Summer Fundays! @ Little Red Wagon

This week at

it's Heather's turn to choose the challenge and she's saying, "Summer Fundays!" which just means she wants to see cards that are all about what you think is fun about summer! Yippee!

This is what I did....

Now, in case it's not obvious, the thing the thing that screams summer fun to me is ice cream. More specifically, ice cream cones.  And even more specifically, soft-serve ice cream cones from Erie Drive In Restaurant in Stratford, Ontario.  And even most specifically, zebra cones (which are called zebra cones at Erie Drive In Restaurant, not twist, or half chocolate/half vanilla, zebra and therefore should be called zebra cones everywhere) which are the most delicious ice cream cones ever, with the best texture and consistency and taste and there will never be any other ice cream cones that could ever top them ever, ever, ever.

Let's talk about ice cream for a some all the minutes, my friends.  First off, I don't really get hard ice cream cones.  Maybe it comes from me ending up pushing the hunk of ice cream right out of the cone and onto the ground, or as I got older and developed cat-like reflexes, into my hand as I caught it on it's way down, with overzealous licking.  Maybe it's that I don't see the point of paying for a couple of scoops of ice cream with what you could pay for an entire carton's worth.  Maybe it's because when I do eat hard ice cream at home I definitely microwave it until it is soft which you can't really do when it's in a cone.  Only benefit I see with hard ice cream is the fact that there are oh so many scrumptious, delicious, unique, glorious flavours and you cannot get those in soft-serve.

My love for Erie Drive In Restaurant zebra cones is the stuff of legends around our house.  Stratford is about an hour's drive from our place, so it's not like we regularly hop in the van and scoot off for a cone.  Luckily though, my kids will have at least one tournament in Stratford in the summer, and Stratford is one of my favourite places on Earth, so I do make the trip at least once a summer for non-tournament reasons.  And, believe me, I make up for not getting there often when I do go.  Two weekends ago my daughter had a ball tournament there....and I had four zebra cones over the course of the weekend.

So, the other night, this is was conversation that went on in my house:

Oldest:  You know that new ice cream shop in town is open, right?
Me:  *slightly distracted*  It'll just serve hard ice cream though.
Oldest:  Yeah.  But it has a machine that'll turn hard ice cream into soft-serve ice cream.
Me:  *head shoots up and internally says*

Me:  *outloud*  *small throat clear* Um, wut?
Oldest:  *amused because he knew exactly how this would affect me*  Yep, you just pick your ice cream flavour, they put it through the machine, and it's soft-serve.
Me:  Like soft-serve, soft-serve or like slightly softer hard ice cream.
Oldest:  Like.  Soft.  Serve.
Me:  *frantically checking calendar and comparing it to the shop's hours to see when the closest possible time to that moment I could go check out this freakin' miracle*

fast-forward to last night.....

Scene:  Me, Middlest & Youngest in aforementioned ice cream shop, waiting at the end of a line longer that I would ever wait for non-Erie Drive In Restaurant ice cream because we managed to hit right when kiddies rec soccer was done.  After forever of waiting....
Server:  What can I get for you?
Me:  I heard that you can take hard ice cream and put it through a machine get soft-serve ice cream.  Is that true?
Server:  Yes, that's the machine right there.....but I did some frozen yogurt a bit ago so I'd have to clean out the machine.....so......
Me:  So......can I have that?
Server:  But I'd have to clean out the machine.
Me:
Server:
Me:
Server:
Me:
Server:
Me:  I'm not getting any soft-serve, am I.  *whimpers internally*  *small piece of soul dies*

Normally in this a situation like this it'd be awhile before I'd go back.  I tend to hold a bit of a grudge when something like this happens.  But, I'm just so darned curious about the nature of this ice cream, and if it's as good as I'm imagining it, I doubt I'll last the week.  Though, I'm thinking about spreading a rumour 'round town that eating frozen yogurt causes excessive ear hair or something like that.  I want to hedge my bets for the next time I go in.

I would love to know what your summer fun is so why not give our challenge a go this week and head on over to Little Red Wagon and link up?  And, while you're there, be sure to check out the wonderful projects the other Girlfriends have created.

Also for:

Cutie Pie:  spots & dots + cute
Make My Monday:  ice cream
Dare 2B Artzy:  bright colours
Di's Digi Stamps:  summer fun
Sweet Stampin':  food & drink
Jo's Scrap Shack:  anything goes
Aud Sentiments:  anything goes + sentiment
Cardz 4 Galz:  summer sunny days
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge:  summer
Sasayaki Glitter:  summer fun
Allsorts:  sweet treats
Crafty Sentiments:  anything goes
Simon Says:  anything goes