RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – CREATING MEMORIES
Creating Memories
I spent the 4th of July with my granddaughters Gretta and Adelyn creating memories. They live in Montevideo and they always like to come over to Madison on the 4th for the parade and go swimming at the Madison pool. This year they wanted to ride in the parade with grandpa and throw candy. I pull the Madison Chamber float with Miss Madison and the Ambassadors along with Little Miss Madison.
Gretta is nicknamed “Hurricane Gretta” because she is constantly on the move and never slows down. She was having a great time throwing candy out the window during the parade, along with her sister and Chris Leppke of Dawson, who sometimes rides in parades with me. Gretta is 4 years old and runs and runs and talks and talks, Adelyn is 9 years old and we have fun sending funny Snap Chats to each other. I enjoy being with both of them.
Before the parade started they wanted their picture taken with Miss Madison Lyndsay Kranz and Madison Ambassadors Alexsis Nygard and Savannah DuFrane. Her and Adelyn admire royalty, they really look up to those girls. Their mom Katie was a Fiesta Days Queen back in the day in Montevideo. After pictures were taken, we hopped in the car for the parade, Gretta wanted to make sure she was on the right side of the car to throw candy to her parents and grandma. Adelyn kept hitting her hand on the inside of the car when she threw her candy. Chris was having a fun time also. He knows a lot of people and many people know him, shouting his name along the parade route. He was all smiles! Especially when he got his pictures taken with the Madison royalty.
After we were done with the parade, the Miss Madison royalty jump off the float and stood in the street to greet the rest of the parade entrants and thank them for coming to Madison’s parade. Gretta, Adelyn and Chris were collecting candy next to the Miss Madison royalty. The Madison fire trucks came by and were spraying water from the trucks, cooling off the crowd. Well Gretta can’t weigh more than 70 lbs, when the water hit her, it almost knocked her to the ground and absolutely soaked her. I thought she would begin to cry and scream, but she started laughing so hard and was showing me just how much water got her wet. She loved it.
After the parade we went home and grilled and did fireworks in our backyard and waited for the sun to go down for Madison’s outstanding fireworks display. We made a trip to the Dairy Queen for dessert. The Dairy Queen closed in Montevideo a few years ago and so going to the DQ in Madison is a real treat for them.
After the sun went down, we sat in the neighbor’s yard and watched the fireworks. I enjoyed hearing them discuss which fireworks was the prettiest or best. It was a full day of fun in Madison on the 4th, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed being with those two girls all day. And my wife, I can’t forget her, she does most of the work during the day so I get to have fun with my two granddaughters from Montevideo. Creating memories with them is very important to me, I remember doing things with my grandpa when I was there age and I cherish those memories very much.
