09/06/2026
DAY 2!! 🍦🚜
And whewww… it’s been a BUSY one!
Today wasn’t festival day just yet — today we took over at Shadybrook Farms and turned it into McLaughlin Family Homemade Ice Cream headquarters for the day. 😂🍦
Prep days are NO JOKE around here. Unless you’ve actually spent a day helping our family, I don’t think anyone truly realizes just how much work goes into this business.
People see us pull into an event, open the window and start scooping ice cream… but there are HOURS and HOURS of work that happen before we ever serve that first dish.
And today was all about one very important thing…
MAKING ICE CREAM. A LOT OF IT. 😳🍦
The tractor was put to WORK churning batch after batch while the rest of us ran around getting everything ready for the big week ahead.
Dad was doing what Dad does best — supervising everything like the entire operation would completely collapse if he looked away for 30 seconds. 😂 oh and don’t forget talking. We know we did lots of that too. 😅
Mom’s passenger princess duties officially ended the second we arrived. 👑😂 Yesterday she got to sit pretty while Dad drove her 835 miles south… today that crown got tossed aside and she was officially clocked in for ice cream duty. Sorry, Mom — vacation’s over! 🤣🍦
Uncle Ron was probably wondering at what point in his life he accidentally signed a lifetime contract with McLaughlin Family Homemade Ice Cream…
Just a friendly reminder, Uncle Ron: you signed that contract the day you married Aunt Gail. There was no fine print. You married into this circus fair and square. 🤣🤣
Zac was just happy nobody handed him another tractor and told him to drive 835 miles. 😂
And the rest of us? Making ice cream, cleaning, organizing, loading, unloading and probably asking ourselves “are we done yet?” approximately 472 times.
But THIS is the part you guys don’t normally get to see. ❤️
The long days. The prep. The work. The family chaos. The behind-the-scenes stuff that makes it possible for us to pull up to these events and hand you a dish of homemade, tractor-churned ice cream.
A HUGE thank you to our friends for letting this crazy Maine ice cream crew invade their farm for a couple days!😂❤️ We promise we’ll give it back when we’re done!
Day 2 in the books! 🍦🚜
We’ve got a whole lotta ice cream made and we’re one day closer to OC Rock & Ride Bike Fest!! 🤘🏼🔥
Maryland… we hope you’re hungry, because we didn’t come 835 miles to play around. 😏🍦
*I do not own the rights to this music*