Christmas Day at the Robinsons

Christmas Eve

Christmas with the Barkers

Kodi's first camping trip

We headed down to Brown County for some camping this past weekend. Kodi seemed to enjoy himself for the most part, although he was a little nervous once it got dark out. We had great weather, and we got to see some wild turkeys!

Notre Dame game

Nick and I went to the Notre Dame v. Boston College game with our friends Paul and Michelle. While it was not the nicest day at the start, the rain eventually cleared. We even got a little sun toward the end of the game! It was my first game ever and only Nick's second game, so we were excited despite the weather. We got to tailgate and see campus before the game. We also got to see the marching band and follow them into the game!

Rainy tailgating...

Checking out campus in the rain!

Basilica

Nick pretending to play the trumpet.

The sun came out! ( In hindsight, I wish I had ditched the poncho and hood for this photo)

Snow

Nick's parents rescued a puppy! Here are some pics of him and Kodi meeting for the first time!

Kodi was a little jealous!

Apple Orchard Fun

Greece

Nick and I went to Greece over our anniversary this year! We spent a couple of days in Athens and the rest of our time on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini. It was very beautiful there and we had great weather. We were able to spend a couple days riding around on first a scooter and then a four-wheeler (I thought 4 wheels might be safer than 2). It was a fun (if not scary) way to see the sites. Lots of crazy drivers there flying down very narrow, curvy roads, many on the edge of cliffs. Nothing like fearing for your life on vacation! Other adventures included a trip to Delos to see the ruins, a tour of the volcano in Santorini (including a dip in the hot springs), and visiting a neat winery on our anniversary.

Here are just a few pics. See more here.

view of the Acropolis from our hotel in Athens

in the heart of Mykonos

pretty sunset in Oia (a town in Santorini)

Vlichada Beach in Santorini

Red Beach in Santorini

Adventure Race

Getting our pre-race instructions just before dawn (we're in the top left-hand corner).

Nick "canoeing"

Rachel hopping over a log while Nick drags the canoe through low waters (see above).

We finished!

Nick and I, along with our friend Michelle, participated in an adventure race in and around Eagle Creek Park. We had to canoe for 5 miles (aka: drag our boat through really low water for 10 min, paddle for ~1 min., then repeat--the water levels were a lot lower than they had anticipated), then run around in the woods trying to find checkpoints using a map and compass, then ride our bikes to the dam, where we rappelled into Eagle Creek (yes, I screamed all the way down, especially when we had to drop in from about 10 feet above the water). It took us about 10 hours total. My favorite part was when we tipped our canoe over into freezing cold chest-high water! Here are a few pics of us they snapped along the way. There would have been more had we not been the second slowest team on the course. I think the camera lady was long gone by the time we reached most of the checkpoints. Oh well! We still had fun!

Musings on Bad Boy...

So Apple hooked me up with 'Hypnotize' today via shuffle, and it got me thinking...How frustrating would it have been to be friends with Puff Daddy? Like, you'd just be sitting there trying to have a conversation with him, and he'd always repeat the last word of your sentence, but never say anything of value himself. Or he'd just keep going 'uh huh' while you were trying to talk to some chick...

And yes, I just spent time blogging about a rapper that hasn't been relevant in over 10 years.

Violet stirring up trouble

Kodi meets Violet

Kodi met Violet for the first time last night. As you can see, he was not exactly psyched about the experience. He tried his best to ignore her, but she was quite persistent! I think they will be friends eventually though.