Happy Pioneer Day....a little late

The 24th of July came and went like any other day here in Vietnam. However, on the 25th of July I thought all day about home and the fun traditions I was missing; watching the Days of 47 parade in the morning on TV while making breakfast, going to a parade in the afternoon, dinner with the family and fireworks at night...good times. So when Troy told me the HCM Branch was doing a Pioneer Day Party on the 28th, I was all for it! It was a crazy day and the rain almost prevented us from scootering over to the church, but we made it and I'm glad we did. Here's how Pioneer Day is celebrated in Vietnam by the church members:

 Pioneer Bonnets

Enzo's first Pioneer Day

The Primary President teaching the boys Pioneer games.

The Young Single Adults square dancing in the Chapel :)

I loved watching this. How great is it to see Vietnamese youth square dancing with country music in the background? And how great is it that the church members in Vietnam are celebrating the Pioneers crossing the plains in America and discovering Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The primary children did a short Pioneer trek to find the footprints of the Pioneers. They walked around the block holding a string while searching for the hidden footprints.  Each footprint had a fun little fact about the Pioneers written on it.

Drey had a double fisted grip on the string and would not let go.  I think he was fearful that the kid in front of him would bite him...haha

The train of Pioneer walkers

After the trek the kids made homemade ice cream. When I first heard about this, in all seriousness I thought "How in the world did they find ice cream machines in Vietnam?" Oh no, we're talking ziploc baggies and a whole lot of shaking.....my bad. 

Preparing the orange ice cream....

Troy and Drey giving it a good shake.

TA DA! Drey made ice cream. He loved it!

One of the Primary ladies loading Drey's pockets up with rice cookies.

We ended up at KFC for dinner. 

I'm not sure how or why we ended up at KFC tonight for dinner, but it for sure was not planned.  I  laugh about it now because as a child growing up,  I remember eating KFC every 24th of July on a blanket while waiting for the Liberty Park fireworks to begin. How ironic that I'm now living in Vietnam and still eating KFC on "Pioneer Day"...who would have thought?

Fried chicken, chocolate dipped ice cream cones, Pioneer festivities.....can't get more American than that!