Parades

Parades are one of my favorite things, especially patriotic parades.

Dylan's little pre-school put on a sweet parade.

Great way to put you in the right frame of mind for the 4th.

I love his school.  He's been there since he was 18 months old and it sadly only goes through

Pre-K.  He will be heading off to Kindergarten in the fall.

They do a great job with their Arts and Sports programs and always celebrate the holidays

(ie: Christmas, Valentines, Halloween....) with parties, performances, parades.

It's refreshing to see that some schools still do that.

all the boys and girls dressed out in their red-white-blue best

and patriotic music was proudly playing

Dylaln and his teacher

so cute!!!

We really enjoyed it.

For our second "adventure" of the day we headed off  to the long awaited opening

of (drum roll please) Trader Joe's.  Yes, it's true.

We finally have our very own Trader Joe's so I won't have to get my fix as I'm traveling 

through Atlanta or Tallahassee.

If you haven't been their before you must put it on your list if you have one locally.

For those of you who have been there  you know what I mean.

All products (including wine) is under their own label and a very large percentage is

organic at a very reasonable price, except the bananas I might add.

I think the main reason I go is for their famous cookie butter.  Yum!

Mike adores their ginger snap cookies.  I'm not a fan of gingersnaps so I'll have to

take his word for it.  I was hoping to score some peonies today but I was out of luck.

The walls are painted with murals of local points of interest.

The sell their reuseable grocery bags with fun prints for 99 cents.  If you

let them know it's your first visit, they'll give you one free. 

My treats for today

Love these french market lemonades.

Most Trader Joe's I've been to are not usually particularly busy but I went today (5 days after the

official opening) and it was crazy crowded.  We tried to park in the lot for 15 minutes before

giving up and heading down the street a couple of blocks and walking over.

I'm sure it's because it's just opened and will die down soon.  If you don't like crowds and

fighting for a parking space I'd give it a few weeks before going.

The employees are very friendly and helpful.

I have been hoping for a Trader Joe's for years and I may or may not have

called the company numerous a time or two asking about impending openings.

I found out last year that they were building two in central Florida.

This is the first to open and I'm a pretty happy camper I must say.

anyhow...

other happenings

Dylan and I had a date night last night for Family Fun Night at our local

Chick-fil-A.  We had lots of fun with face painting, 4th of July crafting, the 

playground of course and delicious nuggets, milk, waffle fries and ice-cream.

My handsome date

This was his choice.  I wanted a flag or fireworks.  

continuing to be grateful in all things:

977.  afternoon rain showers that keep our city green even with hot temperatures

978.  Makenzie's award for best smile at a national dance competition   How cool is that!

979.  a lunch and shopping date with my mom tomorrow

980.  date nights with grandkids

981.  Trader Joe's

982.  children's parades

983.  America

984.  loved ones finding jobs

985.  friends coming to visit

986.  disney merchandise operator, Edie, who is trying to help a desperate grandmother

987.  little dancing girls

988.  baseball playing boys (and girls)

989.  spending time crafting this week

Have a blessed day.