National Ice Cream Day

Thanks to my sister-in-law and this calendar, my iPhone reminded me on Thursday that it was National Ice Cream Day.  (Is that a brilliant holiday or what?!)  We had every intention of celebrating with a trip to our favorite local ice cream shop, Sylas & Maddy's, Thursday evening.  For a variety of reasons (including a semi-rough afternoon at daycare and an eye apt. for Drew) we didn't make it downtown, so I vowed we would celebrate Friday instead.  Surely the National Ice Cream Day folks wouldn't care if we extended their holiday a day!

Friday morning turned out to be on the rough side with more tears than usual at daycare drop off.  Mama was feeling guilty.  So I decided to call it a day at noon, run home for a couple of hours to take care of some household chores I had been ignoring all week and then pick Jackson up early for a little extra Mommy & Jack time...over ice cream.  In honor of National Ice Cream Day.

It turned out perfectly. 

I picked him up at 3:00 to find him playing happily with some trucks.  Despite the extra tears in the morning, it had been a great day.  What a relief!

After a quick pit stop at Drew's office (it's just a couple of blocks away - super handy!) we headed downtown to celebrate our belated National Ice Cream Day.

Sylas & Maddy's is such a gem.  This local shop makes their ice cream from scratch every day.  They also make homemade waffle cones right there in front of you and homemade fudge, too.  It smells like heaven when you walk in the door. 

I had grasshopper.  Mint ice cream with Oreos.  Brilliant.  Jack had traditional chocolate.  He liked it.

A lot.

On a whim, we decided to take a stroll to The Toy Store after our ice cream.  Another local gem in downtown Lawrence.  Jack had a great time wandering the aisles and discovering new toys.  And I enjoyed observing what caught his attention (musical toys, balls, cars and kid-sized chairs were the most popular).

I, still feeling slightly guilty for the stressful 2 weeks we have endured during the daycare transition, totally caved and bought him a toy.

(Stay tuned for a future post to see what's in the bag!)

While it wasn't exactly a super proud parenting moment for me (Mommy's guilt = ice cream and toys for toddler), the point is we had a really great afternoon together. 

And guilt or no guilt, I think National Ice Cream Day is going to be an annual celebration in this family!