Labor Day Fun

Last year we decided to check out a small town parade on Labor Day.  We had so much fun with their quirky parade and "sham battle" we decided to go again this year. We parked in the same place, sat in the same place in the parade and did all of the same things so I guess we've started a new family tradition.  Never mind the fact that we don't really have any ties to this small town about 15 min. away, we can't help ourselves, it's just too entertaining to pass up!

Waiting for the parade to begin.

Britton's up for adventure as long as he has a book to read during any down time.

"Lego to the temple"?? We must be in Utah.  Each of the LDS wards in the town had their own float.

J-mo getting a high five from Big Blue.

I love any parade that throws out this kind of awesomeness!

"Excess Material Disposition Crew." Ha! Get's me every time.  

There were quite a few horses in the parade so I'm glad these guys got the recognition they deserve.

The Hamburger Guy walking around confused me until I realized that the only restaurant in the entire town is a Burger King. 

 Here is the "Antique Machinery Association" in all their glory.  My Dad might appreciate some of the antique tractors a little more than we would since he used to drive them growing up.

 The parade always starts with pioneers in wagons and ends with a bunch of "Indians".

We were so confused our first time we saw the parade, but after finding out about the "Sham Battle" it all started to make sense. The blond Nordic looking "Indians" still make me laugh, though.

Oh, the "Sham Battle".  It's a reenactment of the battles between the pioneers and the Indians in this valley.  The Indians set fire to some of the settlers' homes and the US Calvary men were brought in to help defend the settlers.

The Settlers and Indians and US Calvary men, oh my!

We love a good Sham Battle

Having music blaring always makes it even more dramatic.

After the parade and battle we headed home to work for a few hours before heading to the Jump Zone for an hour.  I had a punch card that I bought for the summer and forgot to use so we decided to make it a family affair.

My first selfie with Jenna.

I got a new cell phone on Saturday that is supposed to have a really good camera so I spent the day experimenting with a lot of different settings.  After about 100 pictures I think I've learned which ones not to use. :-)

At the end of the day we had our own Labor Day BBQ with homemade bleu cheese hamburgers. Delish.

When you see an empty bike rack at a park is your first thought to drop and crawl through it?  Me neither.  Jameson, however, sees the world very differently.

On Friday night I was driving Britton to his soccer game and said something like, "Oh, LOTOJA is tomorrow so there are going to be a lot of bikers in town tonight."  He responded with, "I think we're the only town where "bikers" does not mean motorcycles." Ha! It's so true.  Around here having "bikers" in town means this:

Not this:

Britton had soccer games both Friday night and Saturday morning.  His Saturday game was an away game so only Adam took him to that one, but we were sorry to miss it when we heard Britton scored a goal from way outside of the goalie box.  He's a defender and doesn't get a lot of scoring opportunities so this long distance goal was all the more sweet for him.  They won Friday night and lost on Saturday but both games were close.  His team is having a pretty good season thus far which is impressive because they moved up 2 divisions after last year.

Every once in a blue moon I find all the kids spontaneously playing together and having fun.  It makes me want to take a picture so I can make the moment last just a little bit longer.