The Write Start: I Scream, You Scream

We had a great vacation at Baba's beach house, complete with homemade ice cream courtesy of this handy gadget.

First we read the recipe together and drew our own, simplified, kid-friendly picture list of the steps. We do a quikie list like this for most recipes and it works out great for Jack. To tell you the truth, it helps me get organized too. Have you ever been cooking with your kid and you stop to look at a recipe and BAM! you lost them? The picture list really helps to keep everyone on the same page, so to speak.

So you mix up the ice cream ingredients and add them to a chamber on one side of this cool, ball-shaped ice cream maker. And then you fill up the other side with ice cubes and rock salt. According to the directions, you shake for about ten minutes. Then you scrape down the sides of the ice cream chamber, add more ice and salt to the other side if needed, and shake for ten more minutes.

Well. Easier said than done. Filled with ice, that thing is HEAVY! Do you see the look of dismay on Jack's face as he attepts to shake it? He didn't have endurance for the shaking for more than about thirty muscle-building seconds.

Then I tried having him roll it around on the floor.

That was okay for a few minutes, but then he maxed out on that as well. (What did I expect after a long day on the hot beach?)

So then I hit upon rolling it back and forth to eachother. And that was just right. We got the job done and finally enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Yum! Jack loved it because it was vanilla ice cream, of course, but also because he worked hard to make it. I loved that it was a gross motor activity that had such delicious and satisfying results.

All in all, we had a ball. Isn't that what vacation is about? Who needs Good Humor when you can share some laughs while rolling a freezing cold, ten-pound ice cream ball? Pretty cool.