Going out for ice cream + Weekly dinner menu for the week of October 3rd

Last weekend, the three of us went out for ice cream. This may seem like a very routine affair living in a city with a 23 month old where artisanal ice cream stores are easily found. But, this ice cream outing was anything other than routine....we went out for ice cream and it was ALREADY DARK! I could count on one hand the number of times we have left our house after the sun stopped glowing since moving to Seattle and, for Jack to be with us after sundown, well that is just unheard of!

It was Saturday night...our only night with David at home during this month of night float rotation...and I got the urge for a yummy frozen treat, a sweet pre-dinner appetizer for David and I and a desert for Jack. After we paused to give the idea a second thought, we grabbed our shoes and bounded out the door headed to Molly Moon's. On our drive over to the Wallingford neighborhood, I knew this outing was significant, marking the first of many evening outings that we will share together. And, it was a bit bittersweet...Jack is growing up. He's becoming a little boy who can make choices and decisions for himself.

We gathered in a line that spilled out of the door and onto the sidewalk and discussed our flavor choices. We made a lot of friends in line chatting over our sweet boy's outfit of yellow rain boots, a Florida gator shirt, and cut-off denim and our obvious love of SEC football (David was wearing one of his Auburn tees).

We ordered our selections and then snuggled into a table licking and taking spoonfuls of each other's...Jack chose the tomato basil sorbet (yes, he really did choose this and he liked it! So did we.), I had a sugar cone filled huckleberry chunk and Theo chocolate, David had strawberry balsamic and stone mint. The flavors were indulgent. Jack tasted his first ice cream cone and he thought it was wonderful. The taste of the sweet cream alone would have been enough to make most people's night, but instead of the ice cream, my favorite part of the evening was the walk to and from the car that we shared hand in hand. Just the three of us with smiles plastered on our faces taking up the whole width of the sidewalk, happy just being.

See, I am all too aware that little people don't stay little forever. I know that Jack will one day think going out for ice cream on a Saturday night with his parents is absolutely not fun. And, I know, if we are lucky, that this day will come in several years but also be fleeting (those preteen and teenage years can be such a challenge). So, I am holding on dearly to the memories we are making along the way...the simple ice cream outings where nothing is more important to the three of us at that moment than each other.

*happy October! We are all decked out for the season at our house! How about you?

Weekly menu: Tuesday: Vegetable Ratatouille

Wednesday: Pumpkin Muffins

Thursday: Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Friday: Homemade Rustic Pizzas