National Creamsicle Day

Sweet, cold, creamy, fruity, smooth, refreshing, fun...all words to describe my creamsicle.  We got the skinny ones to give some appearance of making a healthy choice.  My youngest, upon finishing his, promptly asked if he could have a second.  So, in true mommy fashion, "Yes, if you do the dishes first."  He's in doing them right now.  Bribery is great!

Popsicles are such a part of summer, as is delicious ice cream.  Whoever thought to put them together was  inspired.  We could imagine that it was someone whose mom made him choose between a popsicle or ice cream all of the time.  "You can't have both."  He sat in his room stewing and thinking, "When I grow up and move out of here, I'm going to have them both at the same time."  He did one day, and wallah (if that is how you spell it), the idea was born.  That would be a really great story if it were true.

Actually, according to Wikipedia (the all-knowing internet information bible), the popsicle was invented on accident by an 11 year old, Frank Epperson.  In 1905 in San Francisco, Frank was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch. He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it. Isn't that just like a typical kid, they want to create and leave a big mess instead of cleaning it up.  That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, he discovered the drink had frozen to the stick.  Inspiration!  Eighteen years later in 1923, Epperson introduced his more developed treat to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, CA.  It was a big success, so in 1924 he applied for a patent where he called it "the Epsicle ice pop".  He renamed it to Popsicle.  Rumor has it that his children made him change it. In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. In 1989, Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever, bought the rights. Unilever also owns Creamsicle.  Although Creamsicle is actually a brand name, the word is used as the general name for any type of desert that combines vanilla ice cream with a layer of frozen fruit flavored ice over it.  Orange is the most popular flavor.

So a kid did invent it, but not because he rebelled against his mother.  Aren't you glad he forgot to clean up his mess, though.