Photo caption: Dad has Cookies n Cream, Nathaniel has BIttersweet Mint, Mom has Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Margaret has a Black Cow (vanilla ice cream with root beer sherbet).

I have an unnatural obsession with sugar.  I’m not sure I realized just how bad it was until recently, when my husband and I started trying to lose weight. Boy, was I grumpy for a few days without my sugar. 

I’d like to tell you I continued to stop eating it, but I’d be lying. I have tried to cut back though; which makes what we did with our kids on Saturday morning seem kind of crazy. We had ice cream. At 10:00 in the morning. A lot of ice cream.

We were staying outside of Penn State University for a family wedding and had some time to burn so we decided to tour part of the campus. I had heard so much about the Berkey Creamery on campus that I knew it had to be part of our tour. They open at 8 a.m.  They sell ice cream at 8 a.m. Oh yeah, this place is for me. No doubt about it.

Here’s where my worlds collided. It’s not just an ice cream shop. It’s an actual working laboratory for students in the Agricultural Sciences Department. They learn by doing. 

I started teaching college when I quit my job in television. I love it. It’s awesome to have passion about something again. This is why I loved the Creamery. Yes, the ice cream was amazing (at 14% butterfat, what’s not to love??). But I also love that while making something yummy for my family to enjoy, a student learned something. Hopefully more than one student learned something! This is a Penn State tradition that’s been going on for more than 100 years. 

I love that my family could play a part in someone’s education. I also love that my kids now think I’m the coolest mom alive because I let them eat ice cream at 10 a.m.