We are enjoying summer...trying to take advantage of the extra time together and do fun things we normally can't fit in...while trying to balance that with simple activities and plenty of playtime at home. Years ago we got an ice cream maker as a gift from my brother and his wife. It was a gift I'd likely never have bought myself and I never realized how much we would enjoy it and use it.
When we were DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) I would try different ice cream recipes as a yummy treat for dessert or when we had people over for dinner. Now we're SITKs (Single Income Three Kids - that's not near as fun to say, ha!) and we're still loving it because....hello. Kids love ice cream. They REALLY love watching the process....so I figured making ice cream this summer would be a fun simple thing we can do at home.
We gave it our first try several days ago and it was a hit. Amazon made a list of the best ice cream makers on the market....and little did we know but ours ranks at the top of the list. Yes, you can make ice cream without a machine....but the machine makes it faster and makes clean-up easier. The machine also makes it easy when you're making ice cream with add-ins....like cookies or nuts. Sadly for me...at this point our kids like vanilla ice cream the best. I'm hopeful soon they'll venture into trying chocolate! Ha! Unless you have a large family or are a serious ice cream addict...you'll likely have leftovers....which is a good thing! These ice cream containers make it easy to store your left overs...and no labeling necessary! Bonus: The parts to our ice cream maker and the containers are all dishwasher friendly....except for the freezer component....but a quick rinse is all that usually takes. So here's to a summer full of fun family activities that help us enjoy the simple things....like ICE CREAM!!!
You can check out the brief video documenting our ice cream adventure below. Comment below with some of your favorite summer activities where you keep life simple!! I'm always looking for new ideas to try with our boys.