4th of July Parade

The Independence Day parade in Hillsboro is (according to Matt Groener, who probably got it from a credible source) the second largest parade in Oregon. Wow! This would be our first year attending, so we asked to tag along with our experienced Groener cousins to catch this memorable event. Alton is at the perfect age to absorb all of the parade entries, sit patiently to watch it all go by, and catch the candy thrown by parade participants from their floats and vehicles.
Alton and Mommy start out the morning on the curb with flags a-wavin'.


Diana said that she would arrive on Main Street early and start spreading out blankets to save our patch of sidewalk, then Matt and her boys would arrive closer to the start of the parade. We decided that this was an excellent plan for Andy, Alton and I to mimic, so I left my two guys at home while I biked to Main Street and ducked into Starbucks for some caffeinated refreshments for Di and me. After some strategizing and consultation, she and Matt decided that she would start saving seats for us at 7:45a.m.! What a dedicated mom and friend to have.
Here we are with part of the Groener gang: Di, *O, Alton & KT, and *E. Andy and Matt are behind their cameras.

The parade started and wow! Let the excitement begin! We saw marching bands, cheerleaders, floats with rock bands playing, fire trucks, politicians, unicyclists, and even some TRACTORS! As I mentioned, many of the parade entrants were throwing handfuls of candy into the crowd; this is apparently one of the big things that kids look forward to with this parade. *E and *O were totally prepared with plastic bags to stow their treats. *O was on lightning feet to dart around the legs of the onlookers and scoop up any fallen pieces of candy.
Here Alton uses one hand to clutch his mini flag and one hand to clutch his candy!

His damp little paws were soon full of candy, so after awhile we started tucking it into his little shirt pocket for safekeeping.

Unfortunately, most of the candy was hard candy that wasn't really easy for Alton to eat, so he passed on his stash to his older cousins with no problem.

He did, however, convince me to let him open one "Dum-Dum" sucker and happily slurp his tongue along the sides of it. He was SO happy about his little treat and kept telling the rest of the family, "I have a lollipop!" Andy took about 100 pictures. Then when it was time to clean up his hands, Andy took the remains of the sucker from him and popped it into his own mouth while he wiped Altie down, which is when he realized that it was coconut flavored! Probably one of the least-favored flavors for kids! Yick.

There were a few folks who threw little toys in addition to the candy. Alton collected a little parachuting bug and a small purple hand stamp in the shape of a puppy!

While *O scanned the street for more of the candy projectiles, *E was excited to introduce Alton to his first parade. He pointed out some of the upcoming big trucks...

and let Alton sit on his lap for a while, too!

Alton was floored by the balloon displays of the Hillsboro Air Show advertisement float!

They played "Highway to the Danger Zone" over the loudspeakers as they drove through town.

A percussion group called "The Last Regiment" marched by, drumming for all they were worth.

Alton was so enthralled that he wanted to get closer, but I was right behind him to make sure that he wasn't deaf for the rest of the day!

They went by quickly and there was always more to see coming up behind. Alton, what are you so excited about?

A GIANT Jeep!

We had some happy snack-munching amidst all there was to see, and by noon it was over and time to start the walk back to the car to head home for lunch and nap. Our little cutie absorbed it all in his usual serious way and we had so much fun capturing his patriotic side on camera.