Handcart Days!

In honor of Pioneer Days I girded up my loins and summoned every ounce of pioneer spirit I had and took my 3 girls to Handcart Days at Bountiful Park.
My husband often asks why I take my children to these kind of festivities and my answer to him is three fold: 1) because I am trying to be a good mom 2)I don’t want to stay cooped up all day in the house while children ask me “what can I do?” and 3)We are going to make some memories if it kills us.
We bought our tickets and immediately headed to the fish pond. Unlike our ancestors before us we felt the tug on the line in a mere seconds and our catch didn’t have to be knocked out on a rock or gutted!

Next in pioneer fashion we headed over to the pony ride. It was so cute to see both my girls riding around.


After that it was the swings. Remember the good ol’ days when swings weren’t powered by motors and didn’t cost 2 tickets each?!


Wagon Wheels…Ferris Wheels…same difference, right?


Ah here we are in a traditional covered wagon. Lucky for them the ride lasted about 2 minutes because the oxen (aka mom) got pooped out.

Then it was on to some snow cones. Bet those pioneer children wished they had these after a long day of walking.


Next was the big slide…………er…..I got nothing….no slides or sharks around in 1847.



Now I know many of these activities don’t sound very “authentic” but alas Kylie summoned up some ancestral spirit as she worked a two-man saw to cut a piece of wood to brand with the traditional Handcart Days logo.

So you see we memorialized the first settlers of Utah in our own “special” way and we remember their faith and courage crossing the plains and have to wonder how they made it without Ferris Wheels and Snow Cones?!