picnic in madison square park

This summer, Madison Square Park is hosting free kids concerts every Tuesday and Thursday morning. In celebration of the fact that the heat wave has so happily ended, Garrett and I hopped on the subway and trekked to Manhattan to enjoy some music in the park.

Unfortunately, the timing of the morning nap did not coincide well with the timing of the concert. We arrived just as it ended.

Fortunately, though, I had packed us a picnic lunch, which we had arranged to eat with Blake, whose office is just around the corner from the park.

We had some time to kill before Blake could join us. The place was swarming with nannies, strollers, and kids, which made the playground impossibly crowded. So we sat on a park bench and people watched. Here are some things we noticed:

• Of the hundreds of adults pushing strollers around the park, I'd say only maybe 5-10 percent of them were the actual parents of the children they were toting. The majority were nannies.
• New York City squirrels are as aggressive as their human counterparts.
• It's hard to know what to say to the toothless, homeless lady who sits down next to you on the bench and who wishes to make conversation concerning your adorably wiggly little boy.

It's not often that we get to eat lunch as a family, and even though there was nothing spectacular about the fruit and sandwiches I packed for us to eat, we still had a lovely time. Maybe if I'm feeling brave enough to face those vicious mommy (or I suppose I should say nanny) crowds, we'll try this excursion again -- and try to time the nap better.