The effects of the pandemic turned me into a yes mom. With no packed schedules, nowhere we HAVE to be, that's given us the gift of time. I could no longer say no when the minis asked to stay up later, try something that would take hours to do, and most importantly, yes, you can eat ice cream for lunch. After almost a year of having no choice but to say yes to many requests, saying yes is now second nature to me. It's made me a happier, less stressed mom and given me very happy, independent, well rounded children in return.
Today was ice cream for lunch day. Our weekly hiking trip took us to northwest Iowa and near the Wells Blue Bunny ice cream plants. We had never been to LeMars, Iowa nor had we been to the Blue Bunny ice cream parlor. So, with three kids and a dog in tow (who was no allowed inside), we checked out the visitors center (masks required), ice cream parlor, and learned about the history of Wells Blue Bunny ice cream. It made us all a very happy family, who was running on A LOT of sugar!
At the Visitors Center, we learned how they make their ice cream and all of their treats! We learned fun facts such as they have the largest freezer in North America and the entire company was founded on $250, which was used to purchase cows, bottles, and a few other supplies for dairy farming.
While Hubs and the minis were inside the visitors center and ice cream parlor, Zeus and I walked around the downtown, Main Street area and window shopped. There were so many fun businesses to check out!
Yes, the dog got his own HUGE bowl of vanilla ice cream. This is the dog that cries as soon as we hit the drive thru because he thinks he's going to get a pup cup of whipped cream. I knew we'd never get away with not getting him anything!
Our orders included: a dirt cup sundae, two molten lava milkshakes (it had lava cake in the milkshake), a molten lava sundae, and a cookie dough sundae. Our total was $55 and we got a crazy amount of ice cream treats! Well worth the money if you're planning a visit. I wasn't even able to eat half of the cookie dough sundae. Not only did the ice cream have big chunks of cookie dough and was topped with a cookie, there was a huge cookie UNDER all of the ice cream to eat. Thank goodness we went on a long hike after this!
I will never regret all of the times I've said yes in the last year. Not when it brings us to days, moments like this.