24th of July...

I grew up with the 24th of July being almost a big a deal as the 4th of July. (For those of you not in Utah... it is a holiday.) I have memories of my mom telling me that on the 24th of July they would hike to the top of the "This is the Place" monument in Salt Lake City (across the street from the zoo) with her dad and then go to the zoo. Of course hiking to the top of that hill was the object lesson about being grateful and remembering what the pioneers did when the pioneers came into the valley on that day and Brigham Young declaring "This is the Place" (or whatever, you know the story) and what a hot hot day it must have been and they only had to hike to the top of the hill and the pioneers had to come across the plains and that was only the beginning of their work...
So, I always felt like the 24th of July was always a day I felt like you were supposed to feel grateful that you didn't have it as hard as the pioneers. Kind of like Thanksgiving but with picnic food instead of Thanksgiving dinner. We usually went to the zoo as well, as far as I can remember, but I don't ever remember having to hike up that hill, which I was grateful for.
Even though my mom was big on traditions... I am afraid this is a tradition that I am not carrying on. First of all, Michael is not a fan of the zoo. He claims he never went to the zoo until we were married... something I'm not sure I believe... a childhood without the zoo! He is less of a fan of outings on a holiday, especially the really hot ones... with crowds.
We still had a fun day at Taste of the Valley! A fun little outing, with crowds, in the heat, on a holiday! Wonders never cease. We went last year, and it was awful... but we brought our kids. This year, I got a babysitter and it was fun! I don't think Michael would have done it otherwise. For those who don't know, at Taste of the Valley you go and pay and you get to taste the food of about 25 different places. It was fun and yummy, even though it was hot, and we walked away stuffed. No family picnic, no fireworks, no zoo... no mention of pioneers even, just us, kidless and gorging ourselves on food. We still had the heat.