Summer seemed to have forgotten the Seattle area entirely, until today.

Because of E, we "celebrated" the 4th of July seriously like never before. Went to a parade, in spite of the impossibly terrible weather-- there were people in wintry coats everywhere. And E had his raincoat hood on the whole time. He came across the word/concept "parade" multiple times in the past year and finally got to see what it really meant (although he has been to one before--the awesome and famous one of the Davis' Picnic Day--he was too young at the time to remember it). More exciting were the fireworks, which followed a pretty nice concert of the Bellevue Philharmonic. E's interest in the music and the various instruments in the orchestra seemed genuine and made us happy. The fireworks didn't start until 10:05pm, and he was already tired and sleepy by then. Yet the splendid light and color attracted him, and he said his favorite fireworks were those of the golden color. I remember last fall, he often said he liked golden and yellow leaves better than those red red ones...

We're still working on temper control.