The Great Debate Continues

Today Dan presented me with what he called a "surprise gift."

He went shopping today and encountered a seasonal blend that is now on sale at many local stores.

Part A of the gift was this:


And I immediately knew what part B of the gift was going to be, especially based on a the "AHA, I know I'm right" look all over Daniel's face.

So I encountered a bag full of these:


And more specifically one particular kind of 'nut' ---> which Dan declared to be AN ACORN purchased from Kroger and from their nut-medley barrel:


Ah, yes! The ever popular assortment of Brazil Nuts, Almonds, and ACORNS!

Upon closer inspection:


So we cracked it open and ate the contents, which Dan declared tasted acorn'y good and as acorns should.

I found this item to have the taste of Nutella or Frangelico -- BECAUSE THIS IS CLEARLY A HAZELNUT, FOLKS.
NOT AN ACORN!!

Dan continues to proclaim success in proving me wrong, and is satisfied with his previous assertion, made in Houghton Lake at the playscape.

I'm pretty confident as to who the crazy person is in this disagreement.

:-)

I have to pay tribute to likely the most distant viewers of this blog: HELLO TO AKIKO AND TETSU!! Akiko is a hometown friend whose family lived in the United States for a number of years after her father got transferred from their native Japan to Michigan. Akiko and I met nearly 15 years ago and formed a wonderful friendship that remains to this day. Communication is done intermittently over email due to Akiko's return to Japan after we graduated from high school, but we still manage to catch up on each other's lives despite the distance.

One of the coolest trips I've taken in my life was to Japan for Akiko's college graduation. Andrea and I made the trip together, and met Akiko's now husband Tetsu, who was kind enough to put us up in his apartment during our stay, and drive us all over Hiroshima and surrounding areas to show us Japan.

Akiko, Andrea, and myself in Japan in 2002:


Akiko and Tetsu are the proud parents of two beautiful little girls. Momoka is 4-years old and Yuna is 3-months. While we realize a trip to the States for our wedding is probably impossible, we do hope to someday reconnect either here or there!

Tetsu & Akiko at their wedding:


Tetsu, Yuna, and Momoka:


SAYONARA!

More Fall Fun

This weekend we were invited to lovely Montrose, Michigan for pumpkin carving (sorry Jordans -- we cheated on you!), birthday celebration, and great company. Odie got to make the trip too, but alas Donnie the Chihuahua was not at all amused by his presence.

We headed to the local pumpkin patch where we each selected the perfect pumpkin (or pumpkins in some peoples' case), and then headed home to start the carving. Ciera had some fancy powered carving tools, and we all labored in the chilly fall air for quite some time. We waited for it to get dark before we had the official lighting/unveiling, and passed the time by eating a delicious dinner of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and RING BOLOGNA plus a yummy chocolate-carmel-coolwhip-heath dessert creation.

Finally, when it was dark enough, we headed outside to view our art and were not disappointed:

Heidi's handiwork:


Dan's double-pumpkin -- witch & her cauldron viewed through a window with an owl/ frog:


My carving, also a double pumpkin -- the little guy is in jail!:


Sara's pumpkin -- she represented Switzerland well:


I owe a HUGE apology to Ciera, as all the pics of her princess pumpkin were blurry (I think my camera froze by then). So in its place, here's shout-out to the Renaissance Festival and Dan's favorite hand-held food of all time -- The Turkey Leg. Ciera showed she could hang by getting one with Dan, and she actually did a pretty good job of eating that thing. GO CIERA!:


Thank you friends!! It was a wonderful day!

Birthday!

This past weekend we celebrated my 29th birthday. Many thanks to everyone for their calls and well wishes -- it was a wonderful day!

This year Dan did some planning and surprised me with 'hidden' messages on the bathroom mirrors. They only appeared after I took a shower and steamed up the bathroom (it was quite challenging getting the lens of the camera NOT to fog):


I got spoiled at work with gifts and lunch, plus a Dairy Queen cake (thank you Erin), and flowers from my mom:



When I arrived home Dan surprised me with some presents, and we then headed out to dinner at J. Alexanders and had arguably the best prime rib either one of us has ever eaten. When we got home, Dan locked me in the bathroom while he readied the final item, and then serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" and a Banana Cream Pie ice-cream cake -- YUM!!

