Summer Popsicle Bliss...

Growing up, popsicles were always remarkably special in my eyes because they always made minute arguments between friends evaporate, while having the unique ability to improve vegetable-heavy dinners and to make long hot car rides more enjoyable. Additionally, popsicles were also the perfect thing to share between friends and between kids and their pups (you can ask my mom and her best buddy Pinto about that one!) 😉 LOL

Popsicles always make me think of the best parts of summer as well as my "Carefree Pollyanna Days" as a vibrant elementary schooler. Along with a gazillion popsicle breaks over the years, my elementary summers were filled to the brim with: 

*Birthday parties & presents (I'm a Summer Baby)

*Coloring Contests at the local Safeway (I've always been artistic, and I fondly remember winning $100 worth of groceries for my family one summer). 

*Sleepovers with my favorite cousins. Shoutout 2 Reesee & George!

*Vacation Bible School :)

*Countless rounds of Operation, Connect Four, Monopoly, LIFE & my favorite board game, Mad Magazine (where the object of the game is to lose ALL of your money!) LOL 

*Dance offs to Janet Jackson music videos

*Binge watching MTV & Nightracks on TBS

*Ferocious Pillow fights

*Tall Tale contests

*Raucous laughter about everything & nothing at all! LOL

*Rowdy water balloon fights

*Mandatory drinks from the water hose

*Essential shopping! A kid's gotta have Jolly Ranchers, licorice, candy cigarettes, ring pops, bazooka gum, & Garbage Pail Kids, right? LOL

*Frequent jump roping sessions, made even funner by the beads attached to my French braids. 

*Bumpy yet-still-thrilling Slip-n-Slide rides in the front yard

*Four Square, Kick Ball, & Dodgeball battles

*Mud Pie making sessions

*Bike riding adventures (my trusty banana seat Cadillac Misty Rose serving as my favorite mode of transport).

*Happily mothering my chocolate mini me (my Cabbage Patch doll, Caroline).

*Adventures at Skate King

*Learning fun hand games like: Have A Coke and A Smile and Tweedle Deedle Dee

*Singing clever schoolyard rhymes like: Sophisticated Lady, Little Sally Walker, and Miss Mary Mack & you know she was dressed in black! LOL

*Playing supercool playground games like: Red Rover, Mother May I, Simon Says & Red Light Green Light

*Eating pizza and ice cream sundaes at Pietro's Pizza

*Foot races in Ferry Park

*Conducting Barbie Weddings and Divorces (I remember my bff and I threw Ken down a flight of stairs one time when we divorced) LOL

*Watching scary movies like: Friday the 13th, The Lost Boys & A Nightmare on Elm Street

Interestingly, over the years, there was only one thing that could successfully pry us kids away from our summer fun. Who had the power to do so, you ask?

The Answer: The ice cream man and his famous melody! 😊

From the moment we kids heard that special song shoot out of the ice cream truck speakers, we would stop in our tracks, then turn and run, like Olympic sprinters, inside to ask our parents for some change for our favorite popsicle. 

When I was a kid, I was not a "Picky Petunia" (like I am now) when it came to popsicle flavors. Each flavor was equally delicious in my eyes, and great for cooling down after playing outside all day in the summer heat. 

Some of my all-time favorites are:

*Freeze Pops*

*Bullet Pops*

*Firecracker Pops*

*Pushups*

*Fudgesicles*

*Missile Pops*

*Banana-Fudge Pops*

*Watermelon Whirls*

*Bubble Gum Sicles*

*Cotton Candy Sicles*

& Sponge Bob Sicles

And what exactly made popsicles the perfect summer treat for me as a kid?

1) They were downright delicious! 

2) They did a good job of cooling me down as well as, if not better, than my family's rickety house fan

3) They made life more fun by making my tongue all types of fun colors.

4) And last but not least, they gave me fuel for the next adventure.

You know what? 

All of this popsicle talk has made me famished, I think I'll head to the corner store for a Spongebob popsicle right now! 

Happy Summer Beautiful Peeps! ✌🏾