Americana Concert

We bought tickets for the Boise Philharmonic Americana Concert on Friday night. This was the second annual outdoor concert season. When we bought tickets we thought this would be our second outdoor concert of this summer. The wildfire canceled the concert we were supposed to go to with Ram's parents so this ended up being the first.
We ate a small supper and then took snacks with us for a picnic. We arrived about 7:30 for the 8pm concert. We took deviled eggs, watermelon, cantaloupe, cheese and salami and gluten free crackers, Paleo brownies, and root beer for the Lambs. We sat on the lawn.
The concert advertised the Star Spangled Banner, Lincoln Portrait, and 1812 Overture. We were in for a treat of much more American music! Lamb 1 enjoyed the Light Cavalry Overture and asked the next day for help to find it on YouTube. The baritone and narrator was Derrick Parker, a very talented African American, which made the Lincoln Portrait even more meaningful.
They had an Armed Forces Salute and our family cheered loud for Army (Uncle Eric), Navy (Aunt Hannah and Great Grandpa M.), and Air Force (Grandpa M.). As we were leaving a lady asked Lamb 2 if he cheered for the Marines. He said, "No, I cheered for the Army for my Uncle Eric." As they called out each of the 5 branches of the military, military or veterans of that branch were supposed to stand up. As they started many of them stood up slowly and you could tell they didn't want to be recognized. But after a few branches, when they called out "Marines", a man sitting near us stood up proudly at attention for the entire Marine segment.
I was glad for my teaching first and second grade days because I remembered all the verses of America the Beautiful to sing along. I also recognized that we have our work cut out in homeschool this year to learn The Star Spangled Banner and some other American songs I think the Lambs should have memorized.
Lamb 3 especially enjoyed marching to the Sousa marches. Because it was outside and we were near the back of our section he was allowed to do that. Lamb 2 was tired and Ram had to work to keep Lamb 2 from getting loud during the concert. Finally they both laid on the blanket and counted stars and that worked well. Ram also had several trips to the bathroom with the Lambs after they had root beer. During the intermission a lady that sat near us came over and complimented our Lambs on their excellent behavior during the first half.
It was nice weather. I took a sweater as it usually gets chilly in the evenings, but I didn't really need it. I did put it on during the intermission to try to avoid mosquito bites. It wasn't super hot though.
We all decided we would like to go again next year. It was sold out so we'll have to plan ahead. We had considered going to a different concert this season, but we were so glad that we chose the Americana concert.