Fond Memories of ....Aldi?

Did anyone grow up around an Aldi? Or as I called Aldis which is either Missouri style or my family style. I haven't been around one for YEARS. Infact one time in 1998 I went with my in-laws (Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters all of them) to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra. On our way back we wanted to stop at some place to buy food for our trip home. When we were in Pennsylvania and I saw the big Aldis sign. I became VERY excited--probably too excited---anyways...after ME telling THEM how GREAT Aldis was --cheap pop, chips, ice cream (apparently these were the only things I liked to buy when I was a kid) we stopped. So after I was asked , "You mean it's like a Trader Joe's?" and I replied, "Oh yeah, probably, it's a really cool store". We decided to shop there.

I guess I was having too much fun trying to find the exactly right dimension of box to fit my chocolate coverd graham crackers, Aldi cheetoes, and Aldi grape sodas to notice how they must of felt when they went through the line only to find out that Aldi doesn't accept credit cards (because as all Aldi regulars know it's cash only--well until recently I think). After they scrounged up enough money to pay for the food we got back on the road. Someone iwho apparently failed to hear my speech on the wonders of Aldis, started bad mouthing Aldis! Gasp! What? Not fall in LOVE with Aldis??? How could someone say that?!

In their defense, now that I've had the Trader Joe's experience, I realize that they were seriously led astray as to the type of store Aldis truly is. After all there are no Italian sodas, frozen Thai noodle entrees, or gourmet truffles anywhere in the store.

But for the meager in cash Aldis is AWESOME! It's a little warehousey looking. People usually have to find a box to put all their groceries in. But when your a kid with a buck to spend---Aldis was definitely the place to spend it--I could have bought a million sodas with that kind of cash, or at least 20 sodas with a dollar, back in the day that is.

But I digress....

I just went there. I placed my quarter in the cart to unlock the chain and went on in. All the memories started flooding back. My brother and I sliding down the tiled isles, looking for boxes to place groceries in and getting to pick a soda and a type of cookie (chocolate coverd graham crackers are STILL my favorite Aldi cookie).

Now there is a lot more selection than I remember, but it is still great. As I was standing at the counter where you box your own groceries I saw the sign that said no running, standing, or playing on the boxing counter. Ha! That sign must have been there when I was a kid, but I remember actually running back and forth on that boxing counter. It's a miracle I never fell of off it and broke my neck. Oh well, there it is the wonder that is Aldi. On a side note I always thought Aldi would do really well in Utah. Does any other Aldi-lover agree??

What they're actually saying about Aldis, I have no clue. But if I was hungry on a spaceship I'd want to be beamed down to Aldis to replenish my pantry supplies--definitely!

A little rest is what's best!

The school year just begun and I'm trying to find my rhthym again. The two oldest are in school all day which really frees up my days. I've started to go on outings again. By outings I mean a relaxed, I'm-in-NO-rush type of outing. What a contrast to the past few years when I had one kid in this school and another in this pre-K across town.

I've found out a few funny things about my littlest one now that I have all this free time.

She loves rocks! Actually love doesn't even describe it. She's obsessed with rocks, is that normal? We went to the zoo (as I said tons of free time) and I decided to check out the butterfly exhibit where the butterflies fly all around you. I was worried X would try to catch one and touch a wing. However, this was NOT the problem. ex. a beautiful, large, velvety clubtail flies and lands right in front of us on a bush. I turn to X, point and say, "Look at that beautiful butterfly!" X makes the most animated surprised expression and says, "Ohhh...Wow....a wock!" and picks up a large, normal looking grey rock laying in the dirt directly under the bush the fantastic looking butterfly is hovering on.

Now fish on the otherhand X definitely loves! We went to the aquarium (free time is great!). She ran from tank to tank doing her signature squeal, "WOW!" She loves fish. She'll sit and look at them floating back and forth. Quite frankly I was getting a little bored but you know I was in no rush so we sat for however long satisfied the little squirt and went to the next display

Here's the cool fish I really liked. Look at those lips--eeekk! He's like the Casa Nova of the fish tank for sure!

Ok. So one last and final thing I realized. I always thought X did silly things, because she was following her older sister's example. As you can see below. . .

Just a typical morning at breakfast time. Girls laughing at each other--their cereal getting soggy, and THIS is what they are laughing at ( I thought it was pretty funny too). X would have done this also except she couldn't figure out how to get the raisin to stick to her tooth.

Well a few days later, I was totally dismayed when I went to the kitchen and X was in the fridge with the yogurt opened. She turns her head and this is what I see. I laughed so hard that she gained some confidence with what she must have done so she ran to her sister's room roaring like a lion trying to make them laugh and they were in hysterics and they loved her moustache. So she is silly by her own accord. Interesting, very interesting. . .