Our Summer Bucket List: Ice Cream

Let me share some parenting advice today.

If you should decide to create a Summer Bucket List for your family (a lovely idea, by the way), add “try a different ice cream store/shop each weekend” to the list. What a great, summery adventure for the family! They will love this. Hurrah for you.

Here’s the advice, though: keep the goal to yourself. Don’t, don’t tell your children about your ice cream plans–even if you think they’ll love it and even if you want to tell them. Because those little people, who may forget the simplest of instructions, will definitely remember  this. You will then be peppered with “when are we getting ice cream, Mommy?” questions daily. And, that bucket list will become a bit of a buzz kill.

{You’ve figured out by now that the aforementioned advice comes from personal experience, right?}

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I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

Needless to say, we’re three weeks into our Summer Bucket List, and we’ve making nice progress on our ice cream goal. We’re eating our way through New England, I say, and it’s a great treat (pun intended!) for the entire family. Here’s where we’ve visited so far:

Week 1: Bedford Farms, Bedford, MA – I’ve written about Bedford Farms before (see that post here); a visit here traditionally kicks off our summer. The ice cream is delish, there’s a fair amount of parking, and there’s a great tree for the kids to climb. The seating is limited, though, so be prepared to stand or sit in/at your car. I got the pitaschio frozen yogurt, and the husband and the kids got the soft-serve twist. I also put in an order with my husband for my birthday cake from here (yum!).

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Kimball Farms fun: ice cream, goats, and trees

Week 2: Kimball Farms, Carlisle, MA – We’ve been here before, too (see here). It wasn’t going to be on our Bucket List, but R specifically requested it. The combination of farm animals and ice cream is a big draw for the kids. Plus, there’s lots of room to explore and run around in the woods behind the ice cream stand. G got chocolate, R got strawberry, the husband got peanut butter, and I got mint chocolate chip frozen yogurt.

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The no sharing rule is, alas, in play.

Week 3: Pizzi Farm, Waltham, MA – We went here on Father’s Day afternoon, and many families were present, which helped me see how Pizzi’s would be a happening spot on a hot summer night. There’s plenty of seating, room for kids to play, and a tractor to climb on (just like Kimball’s–must be a New England thing). The husband got a soft serve twist, the kids got purple cow ice cream, and I got mint chocolate chip frozen yogurt (again, we have to change things up next time).

Our Summer Bucket List has other non-ice cream activities like Storyland, Tanglewood, beachtime on Cape Cod, Maine, and a few surprises that I’m definitely not telling the kids about…

What’s on your Summer Bucket List? Tell me in the comments, or over at our Facebook page.

Disclosures: None! We paid for (and ate!) all of the ice cream ourselves. 

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  1. June 20, 2013
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