I love . . .

. . . my grocery store! Now, before you think I'm crazy (although some of you that know me personally may well think that's the case), please allow me to explain.

Before we moved here almost two years ago, I'd never even heard of Wegman's. It has quickly become my absolute favorite grocery store for many reasons:

• They provide FREE child care while you shop -- up to an hour and a half! And the kids enjoy W-Kids so much . . . they don't want to leave when I'm done shopping!
• They have an amazing variety of foods -- great international foods section, wonderful organic and natural products, and their store brand is excellent!
• They have a cafe and all kinds of prepared foods -- like a mini food court right in the store. (It makes a fun date place for my husband and me . . . and child care is free!)

But now I have yet another reason to love my grocery store: the cheese shop.

Lael and Jaden are learning about France right now in school, and I had this spontaneous thought while at Wegman's on Friday night: We should pick up some French cheese to take home and try . . . you know, for the experience. I mean, that's one of the things I love about homeschooling - the ability to provide my children with all kinds of different experiences and be able to enjoy the experiences along with them.

Now (here's a confession), I've never eaten any French cheese, at least not that I'm aware of. I stick to the classics like cheddar, Monterey jack, and parmesan (my absolute fave). Anyway, I had absolutely no idea how to pick out a cheese that we'd all enjoy, so we went up to the cheese shop and asked for help. I figured I'd get a suggestion of something to try and we'd just take whatever was recommended.

However, the lovely lady (I'll call her Jackie) who was helping us totally went above and beyond the call of duty! She let all four of us try not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different French cheeses:

two different brie cheeses - one mild,and one medium, a camembert, and a Port Salut.

Jackie predicted that the kids would like the Port Salut best and she was right! It was so yummy and creamy and good -- it had the texture of the mild brie, but the flavor was a little more intense. While we were sampling our cheeses, she talked about how the cheeses are made, where they come from, how to store them . . . she even told the kids to make sure to take their cheese out of the fridge about 30 to 45 minutes before eating it so that it would be even more flavorful.

So what started out as a simple question turned into a mini-field trip that none of us will soon forget! I love my grocery store!