Bank Row

Doug and I have noticed a trend recently for bank branches to pop up on every corner. Years ago, we joked about Walgreens because when we gave directions to our first apartment, each turn's landmark was a Walgreens. Well, now it's banks.

We passed one intersection yesterday that had 3 banks! Not just one on each of 3 sides of the intersection, but all 3 were on the southwest corner of the highway and a major road. That got me to thinking about the major road nearest us. It intersects the same highway and also has 3 banks on one of the 4 corners of the intersection. You don't have to drive even a mile before you find another. In the 6.5 mile stretch of the road between two highways, I estimate one dozen bank branches. Trust me, I'll be counting them precisely very soon. Many of these have multiple branches of the same bank brand. That's to say nothing of the 9 branches I've counted on the neighborhood roads within 3 miles of the major road.

How many banks do we need? I understand some study was conducted that concluded that people are more likely to choose a bank if there is a branch nearby. That surprises me because Doug and I have both banked with the same company as long as we've been married and he even longer before me. They are headquartered elsewhere and have no branches. In that six and a half year span we have never once needed a physical branch to visit. Everything is done by mail, by phone or by internet. We make our deposits and transfers online. Our paychecks are auto-deposited. I can create new accounts, open cards, pay all our bills, receive statements and even sign documents online (we get no paper). I think it's great! There's nothing to file, there's nothing to lose. Less hassle for me.

I understand that having a branch nearby that is affiliated with your very own bank saves in fees. But our bank, presumably because they aren't buying so much capital in building on every corner, is able to reimburse us for ATM fees other banks charge us and there are no other fees. Our bank is profitable, and we get a dividend check each year.

So are these commercial banks really raking in the money so easily that they can afford to build a secure, vaulted building on every other corner? If so, why? And how do their customers tell them that they'd rather drive 4 miles further and receive more online conveniences and fewer fees? What's going to happen to all of these bank branches when all of the services they used to provide are available online (don't think it's far off, because all of our services are available online already). I imagine they'll sit vacant for years before someone comes along to bull doze and build something new.

Incidentally, I'd love to get you all an account with our bank, but an immediate family member has to have a membership for you to be eligible. But, it does go to show that it can be done with less overhead and far less waste than the standard commercial bank.

I typically reserve my blog for such sweet matters as the first day of school, cupcake capers and baby's firsts, but this has been bugging me for over a year and I needed to get it out there.

Just like his big brother...

My cake making hobby has always been a source of temptation for William. Luckily, as I made a baby shower cake today, Doug took the big kids out for fun. Robert and I hung back to deal with sugar.

Robert was playing on the kitchen floor while I darted from side to side preparing the icing, cake board, etc. I turned around to this scene.




The child can't walk, but much like his brother, he can climb a stool to sample a cake. Thankfully, the cooling cakes were not within his reach.

We have LIFT OFF!!

Robert finally, finally did it!! He took his first steps this evening, at 16 months, 6 days old.

We were at Gramma and Grampa's house for the afternoon and just before we got ready to leave, Robert walked from me to Grampa. He took 5 steps, wobbly but strong, before reaching Grampa's arms. You would have thought I'd won a million dollars by the way I reacted. Doug had been playing the piano up front and I shouted for the whole world to hear, so he'd come running. After the initial steps, Robert continued to practice 2 and 3 at a time stopping to clap for himself after each "arrival." It was just after dinner, though, so the jostling and falls took its toll and the walking practice was halted by a revisitation of dinner. Nonetheless, the kid CAN do it.

My guess is that it will be a month or so before he'll walk every where he goes, but I'll be able to cancel the neurologist appointment that I made last week (and just filled out the 8-page pre-visit history - I should have done it a month ago apparently). My whining about how heavy he is and how awkward it is to carry him because he doesn't cling, will soon be replaced by "he never stops! I don't get a break. Why did I wish for this?"

Tomorrow will be riddled with cameras and videos to catch the early moments.

Edited to add:
He won't even try it today. He did make divots in our carpet walking his push toy up and down the length of our house for an hour. After every 10-15 steps he'd get stuck against the wall, couch, etc and say "uh oh" so I'd rescue him and set his track straight again. Hopefully he'll be motivated this evening to walk between Doug and me, but just mama isn't good enough.

To the ZOO!

We had a second wonderful spring-time Family Day, courtesy of the kids' Mother's Day Out program. The school planned a trip to the Dallas Zoo and got us the group rate for entry. We'd never been to the Dallas Zoo as the Ft. Worth Zoo is usually considered superior. But, I must say that we weren't too disappointed in this trip. The zoo is small, but that's perfect for 3 and 4 year olds who have to walk the whole way. It made for a pleasant, and non-exhausting morning trip. We saw most of the animals you'd expect to see and the zoo itself is a lot closer. All in all, a great trip.

William and Mary decided that they "couldn't wait" to see the Tigers at the zoo, so that was our first stop. There were 2 tigers who were, of course, taking a morning siesta when we got to them at 10:30. That didn't stop Mary from covering her ears while she watched them, just in case they might wake up and roar. It wasn't a totally silent exhibit though, Robert did enough roaring for both sleeping tigers.

Next we headed for the lions, but when we arrived at the cage a sign informed us that the lion was not on display today. We hoped he was just visiting another zoo and not that he had escaped. As it turns out, the Dallas Zoo doesn't keep zebras, or else they became food for the escaped lion, because we didn't see them or even a habitat for them.

We did see (and smell) elephants, a giraffe, an alligator, kangaroos, a cheetah, flamingos, a parot, monkeys, camels and rhinoceroses. We got to pet a rabbit and a guinea pig and see a pony and a horse.

Robert was so excited to see all the animals and he pointed out every bird that flew or walked by. He's very excited about birds or "bees" as he calls them. Incidentally, "bee" is also his word for tree.

It was a really fun day of animal sights, picnic lunches, friends from school, and William look-alikes. Though it threatened to rain the entire time, only few drops fell, making it a nice overcast day for walking around outside.


You can see a lot of pictures from our trip in the Animals gallery at smugmug.

Easter

Our Easter Sunday was full of celebration and cheer.

We dressed ourselves for church, snapped a couple of pictures of the kids and opened Easter baskets.


Celebrated Christ's resurrection at church and posed for pictures in the wind.


We hunted for eggs in Gramma's back yard.


After lunch, we visited Great Grandpa in the rehabilitation center, then drove home for our naps. The least exciting, but definitely the most relaxing part of our Easter Sunday was the 4 hour nap we took in the afternoon. That's always a great way to celebrate.