Ice Cream truck in March?

It was sunny with a high of 75 on this fine warm winter day.  Screech, back that up!  You heard right.  If you live in Chicago, you know I'm not lying.  We've had freak weather for the past week and I busted out the bins of summer clothes and all the girls in this household have been wearing sundresses since...In fact, today's check list item for after the kids went to bed was to put away the winter clothes and fully bust out the summer wardrobe.  But then I had to stop myself because 1) we are still in the month of March and 2) good things don't always last.  At least that is the excuse I'm giving myself while I sit and wile my time away doing more important things...like blogging.

Today, we were eating dinner with all the windows open when I heard it.  I shushed everyone just to confirm it.  Yes, yes, there it was again.  The digital notes of the "Entertainer" weaving in and out of the air meant only one thing--the Ice Cream truck!

Ok, I'm 31 but I still get unreasonably happy about purchasing an overpriced Popsicle from the Ice cream man.  So I ran around the house looking for stray dollar bills because I figured with inflation and everything we'd probably be paying $3 for a treat rather than the 75 cents of my past. I collected $5 from all the other family members who found it amusing that I was running around shouting "The Ice Cream truck is here! Quick, give me some money!"  A, who has never eaten ice cream, let alone from a truck, was so moved by my excitement that she too dropped her fork and ran for her shoes.

I was going to drag the poor girl around the neighborhood but got smart and put her in the "baby" car pushy thing that she's suddenly "too old" to ride anymore although she was feeling pretty fly in it a few months ago.  I guess perceptions change quickly when baby sisters start using some of their siblings' stuff.

So, there we were all ready to find the truck, pay our dues, and enjoy a little bit of life when we realized we hadn't heard the music in a while.  This got me feeling a bit panicked because there isn't much worse of a feeling than when you realize you have missed the Ice Cream truck and you don't know where he's gone off to. We started going in the direction of where we last heard it and even began asking random people on the street if they saw the truck go by.  Nope.  No one knew where he had gone.

Tip to the Ice Cream man: you should really consider buying a megaphone and shouting out your coordinates every few minutes.  It's really hard to find you when all we have go on are visual clues like a swarm of kids running or the insanely maddening song that you keep turning on and off.  This isn't musical chairs, keep the music going.  You might get more customers that way.

And although we could just go home, open the freezer, and eat the Popsicles we have in there, you ruined a moment for us, Mr. Ice Cream man.  Shame on you.  It could have been great.

The reason why the car pushy thing is now only for babies...