3 Picnics

Did we make it? Three picnics in three days? We sure did. Friday was touch and go what with Tropical Storm Bonnie (aka slightly rainy day Bonnie) scheduled to arrive. But it turned out to be a beautiful evening. Since the Palm Beach Zoo didn't get the updated memo on the storm we wound up having our picnic in Dreher Park next to a lovely hill that kept the kiddies very entertained. Really nothing cuter than watching toddlers run up and down a hill! I didn't take any photos, but we did eat some delicious sandwiches from the book Picnics: Easy Recipies for the Best Alfresco Foods. Yes, I have a picnic cookbook. Are you surprised? I looked through quite a few before ordering this one used through Amazon for just a few dollars. It has lots of great ideas and menu's and I can now personally vouch for the Honey Ham and Gruyere Wrap and the Turkey, Brie and Green Apple Sandwich. Especially the latter. Delicious!!


Picnic number two was a full moon picnic on Delray Beach. So we can't watch the sunset over the ocean and I am pretty much limiting my ocean sunrise viewing to once a year (Feb. 5th :)) so the next best thing is watching the full moon rise. Or the almost full moon, since the full moon the next night wasn't going to rise until well after 8, which is well after bedtime too. For that picnic I tried wrapping up our sandwiches and our Izzy drinks in dish towels after I saw it in the August issue of Martha Stewart Living. It was really cute - but kind of difficult using rectangular dishtowels. It is like the Japanese furoshiki bottle wrap in this picture that I stole from greenrightnow.com.

Picnic number three was at the Journey tribute band concert. This is our second month going to the Sunday at the Meyer concerts and it is really fun. As long as you find a spot in the shade, or bring your own. This time our dinner was a Basil Mayo Shrimp Salad from Jamie Oliver's cookbook Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook. One of my all time favorite cookbooks. And we learned a new picnic trick for eating with toddlers. We brought our wagon and when it was time to eat we buckled Sprite into her seat. That made things so much easier - a little cup holder for her drink and no more tripping over the picnic blanket and flipping over containers of food.


So here are some of the reasons why I am obsessed with picnics...
1. You get to bring food from home and save money
2. You get to spend time outside
3. All of these activities - the park, the beach, the concert - were free
4. It is a lot more relaxing than sitting in a restaurant with a toddler
and
5. We get to actually eat dinner together rather than Sprite at 6 and Ben and I at 9