Jake and Brenna: Catching Up: Summer Adventures

Okay, time for a quick catch up on what we did over the summer. We had a blast!

First off, the summer here is beautiful. Everything is so green! And the view from our apartment is so pretty - grassy and lots of big, gorgeous trees. Anyway, one day in the spring I was walking over to our neighbor's and had to run back for the camera to snap a few pictures of these beauties.

Our anniversary was in May. We've been married for four years! Since I planned Valentine's this year, it was Jake's turn to plan our anniversary. He wouldn't tell me what he was planning, but he disappeared for an hour or so in the morning, then whisked me out to the car. I could smell food in the car, and I instantly knew he was taking me on a picnic. He had gone to a couple of different restaurants to gather a smorgasbord of some of our favorite dishes! Then he took me to the arboretum, where we laid out a blanket in an idyllic meadow (there were literally deer leaping through it) and enjoyed our lunch. It was the most beautiful day!

Forgive this weird pose - we celebrated in August when I was about 19 weeks pregnant, so those pants were getting pretty snug around my belly. I wore them anyway because I wanted to look cute for our anniversary!

My birthday was a couple of days after our actual anniversary. Jake got my favorite, tuxedo truffle cake from Costco, which was the perfect dessert for celebrating a quarter century of living.

A couple of weeks after my birthday, Jake finally convinced me to go hunting for morels with him. Jake has been trying to convince me to go mushroom hunting for a long time, but I would always protest since there are so many poisonous mushrooms, and I don't want either of us to get sick or die. Jake did a bunch of research on morels in this area of Michigan, and he was finally able to convince me when he told me, "there are no poisonous mushrooms that look like morels." That was a direct quote. The day we were planning to start hunting, Jake was on his laptop, and I asked what he was up to. He nonchalantly responded, "Looking at false morels." WHAT?! That's right, there is a poisonous mushroom that is named after its resemblance to the morel. But Jake had done his homework, and he was able to show me that even I could tell the difference. So we went morel hunting, and we found some! Jake sauteed them in butter and garlic, and they were so tasty! Oh, and neither of us got sick or died. Success!

I know, they don't look very tasty, but they are.

At the end of May, we got to go to Disney World with Jake's family! Jake's parents had extended the invitation at Christmas, and we were looking forward to seeing the family over the summer. Since I had never been to a Disney park, we were really excited to go on all the rides together. After we found out I was pregnant, we realized that probably wasn't going to happen. Don't worry, I was more excited about Baby than Disney World rides, so I wasn't too broken up about it. Plus, the timing made for a great opportunity to tell Jake's siblings in person that we were expecting. So fun! And I enjoyed a lot of the "kiddy rides" I was allowed to go on. Haunted Mansion was my very favorite, but I also got to experience It's a Small World. Oh, and I got to walk through Hogwarts at Hollywood Studios and drink butterbeer. The parks were a lot of fun, and we really enjoyed spending time with Jake's family. Thanks, Steve and Michele!

Disney World

Epcot

Next up on the adventure list was Belle Isle. It's an island park in the Detroit River, which forms part of the border between the U.S. and Canada. On the island, we visited the conservatory, aquarium, and Great Lakes maritime museum.

The aquarium was a little sad. The building is really cool, and they claim to be America's oldest aquarium. However, you can really see some of the results of Detroit's financial problems in there. More than half of the tanks are empty. They've turned some of them into little advertising booths for local entrepreneurs to try to make up for their lack of funding, but it's still pretty sad.

The maritime museum was our favorite! It was really cool! They had a lot of information about the ship trade in the Great Lakes, but even better, there were lots of hands-on exhibits.

Jake at the helm.

Paddling down the river.

Jake took me for a ride on his speed boat.

The museum has a neat collection of lighthouse lenses. I didn't know about these - I always thought that lighthouses just had really bright lights. I didn't realize they used these lenses to make the light visible at greater distances. So cool! And educational.