Morning at Madison Square Park

Yesterday, my sons and I met up with another mom friend and her two sons down in Madison Square Park. We started off catching the AudraRox performance. (She was performing as part of Madison Square Kids 2008, a free performance series that takes place on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 10:30 AM.) Audra and her band were great! My two sons were bouncing and dancing to the kid-rock music. My oldest son Michael’s favorite part was when the special guest (Gordon from Sesame Street) joined the band onstage and sang the Sesame Street Theme song (Sunny day… Sweepin’ the clouds away…).

A couple of tips in case you’re planning to attend a Madison Square Kids performance:

-It can be very hot (like it was yesterday), so plan accordingly (i.e. sunscreen, plenty of liquids, etc.).
-Bring something to sit on, because the audience sits on the grass.
audra
(AudraRox and her band)

gordon
(Gordon from Sesame Street performing with the band)

Next, we all went to have an early lunch at The Shake Shack. This place has some of the best burgers, hot dogs, French fries, milkshakes and custard in the city. Everything was SO good.
shake
(The Shake Shack)

As we were traveling around the park, my friend and I commented on how neat it was to see our kids play together. The boys were 3, 4(Michael) and 5. They were so cute — holding hands (as boys, that won’t last for much longer!); playing hide & seek; following the leader; etc. (Sean was on my hip – he’s still too little to hang with the “big boys”.) These moments are so precious. Time already seems to be racing by!
michael
(Michael and his two friends)

We ended our time together at the Playground. It has one of the best, creative sprinkler systems featuring a spinning pinwheel that sprays water down from more than ten feet in the air. There are also smaller sprinkler blocks that squirt water at ground level. (The only minuses are that the park gets really crowded and the black play surface makes it feel even hotter than it really is outside.)
pinwheel
(The Pinwheel)