I don't remember ever hearing an ice cream truck drive by my home in Hawaii when I was growing up - but that may have been due to the fact that I lived in the mountains and our subdivisions were unpaved for ages and not stocked with children in the summers. The first time I remember hearing those tinny songs playing was when I visited my grandparents on Oahu and, laying on the futon on the lanai or in the bedroom with a fan blowing across my sea-salt covered beach legs, I'd hear the little yellow truck driving by playing its endless song. There's something strange about ice cream trucks - they seem at once a bit scary (a disembodied, luring song), and on the other hand nostalgic and full of promise. If you could only time it just right, you could run down the driveway, and follow that simple song through the streets until the truck and the ice cream was yours. We always had ice cream sandwiches and drumsticks, a gallon of vanilla ice cream for root beer floats and popsicles in the freezer at our grandparents house, so we never chased the truck. But it seemed the perfect backdrop for summer nonetheless.
I'd been wanting to take a picnic with Ben in my new, very summery Lulu*s outfit, but the weather turned sour last week (chilly and cloudy) so we were forced back inside. The sun finally came out for a brief moment one afternoon and we decided to take advantage of the setting sun and warm park weather, sharing ice cream sandwiches in true summer fashion in our pretty park. We've been on a packaged summer treat kick lately - drumsticks (my favorite) and ice cream sandwiches, lemon and lime popsicles, you name it! Again, there's something so nostalgic about frozen summer snacks. I never feel like a grown up when I'm eating an ice cream cone or ice cream sandwich - the world seems easy and sweet and full of immense promise, of pools in the summer, and new love, freckled shoulder tans and the sound of an ice cream truck driving by.
Lulu*s has been so kind enough to offer U.S. and Canada readers 15% off your total purchase using the code LADIESINNAVY. Discount valid from 6/18/2013-6/22/2013.