Homemade Ice Cream- Check!

At the beginning of June, Adam and I started writing a summer "bucket list". We have 50 things scribbled in a notepad, with good intentions of printing it and making it look pretty so we can check things off as we do them. Maybe by the end of the summer I will have it printed, but we're working on the list, nonetheless! One of the things on the top of our bucket list is to make homemade ice cream. Lucky for us, we didn't even need an ice cream maker- thanks to a good find on Pinterest! The kids both helped and we had such a fun time!

Makaylin smashing the reese's

Mommy helping Ryker smash reese's, too!

 Apparently Adam needed a self-portrait. 

He doesn't get ahold of my camera too often, so I guess he needed to play! 

Mixing it all together...

The end result: Caramel-Vanilla ice cream w/ Reese's 

These two pictures scream "success!" for this bucket list activity! :)

If you're wondering how we made the ice cream, it's SO simple! You need 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and a can of sweetened condensed milk. We used full fat versions of both, but I may experiment with the lower-fat versions next time. Add your mix-in's to the sweetened condensed milk. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture and freeze.

Puppet Wagon

Tonight we headed to German Park for the Puppet Wagon. The kids really liked it- Makaylin kept saying (and signing) "more. Ryker did extremely well- I think he just liked being outside! Afterwards, we let the kids run around near the park and then headed to Dairy Queen drive-thru for ice cream treats!

To the Zoo

Sunday was all about the zoo! We have taken the kids to the zoo once, and that was the San Diego Zoo about a year ago. The kids weren't as aware of the animals that first time, so we were excited to see their reactions this time. It was also exciting to actually get out of the house as a family- something that has been limited for the last year or so.

Of course, it isn't a trip to the zoo without some meltdowns, sickness, and frustration. ;) We went to Como Zoo and it was extremely busy. We drove around for 45 minutes looking for a parking spot and that's when Makaylin got car sick. We were basically driving in circles, so I don't blame her. We stopped to clean her up and then found a spot to eat our picnic lunch.

We weren't sure if we would actually get to go into the zoo because parking was crazy and Ryker wouldn't do well on the shuttle. Well- good things come to those who wait. We ended up getting a parking spot in the very front parking lot! We took a quick spin around the zoo- we definitely didn't see everything, but we were ok with that. Ryker did well as long as we kept moving- he didn't like to stop at the exhibits. He had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at or doing. Makaylin had a meltdown after the seal exhibit because she didn't want to leave them. Someone even commented to Adam that "She's got a pair of lungs!".

The kids each picked out a stuffed animal and we bought them a new book. Then we headed to the cafe to get smoothies and coffee for our ride home. Before we even got on the highway both kids were asleep! I think that means it was a success!