Fall Festival Parade

Chloe's new school is incredible. After her days at Red Apple in Racine, I didn't know what to expect from this school but they have exceed all my hopes for her. She needs speech therapy and in Racine she got help one day a week. At Honey Creek they work with her every day. Yes, every day. She is advancing better than we ever expected but all that we hoped.

Her new school does a lot of things we didn't expect. In these days of political correctness, many have cut out Halloween activities. At Honey Creek, they have something called a Fall Festival. They do it in early October. It includes a costume parade around the neighborhood. My daughter mentioned the event to me half-heartedly so I could attend if I had nothing to do that day. So I thought I would go. I had anticipated the little kindergarteners marching around the outside of the school in their little costumes and that's about it. Boy, was I wrong.

When I pulled up to the school the Milwaukee Police were just closing down the roads to through traffic. I was happy I parked in the nick of time. As I walked toward the school the junior high band from next door was practicing and getting ready to line up at the start of this parade. Then I saw the motorcycle police ride up in front of the band to lead the parade. As I got closer to the main doors of the school, the principal came outside to meet the Alderman and a few other dignitaries that I was not that familiar with (this is not my neighborhood). This was a bigger deal than I expected.

As the kids started coming out of the school, I noticed the neighbors getting out their lawn chairs and sitting down to watch the parade. The K4 kids came out then the K5 kids and I saw Chloe. Parents and family were invited to walk along in the parade. Chloe was pleasantly surprised to see me and thrilled that I was going to be walking with her all along the way. What a great time!

All the grades participated in the parade and it was a really big deal. Many parents came to walk with their kids. The weather was absolutely perfect on this fall day and we all had a great time. Chloe's mom is going to be disappointed that she took this event for granted but I an so glad I was there.

Chloe's Tooth

My beautiful granddaughter lost her first tooth! I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. Just when I got used to her being in kindergarten, this had to happen. I'm certain the tooth fairy was good to her.

Grom Family Cousins

Today we had Jeff's cousins and his sister at the house all at the same time. It is a rare thing since his cousin, Toni lives in Phoenix and his sister, Linda lives in St. Paul, Arkansas. We do see Jeff's other cousin, Sherrill more often since she lives in West Bend. That's a mere 45 minutes away. Sherrill and Toni are sisters so Toni's been staying in West Bend while Linda is staying with us.

We weren't sure we were going to be able to connect. Linda got to Milwaukee and then drove up north for the week and Toni was in town during that time. Linda was getting on a flight back to Arkansas just a few hours before we all got together. It was the only opportunity left for everyone to be together. So we had a nice lunch while discussing the family tree.

Before everyone left, I snapped this nice photo of the four cousins.

Grom Family Siblings

Jeff's brother and sister are both in town at the same time - a very rare occurrence. The nice thing is that his sister, Linda is here for a wedding in Appleton and will be staying in Marinette for a while. Since Jeff's brother lives in Marinette, he will be driving her there from here. Funny how things work out. Linda will be back here in Milwaukee at the end of the week and we will spend more time with her then but for now, it is nice to have the three of them here together.

Member Monday at the Racine Zoo

We love the Racine Zoo. It is the most wonderful place. Compared to the Milwaukee County Zoo, it is very small but for us, that is part of the charm. The staff there is amazing and the grounds are easily walkable, even for people like me who struggle with a disability.

My daughter is a zoo member so there are special events for members only. We especially love those times. They provide special activities for the kids and offer food specials making the trip there affordable for all of us. Not to mention, the chicken tenders are very good there. The kids will get to ride the train around the grounds and we even ride with them.

Member Mondays also include a band and on a nice summer evening it is so very nice. The zoo usually has a theme for each member night and we get to meet one of the animals up close during the event. My granddaughters loved the armadillo and the snakes. Chloe even got to touch them which made her day. Avery is a little timid with animals so she tends to keep her distance. There is also a discount on everything in the gift shop and somehow we never leave without a new keepsake.

My granddaughters' favorite thing besides meeting the animals is the playground. They have a fantastic gym with so much to play on that the are never bored. We never leave the zoo without a stop there.

The New Meijer Store

My daughter got an IT job at our new Meijer store. When we found out the store was coming to the area, I wasn't that thrilled. Another big box store doesn't appeal to me for a few reasons. First of all it is next to Woodman's grocery which is my favorite local grocery store and another reason is that there is a Kohl's and Target a mile down the road. And I don't shop at either of those stores so I doubt that Meijer will appeal to me.

As an employer, the pay is crappy and the hours are horrible so it's not the greatest place to work but the employees are nice and the store is clean and fresh. It is a good place for our daughter to get some experience before getting a better job (we hope). We went to the family open house the day before the store opened to the public and they had quite a party. We all received samples of the foods, free marketing stuff like water bottles...blah, blah, blah. They even had a balloon making clown however, the line was so long it was shut down before they ever got to us. There was even a band playing in the produce department!

 Too bad they didn't give out free wine samples...the band was good enough that we would have headed to the lawn & garden area, got some lawn chairs and sat down to listen to the band.