"Bluebirds in the bluebells..."

If you know the rest of the lyrics to that song, you're an even bigger musical geek than me.

It's the song I thought of while we ate ice cream there this evening. Bluebird is the latest homemade ice cream shop to open its doors in Seattle. More specifically, they are located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, on Pike Street between 12th and 13th.

Our nearest ice cream shop is The Scoop@Walter's (32nd at 65th in Ballard). But this evening, when Phoebe came out of the kitchen pretending to slurp up "iiiiiiiizzzz kkkkeeemm" from a spoon, I was really hoping for a change of scenery. Since it was a rare evening when we were done with dinner before 7:30, we thought we'd load the kids up in the van and head to the other side of I-5.

Doug got the blueberry sorbet (beautifully violet, but too icy and crumbly to be tasty), Em got the snickerdoodle (perfect for a kid-sweet and cinammon-y good), Phee got vanilla bean (solidly 'good') and I got chocolate pudding (so creamy chocolatey that I wanted Bill Cosby to be sitting next to me with that pudding grin he's so good at). The flavors were fair, but I wouldn't say outstanding. Creamier texture than our usual favorite, Molly Moon's, but not nearly as hard-hitting on the subtleties the way MM's is. Good 'scream, but perhaps not enough to tempt us out on another rainy evening.

A side note: It must have been ArtWalk on Capitol Hill tonight because people wandered around, music blared and open containers were common. Upstairs in the Bluebird is a small shop, Snowmonkey's House of Monsters. They had a fun array of goofy stuffers, stationary and art. They also had this cool glass orb dispenser with multiple spigots. A glass with a silver spoon/sifter on top was under each spigot. On top of the sifter thing was a sugar cube. As the liquid dripped out of the spigot, it dissolved the sugar cube and filtered into the glass. Emma was quite taken with the spectacle of this magical orb, as was I. The glass orb fit in with the theme of the multiple-headed monster artwork, too. What was even cooler was the liquid coming out: Absinthe. I've never had Absinthe, but was more tempted to drink the concoction because of its elaborate preparation display than any promise of befuddlement. The hosts tonight were so gracious, offering the drink for free, or if you were willing, a small donation. I was tempted, but decided it might be better to keep on the straight edge while taking my kiddos out for "iiiiiiiizzzz kkkkeeemm."

p.s. The song is "Wonderful Wonderful Day" from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

You can find a sample of the song here, but be sure to click on "Spring Spring Spring" because although I fully respect the good people at Rhino Records, their links are reversed for these two songs.