Hayden survived his first 4th of July! Since he is normally so frightened by loud noises, we were wondering how this day (and night) would go.

We were invited to the "famous" Bothell parade by our new downhill neighbors. This turned out to be an extremely popular event! There were tons of people lining the streets; kids and adults alike having a great time in the sun. Thankfully, we were sitting in the shade!

The parade was full of local businesses and clubs (police, fire, boy/girl scouts, dance troups, school bands, etc). There were a few loud groups (namely the Confederates and the Pirates). The muskets and the cannon were way too much for Hayden. We retreated into the nearby coffee shop when we saw them turn the corner at the end of the street, but that wasn't far enough for him. We joined the other mothers holding sceaming kids while those groups passed.

After the parade (and a nap- for mom and Hayden), we were invited over to the same neighbor's house for a nice BBQ. Some other neighbors came too. Normally, the cul-de-sac has an annual 4th of July BBQ and fireworks display, but this year that was put on hold when one neighbor complained to the Bothell City Council and put the keibash on the whole event. So, after 13 years of fun, the first year we are here, it is cancelled. Oh well...there's always next year!

Some neighbors still got together and set off some fireworks in the back of our houses (the 5 acres that were cleared recently for the proposed new development). Pretty tame, but fairly loud overall. People are permitted to set off fireworks in Bothell (the legal ones of course). So, there was quite a bit of activity going on all evening.

When we put Hayden to bed at about 7:30pm, we were wondering how the night would go with all that noise (the night before he woke up crying from one random firework explosion). We decided to resort to massive white noise. We turned on two fans to high (one inside his room, one right outside his door) and hoped for the best. It worked like MAGIC! He slept through everything! It was extremely loud and he was unaffected! Sleeping soundly until morning. PHEW! -- mam