As soon as the ice cream truck pulled out of the Gelinas family’s driveway in Pembroke and the jingle of candy echoed down the street, a group of boys slowed down their bikes, flagged down the truck and shouted, “Ice cream!”

The truck pulled up, the blue lights on the roof flashing. Six-year-old Avery Gelinas and her four-year-old sister Maisie leaned out the window, eagerly taking orders from their new customers. Their parents, Adam and Maddy, stood behind them in the truck, smiling and ready to reach into the freezer to pull out the right ice cream.

Adam dreamed of running an ice cream truck for years. His wife, Maddy, found a truck for sale on Facebook Marketplace that spring and encouraged him to take the plunge. They bought a truck, but realized it wasn’t quite what they were looking for. Undeterred, they sold the first vehicle and bought another shortly after, then set about renovating it. They even added a special license plate: SCOOPIN.

The blue truck, which has been traveling in Pembroke and Allenstown since May, is now decorated with sprinkles on the sides, photos of the ice cream offerings, and a logo in the window with the truck’s name, “Sisters Scoops,” in honor of Avery, Maisie and their little sister Alice.

“So far, it’s definitely been a lot better than I expected,” said Adam. “When you drive around, everyone is happy to see you.”

The family spent most nights in the truck this summer, sometimes going to specific destinations, sometimes driving around, enjoying the summer weather and finding adults and children equally excited for dessert. Adam wants the truck to bring his family closer together, create magical childhood memories for his children, and bring joy to others in the process.

“It’s been cool to serve the community, but you see a lot of kids with iPads and stuff who aren’t really spending time with their family in that type of environment,” he said. “Families are together, but they’re not really doing much together. So for us, it’s something that’s fun.”

There’s a tip jar in the truck’s window where the girls collect money to spend on their college education and on trips to Target in the meantime. Their parents want them to learn to be responsible with money from a young age while also saving for their future.

Maddy Gelinas has watched the business change her daughters since the season began.

“I feel like they’re better at talking to people now, especially our middle one, Maisie,” she said. “She’s always been a bit shy, but I feel like it’s helped her overcome her shyness around kids and adults and just talking to people in general. Avery really enjoys counting and doing math. She really enjoys counting money and trying to work out people’s change and things like that.”

The family takes the truck everywhere: from birthday parties and baseball games to work trips and employee appreciation events. Because they want to maintain the spontaneity of the ice cream truck operation, they also go along when the girls ask them to go out with them.

“We’ll be sitting down to dinner and get a message on Facebook asking if we want to go out. We see that as a challenge,” says Adam. “It doesn’t feel like work. It’s just an exciting and fun experience for everyone.”

When he’s not behind the wheel, Adam runs AutoWorld, a car dealership in Manchester. He says his experience of owning and operating a business was invaluable when setting up Sisters Scoops, particularly in navigating the licensing process.

Maddy often restocks the truck while Adam is at work so the family can hit the road with a full freezer when the moment calls for it. Luckily, they have extra freezer space in their house to store any excess ice cream, and they can stop back home to refill the empty space in the truck when needed. When the Gelinas need to completely restock their supply, they make the three-hour round trip to Chelsea, Massachusetts, to buy all of the classic specialty ice cream sodas available at ice cream trucks.

The most popular are usually the funny popsicles with faces of different characters. The Gelinas’ daughters especially love the SpongeBob ice cream.

“It’s difficult not to eat our own supply,” joked Adam. “We definitely do, but we try to limit it.”

Although Sisters Scoops demands a lot from the family, they try to make time during the day to enjoy the magic of the ice cream truck.

“We talk about being thankful and how lucky they are and how much work it takes,” Maddy said. “We work hard for what we have, but it’s something to be thankful for.”

Adam wants the truck to be an experience not only for his family, but for customers as well. Word of mouth and Facebook have both been instrumental in the truck’s success so far. Sisters Scoops has many events planned for the coming months, even as the weather gets cooler.

“We didn’t actually plan for the whole community to come together,” he said. “We drove up to people’s houses when they knew we were coming and they had parties because ice cream was coming.”

Avery and Maisie can often be found handing out their popsicles to customers or showing off to potential customers as their family drives around. Their parents hope to keep the truck running with them and their little sister Alice for many years to come.

“It makes everyone happy and it makes me happy,” Avery said.

As Maisie licked her pink strawberry popsicle, she grinned at her family.

“Eating ice cream makes me happy,” said the four-year-old.

To learn more about Sisters Scoops, follow them on Facebook at @Sisters Scoops and on Instagram at @sisterscoopsnh.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at [email protected].