Dan and I, ready to go out for dinner:


My surprise/glee after being let out of the bathroom & seeing the cake/hearing Dan's song:


YUM!


By far my favorite part of the evening is when Dan proclaimed: "This is the last birthday you're going to celebrate as Rebecca Moses!"

Indeed. And I cannot wait for next year when we celebrate as Mrs. Dan Geppert.

Houghton Lake

This past weekend we went up to Houghton Lake with Kirk & Andrea and the boys. We haven't been up there since Memorial Day weekend, and were very much looking forward to the trip. It was a quiet and peaceful weekend with beautiful weather and gorgeous fall colors. The drive up was awful, and it made for a long Friday after a full day's work, but the good night's sleep that one can only experience up north, made it all worth it. We got to go swimming in the world's coldest pool and most lukewarm hot tub, and also perused all the new snowmobiles at Spicer's (Kirk could barely resist buying one). We ate ice cream and pizza and celebrated a birthday complete with candles, a song, and a Sanders Bumpy cake!

On Sunday morning we visited the community play scape (Dan immediately proclaimed that he was going to build a similar structure for his kids one day). I set about trying to capture some shots with the tricky telephoto lens Dan got me, and managed to get some pretty neat pictures.

Dan at the top of the play scape (I struggled with the shadows/sun light):


Caden and Logan on the tire swing -- and lovin' every minute of it:


My favorite picture of the day: Caden (it looks like it could be a print ad for Ralph Lauren or something):


Group shot -- it took forever because it's nearly impossible to do a timer-shot with a telephoto lens and NO tripod; a precarious balancing act!:


One curiosity of this play scape was all of the little resident chipmunks running around everywhere. They were surprisingly calm and even froze long enough to get some fun shots:



Another amusement at the play scape was when Dan declared that acorns were most certainly edible and delicious right off the tree, and that Andrea and I were crazy for insisting that they were NOT part of cocktail mixes or nut medleys sold in retail stores. Dan decided to prove us wrong by locating one, cracking it open and then eating it. He cannot say that we didn't warn him or try to stop him (plus my research has revealed that many varieties of raw acorns contain unhealthful amounts of tannin, which make them very bitter, and that one must actually take some steps to make them edible).

Dan cracking open an acorn with his bashing stick:


Voila -- ACORN!


After a hearty chomp into the meat of the acorn, Dan immediately made an acrid face and then spit the contents out onto the ground as quickly as he could. His face remained much like this for the duration:


Afterwards, Dan insisted that the acorns had to be roasted. We questioned that perhaps he was thinking about chestnuts, but he claimed not -- acorns are edible if you just roast them.

I then turned around to see Logan 'gathering.' His pockets were FULL of acorns, but he knew that human don't eat them, despite Dan's assertions!


Goodbye Houghton Lake -- see you for Tip Up Town!

Fall Festivities

This past weekend, while Dan was up north with the dirt bike/riding club, I was invited to go the Erie Orchard for pumpkins, cider, and donuts. Kirk and Andrea took their two & 3/4 kids (the 3/4's child is due early December), and we met up with Rhea & Rob and their 1 and 1/2 kids (she's due in January), and James & Danielle and their two boys.

We could not have asked for better weather, which was a nice change from last year's sweltering heat.

The kids really enjoyed picking pumpkins and petting/riding the farm animals, and we all enjoyed the fresh cider and donuts and our walk to nowhere in the middle of all the apple trees.

Logan, Caden, and Sara & their pumpkins:




Rhea and I (she's older than me!):


Rhea, Andrea, and I:


It's hard to believe that the year is coming to a close and that the holidays are nearly upon us! On a related note (and a fantastic segue), as we were walking through the orchard, Rhea's daughter Sara yells out: "SANTA!" We were like, "Where?," and then saw the kettle corn guy working at his stand, and understood instantly. Sure enough -- HE REALLY LOOKED LIKE SANTA! This guy knew that his look resembled Old St. Nick, and probably wore red on purpose! As we got closer Sara was cracking all of us up, because you could tell she just didn't know what to do with herself, seeing Santa and all at the apple orchard. She finally warmed up and we got some really cute shots.