Week in Review: Not a Break, Not Poisonous, Not Your Boss

 It's the end of our April break here in Massachusetts and while it was a reprieve from school, there was a lot of working involved to get The Ice Cream Cottage ready to open in a few weeks.  So was it really a break or not?

We are so lucky to have my dad helping us reconstruct the shop.  Being a builder AND an owner of multiple ice cream shops is a very unique niche and he has all the expertise.  While my mom's not swinging a hammer, she has been giving great advice and researching for us.  Phil is THE MAN for working so hard cleaning, building, painting and setting up all the repair guys, electricians, plumbers, etc. to keep it all moving.  When the big kids aren't working their other jobs, they have been helping us too and the little ones bring the excitement.  Other family members have helped out with loans and physical labor and encouraging support from afar.  It truly is a family affair!

Our biggest expense has been the purchase of two dipping cabinets.  Getting them delivered was a nightmare because of their size and weight.  A friend brought his bobcat over to get them off the truck for us, and then more friends helped carry them inside.  We owe so many people so much ice cream :)

My dad is sitting on one of the dipping cabinets and the other one is in the center of the shop.  Phil slept much better once those were in place!

We had a technician from Taylor come to service our machine and we needed to make our first soft serve ice cream of the season to test it out and make sure it wasn't poisonous like any good mom who has to test their kid's sweets.  It was delicious!  Not poisonous at all!

Happy customers :)

I've been designing the signs for outside of the shop which is a tough job because it's not only about the design but about settling on exactly what we are selling, what flavors, what prices, etc.  I've learned a lot about researching colors and using hex codes though.  For example I looked up the hex code for the navy paint we used on the building's trim and matched the sign to that.  Cool, right?  Then I tried to find a raspberry sorbet color as our pink.

Brendan impressed me with how high he could jump at gymnastics...that tower of blocks is almost as tall as he is!  I couldn't imagine looking at a tower of blocks that was about eye level and jumping over it.  Getting our trampoline during the pandemic was a great gift for the kids.

I can't wait to make this mango salsa and put it on grilled chicken - a perfect summer dinner!

I took the little guys to see the Mario movie and they enjoyed it!  I napped on and off because the chairs are so comfy and it was dark and I'm old now.

Have a wonderful Earth Day weekend everybody, pick up some litter or don't, I'm not the boss of you just the Cottage Crew :)