It has been WAAAAY too long since Ryan and I got to spend time with our friends and neighbors from Chicago, Bryan and Michelle. They came to town on Saturday afternoon and we went to the Apple Orchard. It's become a bit of a tradition with them - picking apples (specifically Honey Crisp) and partaking in the harvest festivities. 
I called around town looking for an orchard that we could go to - did you know that most places won't let you pick your own apples anymore? I guess insurace won't cover it...which makes me fuming mad at the bad people who sued apple orchards when they got stung by a bee and now the rest of us can't pick our own apples.
I found a place called "Klackles" which Ryan kept confusing with "Kankles" which are entirely different. Klackles is one of the last places in the area where we could pick our own apples...so of course, that's where we went.
When we got there we quickly realized that this was more like the county fair than an apple orchard. We had to determine if we wanted to pay the $8 per person to enter. It was a tough decision. There were elephant and camel rides, face painting, putt-putt, corn maze, enchanted pumpkin rides, inflatable games and the apple shoot - which was pretty fun using a giant sling shot to send rotten apples smashing into targets out in the field.
We topped off our day by chugging 1/2 gallon of apple cider (Ryan LOVES cider) and eating 8 or 9 apple crisp donuts until we could hardly walk to the car. Once we got home we continued our eating with some grilled salmon and asparagus for dinner. I'm still full.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Bryan and Michelle
Ang, John and The Pull
We had a really fun weekend. Angela and John came to town for The Pull on Saturday, so we got to have dinner with them on Friday night. Have I told you about the Pull? It's a tradition at Hope College that has been going on for 111 years! Odd year classes tog-o-war against even year classes across the Black River. It began as a friendly rivalry, but has become more and more intense over the decades. Can you see Ang and John in the background of this picture?
They are now to the point where each puller digs a pit and lays on the rope - there are team signals and calls so every puller is in sync with the team. Moralers (that's what I did) kneel by each puller calling out the heaves since the puller can't see the leader since he's down in a pit. It's intense. Some people actually heave.
Ryan and I love to hear their hilarious stories. John and I are both odd-year pull team alumni... he has faithfully attended the odd-year events and the actual Pull each year. I have not, but I am proud to announce that Odd Year won again this year.
Oooh-Rah.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
two turn tables and a microphone
Ryan and I decided it was about time to have Chris and some of his new friends from Hope over for dinner. Monday night we fired up the grill and pattied some of the biggest burgers we've ever pattied. We also stocked the fridge with various 2-liters of pop...only to discover that these particular college boys like tea or water better. Hilarious.
From left to right: Chris, Josh, Caleb and Jacob (who bears a striking resemblance to Beck)
We had a great time meeting the guys, hearing their stories and watching them listen and laugh as Ryan told some stories of his time and friends at Hope. We have our 5 year college reunion in a week - we are old.
Good kids. We had a great time.
Chris, your friends are welcome at our house anytime!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Class of 2003 - Hope College Reunion
Hey Hope College. I just checked out the 2003 Reunion Attendee List online and noticed that a few of you who said you were coming to the party at New Holland Brewery have not signed up yet!
Saturday, October 4th @ 6:30 pm
New Holland Brewery (Fairbanks Room)
Ryan and I will also be checking out the Alumni Men's Soccer Game at 11am on Saturday the 4th. For more info about all the happenings throughout the weekend, click HERE and scroll down to check out the schedule.
Can't wait to see you there!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Happy Birthday Dad!
Fun with Ryan's Family
We had quite the weekend! Ryan's mom and dad were in town and Christopher came over from Holland for the day. We had a glorious brunch at Marie Catribs laughing as Chris told us his stories from the first month of college.
After Breakfast we checked out the street fair in East Town where Chris found this sa-weet fur-lined NASA jacket in a box full of thrift clothes. He bought it for a mere $5. What a steal!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Hiking - Beeson Family Vacation
Here are some pictures from the day we went hiking on the Platte Plaines Trail. Hiking is a hilarious time with my family because my mom is a speed-walker. She doesn't even realize she's doing it, but the rest of us find ourselves jogging along to keep up with her.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Awesoments
Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental “awesoments” that compose all good things. The Periodic table of Awesoments can be a very useful
tool. It’s designed to show the relationships between awesoments, and often one
can even predict how awesoments interact simply by their positions on the table.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The Platte River
Today is a rainy day, which reminds me of the day the family went kayaking down the Platte River while we were on vacation. Riverside Canoe thought we were a little crazy for going out in the bad weather, but rented us some kayaks anyway.
We bundled up with all our fleeces, rain gear and fishing gear and headed into the river. It was really cold and POURED rain the entire 4 hours that we were out there - but that didn't stop us! 
The water was pretty shallow at some parts...this is me, beached on the sand bar, and Ryan coming to the rescue.
1/2 way down the river we had to portage at the fish weir. I don't really understand how it works, all I know is they close the gates and all these salmon are swimming up steam to get back to the place they were born, so they use the fish weir to count all the salmon or something. It was so cool to see these huge king salmon whiz by in the clear, shallow water. We probably saw 80-100 pass under us while we were out there. It was amazing! 
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sunny Days on Glen Lake
One really fun thing we did while we were vacationing at Glen Lake was rent a boat that we could tool around in and jump off of. When my dad booked the boat for the week, we were all under the impression that we would just park it at our dock. When we got there, we realized that the water by the dock...and about 30 feet away from the dock was only ankle deep - too shallow to swim, let alone park a giant beast of a boat.
Luckily there was a swim platform out a little ways that we could tie the boat to. The only problem with this method was that we had to swim to the boat whenever we wanted to go for a ride. This also meant that when we came home from a sunset cruise we had to swim back to shore in the cold night air and run inside to dry off by the fire. 
