This weekend I had a great idea - a family picnic! In honor of the fourth of July weekend, I thought my family should go on a picnic just like my husband I used to do in the olden days (ie. before the kids came along). We used to pack up some yummy sandwiches and a big blanket, John would bring his guitar and we'd just hang out and soak up the sun. Well,this picnic started out a little different.

My kids loved the idea of a picnic, but since we had no food in the house to make sandwiches (not uncommon in our house on a Saturday, as my husband doesn't grocery shop until Sunday), my kids suggested McDonald's Happy Meals. And I said I'd have Subway. So, we packed up the picnic set we got as a wedding gift and headed out. Of course, once we were in the car I asked if anyone had brought the blanket I put on the kitchen counter. Blank stares from the back seat. My hands were full with the picnic set, and my son insisted we bring his bike, so I was loading it into the back of the car, but I guess I was also expected to remember to bring the blanket. So, we decided we'd find a picnic table instead of lounging on a blanket. So much for my ideas of the four of us sitting in the sun relaxing as we stared up at the clouds.

Then we had to make the trip to McDonalds and Subway. We arrived at our picnic spot, unloaded the bike and our food and made our way to a picnic table by the side of a river - where motor boats buzzed along bringing my idea of a peaceful, quiet picnic to a halt. Then my daughter decided to check out the river and came back with some lovely shells - which really turned out to be broken glass from discarded beer bottles. The finishing touch was when a couple of bees decided to attack the french fries and burgers, obviously in addition to sweets, bees enjoy high sodium snacks.

Sixty minutes from start to finish, our picnic was over, and so was my old fashioned notion of family picnics.