair and he bounced to sleep almost right away.  The girls didn't really know what was going on but they stayed seated and waved at people when I told them to "Say Hi."  We gave them water and animal crackers to keep them happy.

 I was so surprised at how many people were at the parade.  Usually we just run up and watch it on the corner close to our house.  But walking the route showed me just how many people attended.  The streets were lined with crowds about 5 rows deep.  It was crazy.

 Sometimes the parade got backed up so we would stop for a second.  Brandon took this picture of me during one of the stops.

The sister missionaries took these next two pictures of us.  We had so much fun waving at people we knew.  

 At the end of the parade we had to walk the handcart to the drop off point at a church.  It wasn't as fun to pull when there weren't crowds cheering us on.  The girls got bored and started playing with the wheels.  After we dropped off the handcart we put the kids back in the stroller and front pack and walked home.

All in all we probably walked 4 miles.  I love walking, but I probably should have done it in something besides my little flat shoes.  My feet killed for two days.

I'm glad we agreed to do it.  I'm especially glad that I have a new, happy experience with handcarts.  If you click here you can see some news footage of the parade.  We are in it at minute 1:25.