Life's a Beach: Rainbow Popsicles

Even when you live in California, with arguable "beach weather" year round (and I'm definitely ready to argue after weeks of rain in the winter, followed by May Grey and June Gloom), it's not summer without a day at the beach.

When Thatkid was little, we lived down the street from the beach and went all the time - for evening walks, or an hour here or there.  Now that we live farther, we don't go nearly as often because it's not as convenient for a pop in and out.

But a couple of weeks ago Thatmom wanted to take Thatkid for an afternoon and we decided to take Thatbaby to the beach - a little special treat for our poor second child who doesn't get to go to the beach or spend time with just mom and dad.

He had such a great time running into the white water.  He's a little more fearful than his older brother and getting ankle deep was adventurous enough for him.  We also collected shells, built sandcastles, played frisbee, and had a water shooter fight.

I suggested we do a little digging and burying and that was very well received.

Of course after he was done being buried, he wanted to do some digging and burying of his own.

I think he really enjoyed the two-on-one attention he got and the fact that we really let him lead the adventure, doing whatever he wanted to do while we were there.  We rarely do what he wants to do.  Poor kid is definitely at the bottom of the family ladder.  But I try.  Like when he wanted to make "rainbow popsicles."  I'm not going to lie, these are a bit labor intensive and kind of a pain to make.  But they make the kids so happy.  I've been known to make rainbow smoothies on occasion - which is the same recipe I use for tie-dye smoothies, which is now the same recipe I use for rainbow popsicles.

Rainbow Popsicles

5 frozen bananas

2 1/2 cups plain yogurt, divided

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen peaches

1 orange

1 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup spinach

1 cup chopped kiwi

1 cup frozen blueberries

1.  For the first layer, place a frozen banana, 1/2 cup yogurt, raspberries and strawberries in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  For each of these layers add water if necessary to thin, but you want it to be relatively thick so the layers sit on top of each other instead of blending.  Divide between popsicle molds.
2. For the second layer, combine a frozen banana, 1/2 cup yogurt, peaches and orange in a blender and blend until smooth.  Carefully layer over the first layer in the molds.
3. For the third layer combine a frozen banana, 1/2 cup yogurt (are you getting the picture?) and frozen pineapple in a blender and blend until smooth.  Carefully layer over the the orange layer in molds.
4. For the fourth layer combine a frozen banana, 1/2 cup yogurt, spinach and kiwi in the blender and blend until smooth. Carefully layer over the yellow layer in the molds.
5. For the fifth layer combine a frozen banana, 1/2 cup yogurt, and blueberries in the blender and blend until smooth.  Carefully layer over the green layer in the molds.
6. Place tops/sticks in the mold and freeze until solid.