I know a lot of you are just getting the first inkling of Spring where you live, but this is Texas and it’s been glorious for several weeks now. We know that summer will be here soon because we heard the dulcet tunes of the ice cream man yesterday. We have several extremely shabby ice cream vans that come around occassionally. Frankly, they make me nervous, but I figure the stuff is all prepackaged so what the heck.
The Kona Ice Cream truck is different. It’s new and gorgeous and plays reggae music out of its booming speakers (with a name like Kona shouldn’t it play Hawaiian music?) There is even a do-it-yourself shaved ice bar on the side. Basically it’s a kids’ dream on wheels.
As I was pondering dinner ideas yesterday afternoon (actually it was 7:15 but I just can’t get used to this daylight savings time) I heard the Kona ice reggae. I was so hoping the ice cream man would pass our little cul-de-sac by, but no luck. He paused an extra long time. Mister suggested we just feed everyone ice cream for dinner (parenting at its finest!) so we all headed outside.
“It’s like you just knew we were here!” Mister joked with the guy working on the truck. “Oh yeah,” the guy said, “your house is circled on my map.”
That explains a lot.
P.S. We also fed the kids a bag of sugar snap peas, so we’re not totally irresponsible parents.
P.P.S. I grew up on this dirt road surrounded by forest in the gritty urban sprawl of Detroit. Seriously it was weird; this neighborhood that the city forgot. Consequently the ice cream truck never came down our street. Never. NEVER. So I still feel this thrill in the core of my soul when the ice cream man comes by. And I have a very hard time saying no.
P.P.P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway by Thursday night!
The ice cream truck is where you see parenting styles defined. I'm personally on board with yours.
I remember feeling so sorry for a friend who "couldn't justify the cost" of buying ice cream from the ice cream truck. She just told her kids that the truck played music to make people happy. How sad!
I'm married to an ice cream man, with a bunker of ice cream in my garage, and my kids STILL want to run after the truck when it comes through. (You know, those 2 weeks in MN when the weather's warm enough…) I dread the day they don't want to anymore.
I have dreams of owning an ice cream truck. I talk to my husband about it all the time. If I bought a really nice truck and painted it really cool and played cool music, I know I could make a boatload of cash.
You mock my pain.
Will it ever be warm enough for an ice cream truck HERE?!…
It is true–after our neglected childhood (neglected by the ice cream man, of course)–that the ice cream truck's tinkling music sends me instantly sprinting to the street in happiness. Only once has it actually gone by my house, though, and of course I was out there with a 20, ready to buy ice cream for my kids and any other kids milling around. I just wish it would come more often.
P.S. i love that your house was circled on their map! How can I get my house on the map??
It snowed here today, but that didn't stop the kids and I from going out for milkshakes for dinner. We had onion rings too, so I'm not a bad parent either.
p.s. THANK YOU!!!! Really, so much!
So much fun ~ the ice cream truck (or Mr. Ding-a-Ling as he's called around here 🙂 is the best!
When we moved to our neighborhood five years ago the ice cream truck never came so I actually looked them up in the phone book and called and asked them to start coming to our neighborhood. I'm not kidding. They've been coming through every summer since 🙂
There was never an ice cream truck where I lived when I was a kid, so I too am always listening for the one that circles around here every once in a while.
I have seen a few shady ones to which I do not purchase from, they look like they will sell you a foreign flavor and take your kids at the same time. But I have heard the Kona one with its reggae music. Brilliant.
I hope that they come around here today. I could use some ice cream.