The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: Shopping

Shopping trips

  • Frankenmuth 2025

    This was our first visit to Frankenmuth this year and we spent most of the time in the Frankenmuth mall. We did our usual stop at the cupcake store (it won cupcake wars on television years ago), the book store, the arcade, and the souvenir shops. Perhaps our best stop was at the barbecue shop where you could sample as many barbecue sauces as you liked. We each bought a favorite and had a great time sampling everything.

    After leaving Frankenmuth antique stores we headed to Past Tense in Lapeer Michigan where we picked up some Spring items for the yard.
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  • Sea Shell City 2025

    Sea Shell City is usually a stop on the way home from Macinaw but this year we decided to stop on the way up. Sea Shell City is about 15 miles South of the Mackinaw bridge. James had to buy another t shirt as the one he got last year as a gift was a size big, so he bought one a size smaller. Mom enjoyed shopping and buying some rock candy, and Dad was fascinated by a sharks head hanging on the wall and thought it would look great on the bathroom wall for Halloween. Unfortunately the sharks head was not for sale but other than that it was a great time at Sea Shell City.

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  • First Halloween Store Opens 2024

    It seems to happen earlier each year as we went to the first Spirit Halloween store to open near us today.

    This year their theme was Carnival or as they like to say, Carnevil.

    We saw a gruesome looking spider that we liked, but other than that it was mostly clowns… again.

    We didn’t buy anything because we did not have any coupons (you can usually pick up a 20 percent off coupon at their website once the stores open but in this case it was too early even for their website.

    Even though it is early August it is still nice to see the upcoming Halloween decorations.

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  • Mackinaw 2024

    This was our second visit up North this year, but we didn’t have time to make it to Mackinaw when James was receiving his award. So we made a promise to get back up to Mackinaw and while we were only there for a day, we did accomplish our goals.

    Lots of shopping and many of the stores have changed. There are a couple of Psychics there not giving reading which is unique, along with the usual array of tourist traps.

    We stopped into the American Legion there (which is now open to the public, ironic since being able to get a drink at this American Legion was the reason I joined) and enjoyed drinks and chips.

    A perfect day at one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

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  • Halfway To Halloween Sale 2024

    Its hard to think of Halloween in the middle of Spring but we do it once a year. Once again this event was held in the Saline/Ann Arbor area and we made our trek out there early. The line went fast and we enjoyed everything we saw. We did not buy as much as we did last year but we did buy a few items.

    We went through one of the small haunted houses they had there and that was alot of fun. We enjoyed the vehicles they had on display, its hard to believe they do so much for just one day.

    We went home to meet James for lunch, then Dad drove back out to pick up another item. We also won something in their raffle – a couple scary DVD’s so that was a nice surprise. A great time was had by all.

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  • 2024 Day Eight of Paris Trip

    Today was a big shopping day for the class as they went to Galeries Lafayette. Galeries Lafayetteis an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. During Nazi occupation of France in 1940, Les Galeries Lafayette underwent a process of “Aryanization”, that is the removal of Jewish owners and their replacement by non-Jewish owners. Théophile Bader, Raoul Meyer, Max Heilbronn, the store’s administrators and 129 Jewish employees were forced to resign. The property of Bader, Meyer and Heilbronn families was taken.

    James was surprised to see the Statue of Liberty in Paris, but then found out that France has no less than 6 reproductions of the Statue of Liberty in Paris (exhibited in the open air or in the museum).

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  • Haunted Garage Sale 2023

    Mom and Dad went to the annual Haunted Garage Sale in Dearborn Michigan. James had classwork and could not attend, but Mom and Dad represented the family well. We noticed that several people recognized us from past garage sales, both here and the ones we do in the summer to help raise money to buy more Halloween stuff.

    Mom and Dad made several trips to the car with goodies and everything we bought was very reasonably priced (which is why we attend, its only $5 to get in).

    There was a giant skeleton raffle going on for all attendees but unfortunately we did not win (we never won any of their raffles).

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  • First Trip to the Halloween Store 2023

    We started a little later than usual because most of the items that we wanted for the party we ordered online, but none the less it is a very special day when we get to go to the Halloween store and see the latest Halloween props on display with demonstrations and such. We did buy a couple items and we each used our 20 percent off discount coupon which has become a tradition for the family as each person picks out whatever they want.

    Dad got a new clown for the kitchen which should be fun.

    This was taken in Allen Park where the Best Buy used to be (it closed less than a year ago).

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  • 2023 Halfway To Halloween Vendor Show

    The halfway to Halloween vendor show took us 3 years to attend, but we finally made it this year. We actually never heard of it the prior two years and was hard to find anything about it on the internet. Despite that it was pretty well attended on a beautiful day in early May.

    It is located on a farm on Ann Arbor/Saline road and it had 60 Halloween vendors. In addition their was a hearse car show and a Halloween art show. Plenty of concessions and even a couple “preview” haunts and escape rooms. The cost was only $5 per person and only Mom and Dad went to this event as James had to study for his final exam at Wayne County Community College on Monday.

    We ended up buying several products including several t-shirts, a “Night of the Living Dead” gumball machine, and a used but full size animatronic. A fun time was had for both Mom and Dad but we missed James and thought he would have enjoyed it, however it was very mature of him to stay home and study, as he will have all of summer for fun and games.
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  • Haunted Garage Sale 2022

    Another event which has become an annual tradition for us is the Halloween Garage Sale. While the venue changes every couple years the quality and fun remain constant. This year it was again held in Dearborn at the community center.

    Once again we picked up some of the cartoon pictures for our small bathroom. We now have about a dozen of these pictures and while they are not really scary, they are funny in a Halloween way. For example the Charlie Brown gang sitting around a campfire at Camp Crystal Lake.

    We also picked up some animatronic hangings for the hallway and several t-shirts. (more…)