We FINALLY Made it to the Beach!

(41 Months)

It took three and a half years, but we finally made it to the beach!  At first they were too little, next it was that the beach is an hour away with no traffic, then throughout her ones and twos Little Miss didn't like sand touching her toes and fingers, but we were finally ready for the beach.  So after an hour-long drive, we were finally there!

Of course, Wild One ran straight to the water, "c'mon Grandpa".  He loved the feeling of the water pulling the sand from under his feet.

Meanwhile, I was convinced that Little Miss would want to search for tiny sea shells, but instead she stayed by the water's edge and scooped sand into buckets.

Wild One loved the feeling of the waves carrying him to and from the shoreline.

 

Little Miss didn't move from the time she sat down.  She just continued to scoop and pour.

After we played at the beach, we went on a dolphin tour (our first boat ride).  I discovered it's not easy to take pictures of dolphins while holding an excited three-year old.

We had so much fun! It was even a perfect morning, slightly overcast to cool down the hot summer sun. I'm so lucky.  I love my little ones and my Dad.  

One would assume that after five hours of beach and boat, that the kids would nap on the way home.  One would assume incorrectly.  They closed their eyes for maybe 20 minutes.  Why don't my kids like sleep?  I love sleep.  

This has nothing to do with today's post - The wall of rain!  No matter how many times I see that it still amazes me.  We were lucky, that it didn't rain on beach day, it rained the next day.

Giant Rainbow Ice Blocks

(41 Months)

I have such vivid memories of the giant ice blocks that my parents made when I was little.  They would fill empty milk cartons with water and freeze them.  We'd have huge ice blocks that would last for hours.

A few days ago I started making my own ice blocks, except I added a few layers of color! The first was done purposeful - one measured cup of each color (10 drops of liquid food coloring to one cup of cold water).  I put in the first color, three or four hours later I poured in the next color and repeated.

The second block has the three primary colors.  If you look closely you can see the a thin layer of secondary colors.

Little Miss loves the hot tub, she calls it "the little pool".  She played with both of the giant ice blocks  until they melted away.

I wasn't able to get any clear pictures of Wild One.  He was practicing swimming underwater and wouldn't stay still long enough for a non-blurry shot.  He just learned how to swim underwater this week and he loves it.  The first time he did it.  He jumped in and swam all the way to the steps by himself.  When I told him that he did it by himself, he was so excited.  "I did?  All by myself?  I can do that?  I'm gonna do it again!  I'm going to take a deep breath and swim all the way to the steps."

Foamy Rainbow Ice Play

(41 Months)

We had so much fun playing with the little rainbow dinosaurs that we knew we'd be playing with rainbow ice in foam (shaving cream).  My two love swirling food dye in foam, playing with water beads in foam and finding hidden letters in foam.  I knew they'd have a ball with this!

I put four drops of liquid food coloring in each of the tiny flower cavities, filled with water and let it freeze.  The next day I filled the water table with an entire can of foam and invited the kidabunks to play.  Hee hee - we had fun!  Soft, squishy, icy cold fun.  Messy, clean 'em up with a hose - heh heh, fun.  Can we do this again Mommy?  Fun!

Rainbow Ice Art

(41 Months)

We love playing with ice.  I use our empty milk and almond milk cartons to make giant icebergs for the pool.  The kidabunks love watching it bob across the water, dunking it underwater and watching it float back to the top and excavating dinosaurs and sometimes Toy Story figurines.

Yesterday, we decided to make colored ice dinosaurs.  Using the primary colors -again with the hopes that they can discover secondary colors on their own- we added five drops of liquid food dye to each mould and filled the rest with water.

Today, we covered their table with white paper towels and let them experiment away.
"Ohhhh!  Dinosaurs!"
"Look, there's a stegosaurs for you!"
"Can I please have all the red ones?"
Then, they noticed that as the dinosaurs melted the paper towels changed colors.
"Are they crayons Mommy?"

Both kiddies liked playing with this.  It's a great work out for fine motor skills.  Ice is slippery.  Especially tiny ice shapes.

Wild One stayed until they were almost all melted, then he decided to play "soccer".  Little Miss asked for a new white towel to finish playing and then asked if she could do it again.

So... did we get a chance to learn about secondary colors?  Not this time, they were fascinated by the colored ice melting and staining the paper.  I had to keep forcing myself not to say, "look what happened to that blue spot when you put the red ice on it."

I have a batch of colored flowers in the freezer and I'll be making another batch of dinosaurs in a few minutes.  Tomorrow, we'll fill the water table with shaving cream and add the colored ice flowers.

Pinkalicious (Raw Beet) Smoothie

(41 Months)

Little Miss is my carnivore- she loves meat.  Beef, chicken, turkey, fish (especially salmon sashimi) are her top choices after fruit and chocolate.  Wild One is my herbivore, he rarely eats meat except for salmon sashimi (that kid can put down 1/2 a pound easily).  He's eat a few pieces of steak and chicken here and there, but he prefers sweet potatoes, baby spinach, avocados, corn...  For twins, these two are as opposite as North and South.

In my ongoing quest to find new ways to introduce vegetables to Little Miss, I decided to try a raw beet smoothie.  After all it will turn out her favorite color- pink.  She loves beet pancakes and beet cupcakes, so hopefully she'll love this too.

I adapted this recipe from Fettle Vegan.

Pinkalicious (Raw Beet) Smoothie
(serves 4)

• 1 medium-large beet, peeled and chopped into quarters (or smaller if your blender requires it)
• 1 frozen, ripe banana
• 1 cup of frozen watermelon cubes (or ice, I just happened to have frozen watermelon in the fridge)
• 6 pitted dates (we always keep these in the pantry for homemade Larabars- click here for a list of our favorites)
• 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk (or whatever kind you have in your fridge)
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of chia seeds (not necessary, just for an added nutritional boost)

Blend everything until very smooth.  Serve immediately.

The verdict- Little Miss: Ohhhhhh.  It's pink Mommy!  It's pink.
Wild One: Can we try it?

Little Miss had half of her tiny glass and then decided it wasn't her favorite.  Wild One downed his and his sisters and a third.  That boy loves his veggies!  I asked Little Miss why she didn't like it, and all I could get out of her was "it's not my favorite."

Although, my little carnivore didn't finish her 4 oz portion, she did at least try it and had half; which is a lot for her.  My little herbivore now has another yummy smoothie that we can add into our rotation.  Plus, thanks to my little ones, now I'm eating (and drinking) more veggies.  Before the kidabunks came along, I pretty much stayed away from most veggies.  With the kids we are eating cleaner and healthier.  I never would have thought that my little three year olds can help transform the way that I eat, but they have.  I spend most of my time at night researching healthy recipes and sharing them on Pinterest.

I love my little ones and am so grateful that I have them, even though Wild One isn't napping.