Fifth Night at Utica Square

Summer is in full swing, and most Thursday nights now find us at Utica Square, for the Fifth Night concert series. We tried it a time or two last year, but Timothy was still pretty high-maintenance then. This year, he's all about picnics. We meet Nichole, her parents, and various other "regulars" at the Square. We decide on a menu in advance, and everyone brings something to share. This last week, Janet brought the most delicious key lime pie cups for the adults, and pudding for the boys. As you can see, Timothy really enjoyed his pudding.

Here are Cindi, Nichole and me, on a night so windy, we couldn't leave our seats for fear they would wind up in another county!

Two weeks ago, Gabe discovered a school friend who also attends the concerts. Meet Caroline. She calls Gabe "Gabriel". He calls her "Caroline", as this is her name. Timothy calls her "Care-a-lot", for reasons best known to himself (and possibly fans of the CareBears). She and Gabe spend a lot of time dancing and running back and forth between her parents and our group. Timothy likes to tag along, because Caroline's parents gave him oreos once, and he's not going to forget about that anytime soon!

Can we say "little brother"???

Depending on who's playing, we sometimes have to get there very early to get a good spot. When "Midlife Crisis" plays, it's packed by 6 o'clock, half an hour before the concert starts. On those nights, we bring along sidewalk chalk, bubbles, kites, etc for the kids. When the Light Opera group played, there wasn't so much of a crowd.

The boys are happy to run around and be boys.

Their Mama is happy to sit around with Miss Nichole and sip sangria. Or margaritas. Or something!

The first time we went this year, this motorcycle showed up. Cool sidecar, huh? Apparently, this Great Pyranese is the permanent sidecar passenger.

He even has his own "doggles"!