Christmas 2012 in Indiana

We spent Christmas this year in Indiana with Matt's family.  It wasn't exactly a white Christmas, but Matt and I were okay with that, since we've been getting our fill of snow up in Calgary.  We arrived on the 19th and spent the days leading up to Christmas relaxing, finishing up some last-minute shopping, and wrapping all of the presents that we had sent to West Lafayette.  Christmas Eve was lots of fun playing games and exchanging our "white elephant" gifts.  Christmas day, we opened all of our presents and got lots of great things, which made for a bit of a challenge packing our bags to return home.  We ended up having to check 2 bags filled with all of our presents.  Due to a "blizzard" on the day after Christmas, our flight was cancelled, so we got to spend one extra day in Indiana.

Before heading to Indiana, we exchanged our gifts with each other at home.  We also gave Penny her Christmas presents.  We decorated our house with lights and a tiny tree since we knew we'd be away for most of the holiday, and a large real tree wasn't feasible.

One of Penny's new toys didn't last very long...

Since Penny couldn't travel with us to Indiana, we had her stay at the doggie daycare and boarding place that we usually do.  They had a Santa there one day and Penny got her picture taken!

Off the Grid in Nipika

For my friend Brooke's birthday, we traveled to British Colombia to an eco-resort called Nipika for the weekend.  We arrived Friday evening and settled into our lodge.  There were 15 of us total so we had a large cabin that slept about 12 and another smaller cabin that slept about 6.  The lodges were beautiful and very eco-friendly.  The entire resort ran on very limited electricity and we had to leave our hair dryers, computers, and other plug-ins at home.  With no TV and no cell service, it was nice to relax and not worry about anything.  The first night we met everyone and told stories by the fireplace.  Some people took a dip in the firewood-heated hot tub, but Matt and I opted to stay inside by the warm fire.

The hot tub and sauna

Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast.  We had assigned meals ahead of time to groups of people so Brooke and a few others were in charge of breakfast for Saturday morning.  They made scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

Shauna, Adrien, and Brooke preparing breakfast

Matt "living the dream" after breakfast

After a hearty breakfast, we decided to go for a hike to a natural bridge over the Kootenay River.  Normally, Nipika has snow at this time of year and the trails are used for cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing.  This particular weekend, though, there was no snow so we made the most of it and hiked the trail to the river.  The scenery was beautiful and when we reached the river, the colors of the water were amazing.

Top view of the natural bridge over the river

Limestone which lines the bottom of the river, giving the water that amazing blue-green color

After our 3 hour hike, we headed back to the lodge for some lunch and rest.  We were all on our own for lunch so Matt and I heated up some soup and sat by the fire.  We played Scategories and Scrabble to pass the time.  Later, the group on dinner duty prepared chicken and veggie skewers, pork tenderloin, and rice.

The next morning, it was our turn for breakfast.  Matt and I, along with another couple, made bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and french toast.  While preparing and eating breakfast, it began to snow outside, just in time for us to pack up and head home.  It was still really pretty to see though.

As we packed our things and got ready for the 2.5 hour drive back to Calgary, we took a peek at the guest book.  This was the first entry:

Sounds like they had a great time...and so did we!

Our First Fall Fest

Matt and I have sadly missed the first 3 annual Fall Fests and decided that we couldn't bare to miss another.  So, we flew back to PA so that we could visit with friends and family and finally see what all of the hype was about.  Unfortunately, we got stuck in Minneapolis for a night on our way due to "maintenance issues" (thanks, Delta), but we finally arrived right in time for Fall Fest.  Fall Fest was complete with tons of food, kegs, family, friends, and a massive bonfire.  Dad actually had over 90 pallets to burn for the bonfire.  Jenny and I created a scarecrow to initiate the lighting of the fire.  Thankfully, there was very little tackling this year, but lots of fun and games.  The next day, mom made a huge Thanksgiving dinner for us (even though the real Thanksgiving was still a few weeks away) just so we could enjoy the yummy food with our family.

Pumpkin Carving Party - Halloween 2012

To get into the Halloween spirit, Matt and I decided to have a Pumpkin Carving Party with some of our friends.  It was BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin) and most of our friends hadn't carved a pumpkin since they were little, but for Matt and I, it's always an annual tradition.  We had a feast of snacks, including beer bread, guacamole, salsa, deviled eggs, and veggies and dip.  And of course there were drinks - even a special Halloween Punch that Matt concocted.

Some came in costume, but others didn't.  We had a Conehead, a witch, and Where's Waldo's girlfriend, Wanda.  For those who came costume-less, Matt recruited some more Coneheads :)

After some chatting and snacking, we got started with the pumpkin carving.  Brooke decided to use a pattern for her giant pumpkin, but the rest of use chose to go with freehand designs.

Mostly, we all made a pretty big mess, but of course had fun in the process.  Everyone's pumpkin turned out great!