Sometimes I feel like I have it all – the family AND the career.  Other times I just feel torn between work and the moments I miss with the kids.  Thanks to two amazing caregivers the kids have had an amazing summer – swimming and trips to the park almost daily!  Today they are taking a trip to the zoo.  I’m not going to lie – I’m a little jealous.  I love going to the zoo with the kids!  I’m excited for their adventure, but I want in some way to be there.  If I can’t be there physically, I’ll sent along a little something to make the day more fun – a picnic!

I started by asking the kids what type of sandwiches they wanted.  One wanted peanut butter and jelly while the other wanted strictly jelly.  Easy enough.  Well easy until I went to the cabinet and realized we were out of peanut butter.  Bummer.  I then shifted to hard salami and cheddar.  Well, one of two again – salami, no cheddar.  But, we did have mozzarella strings.  Hard salami and mozzarella string sandwiches it is – how fun!

I’ve also been on a mango kick, so I sliced some up for the kids.  I couldn’t stop myself there.  I had some strawberries in the fridge, so I also made a strawberry mango salsa.   It would be cool if the kids tried it, but I mainly made it for the caregiver.  The recipe was simple.

Strawberry Mango Salsa

Blend roughly equal parts…

• Mango
• Strawberry
• Tomato
• Red Onion (maybe go a touch lighter than equal parts here)
• Dash of salt

Mix together, cover & refrigerate.

For a kick – add jalapeno to taste!

I threw in some drinks and snacks and called it a picnic.

Oh wait, how could I forget – dessert.  My family has a newfound obsession with Oreos.  It’s the current guilty pleasure of a moderately somewhat healthy family.  Oreos have been a recent kick, but they have quickly become a fairly standard dessert in our house – 2 after dinner.  I must say, Oreos have come a long way since I was a kid.  Now you can get anything from thins to double stuffed and the flavors are range from traditional to mint or berry filled.  The family takes turns as to who picks out the flavor.  My daughter was in charge on the last Oreo run, so today’s assortment is a combination of the Triple Double Oreo (a 3 layer Oreo) and Chocolate Cream.  Personally, I love the Golden Double, but I think I’m up on the next Oreo run, so they will soon be in stock at our house 🙂

I’m excited to hear stories of today’s adventure over dinner tonight!

Thanks for visiting ‘the pARTy planning’ – the art in party planning.