According to public record, Fall has officially arrived. However, despite the presence of Fall staples like football (Go Blue! Go Lions!), back to school and pumpkin flavored everything… the sunshine and warm temps suggest otherwise. The weather this September has allowed us to hang onto summer just a little bit longer with pool parties, golf and boat cruises.
For the second summer in a row we enjoyed a super fun boat cruise on Reeds Lake with friends after purchasing an auction package at the annual GRCS middle school fundraiser. We had a riot blasting tunes, eating ‘snacklebox’ charcuterie and toasting to the type of friendships meant to be spent on a lake during summertime. Three cheers for Lindsay for surprising us all with matching hoodies!
Jeff continues to sneak in as many rounds of golf as he can before the weather truly closes the course while I stowed my clubs for the season after our last couples outing at Alpine Golf Course. It was a couples outing like no other complete with a super hero theme, a Marvel sheet cake and a game of cornhole on the course resulting in mulligans. It was a Friday night to remember.
The kids started back to school in August and are crushing their new (and elevated) routine. Natalie is in third grade with Miss Greenfield (Natalie loves her!) while Thomas is in first grade with Mrs. Kingma - a true superstar at GRCS who we love from when Natalie had her two years ago. In addition to school, the kids also kicked off their Fall activities including MFA soccer for Thomas, and gymnastics and cheerleading for Natalie. Sprinkle in weekly piano lessons and we’ve got ourselves a pretty colorful looking calendar!
Speaking of new routines, I’ve been at Mercantile for 6 weeks now and have never felt more in my element. Everyone welcomed me with open arms and I already feel like part of the team. This month I joined the rest of the leadership team for our annual strategy retreat in Detroit and I was blown away by the conversation. I am honored to be a part of this team and eager to see where Mercantile goes next.
Just for fun, here are a few observations on Mercantile that I believe this audience might find interesting: as part of the Giving Committee (there are a lot of committees at Mercantile) I’ve seen a months end spreadsheet of all the donations our bank contributes to the communities we serve and I’m flat out blown away. It’s a LOT and the variety covers the map. Furthermore, the amount of volunteer hours our employees put in is phenomenal. I’ve already volunteered my own time through the United Way’s Day of Giving. Our teams spent a day at Indian Trails Camp tidying up the grounds and planting new landscaping and it felt pretty great knowing we were helping.
Next, I’ve stopped being surprised at everyone’s answer to how long they’ve worked at Mercantile. The most common response is 15 or more years. Mercantile employees are lifers! Last, as an employee I’ve started using all of our products and services and the one offering that I just cannot get over is how incredible our customer service is.
Two more notes on our customer service… we have a call center consisting of a team of 8 ladies in one of our offices in mid Michigan. I’ve been there and I’ve met them. You call our phone number and one of those gals will answer your call in less than 30 seconds. No robots or ‘press 1 for' XY or Z. REAL humans who answer the phone. Second, Live Chat. If you like to bank online or on your phone with an app, our online banking Live Chat feature is fantastic. You get to pick your personal banker (mine is Hailey) and again, it’s a real person right here in Michigan in one of our offices. Not only is she real, but our chat history is saved. Forever. And it’s awesome. I digress.
Jeff and I spent much of August in France celebrating our upcoming 10-year wedding anniversary (actual date Nov. 2nd). We covered a lot of ground in our 10 days there, visiting Paris, Amboise, Mont Saint Michel, Rouen, Nice and Monaco. You can read all about it in greater detail HERE, but the cliff notes version is this: We had the most amazing time together. Paris surpassed expectations. Amboise was the most charming. Mont Saint Michel felt like the set of a Harry Potter movie. Rouen felt hip and alive. Nice is to France as Barcelona is to Spain which is to say… beach living! And Monaco was dripping in wealth from every corner. The entire trip was such a gift and our parents deserve a huge shout out for holding down the fort back home while we traveled.
We celebrated Jeff’s sister Stephanie and her soon to be bundle of joy, Sarah Jo, with a Kladder Women’s Family baby shower. Sarah Jo will be granddaughter number six for the Kladders and while her December arrival will bump Thomas from his status of youngest in the family, he still remains the only grandson - at least for now. And no, it will not be from us. This is all on Stephanie and Grant.
Iroquois Elementary hosted Grand Friends Day last week and completely knocked it out of the park. Kudos to the PTO planning committee for coordinating such a wonderful event. The kids were visited by both sets of grandparents who spent the morning touring the school, doing activities together and enjoying the most wonderful musical program.
As for your more traditional Fall activities, we’ve enjoyed those too, including ArtPrize. A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon with Natalie’s 3rd grade class exploring the artwork downtown. We found some fun pieces including a set of framed chairs made of small pieces of paper and fabric showing at the Ford Museum. We also loved the dresses made of children’s books inside of the JW Marriott. In addition to the artwork, downtown was sparkling! Patios were filled with folks eating lunch and enjoying happy hour. The streets were clean and the landscaping was in full bloom. As someone who lived and worked downtown for more than 3 years after first moving to GR (over a decade ago) it was pure joy to see downtown so alive.
It’s also Broadway season in Grand Rapids and we were blown away by Funny Girl last weekend. We went in not knowing the storyline or the music, and boy did they deliver and delight! The leading actress made her giant ballads seem effortless and Jeff and I went home singing “People…. who need people!” which carried on into the next morning. Broadway GR’s lineup is FIRE this year and we are already looking forward to Tina coming this November. If you were ever considering season tickets, this is the year!
The Detroit Lions are crushing it this season and we had a blast at the game last weekend for a 20-6 win over the Falcons. The energy was wild! We hope the Lions can keep this up - our fingers are crossed!
We had a fun time celebrating Team DJ at the annual company party last month. The HR team knocked it out of the park with a Casino night complete with fun prizes, dinner and a DJ - no pun intended. Fun fact about DJs: the company hosts their annual team parties in the summer versus the usual holiday/December timeframe that many other organizations follow because snow removal waits for no one! If DJs hosted a holiday party it’s very likely that none of the employees would be able to attend because they’d be out working their magic - Go Team DJ!
Looking ahead to October. We are locked and loaded with Halloween costumes and looking forward to a night with the Kladder Family at the Zoo Goes Boo in a few weeks. Grace’s Gala is next week and there is still time for tickets! Please join us! And you better believe we’ve got plenty more Fall football/futbol, apple orchards and all things pumpkin in our near future. Happy Fall, everyone.
