Honeymoon - Day 3

Good morning, 6am. Nice to see you again. We once again tried to bring back the wonderful land of sleep for a while, and gave up around 8am. Coffee, toast and cereal made for a balanced breakfast before heading down to the pool for the morning. We enjoyed the sunshine and the warm water all morning, then went back to our condo for a quick lunch because we had big plans for the afternoon - SNORKELING! (#90 on the list! YESSS!)

We went snorkeling with Alfonse, the awesome guide who took us to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, two stops along the 175-mile barrier reef. Belize is home to the second largest coral reef in the world, and we were so excited to explore it! The first stop was Hol Chan, where we saw tons of little tropical fish, enormous eatin' fish, and several types of coral. We also managed to find a moray eel, a few sting rays, and the cutest green turtle! It was a crystal clear day, and the tides were working with us, so Alfonse took us into open water, past the reef. We ran into a little baby shark, but he was too far away to pay us much attention. After some shallow water snorkeling over the reef on the way back to the boat (and seeing more amazing fish), and lots of under-water picture taking, we hopped back on board and headed over to Shark Ray Alley. We quickly realized how this location got its name as we were told to "jump right in" to a sea of about 10 sharks and sting rays. No problem! Hey, did you know that the skin of a nurse shark feels a lot like a synthetic basketball? It was quite an experience, holding onto that shark (and #97 on the list) and I am really hoping those underwater pictures came out so I can post them!

After about 3 hours of snorkeling, we headed back to the Phoenix for a well-deserved nap. (Actually deserved this time, not like the other days). We wandered around town when it came time for dinner and found El Patio, a delightful little outdoor restaurant under a palm roof and sandy floors and a fountain in the middle. Another phenomenal meal. We started with drinks (warning kids... this post is not for you). I ordered a "panty ripper". Still not sure what was in it, but it was easy going down and not hard to order a second one. For dinner, I had the zesty grilled shrimp with a salad and fries that was sooo good. Andy had the garlic and white wine shrimp plate with a baked potato and slaw. It was then that we realized this trip would trigger us to eat more seafood (especially shrimp) than we ever had before.

We left El Patio and kept wandering around town until we found a little pub called Lolas, where I am pretty sure we were the only tourists. Anna, the bartender from Holland, provided us with Belikins, friendly conversation and advice about the town, and introductions to other bar owners that were enjoying drinks at Lolas. It was nice to be in the little "local" joint.

We headed back to the condo for some night time swimming, which was great. Perfectly quiet, lots of stars out, and a nice end to a busy day.

Honeymoon - Day 2

If you ever go to Belize with the idea that you will sleep in.... you won't. With the sun blaring in the windows and the day already heating up, we woke at 6am. Surprise! Realizing that it was 6am, we tried to go back to sleep, and finally gave up and got our of bed around 8am. We made coffee and had some nice toast out on the balcony and then quickly headed down to the pool with books, iPods, and sunscreen in hand. We spent most of the morning lounging by the water and took a break to go back to the room to make sandwiches for lunch. While we were eating, there was a vicious rain storm... for 10 minutes. Sunshine, pouring, sunshine. Lunch time turned into nap time, since it had clearly been a stressful day and we needed a break.

We found out that it was $5 mojito night at a little beach bar called Mojitos (clever name, huh?) so we decided to check it out. $5 BZE, I might add. That' $2.50 US. After our pre-dinner drink, we headed back to the restaurant on Phoenix property called Red Ginger. Holy delicious. Steak skewers for an appetizer. I ordered the orange-bourbon shrimp with coconut rice and green beans. Andy got the blackened chicken with pasta in a chipotle garlic cream sauce. We both got pina coladas. Amazing. Absolutely incredible.

We digested our on our balcony, watching the clouds drift by in the moonlight. A little hot tub and we were ready for bed... by 10:30pm. Passed out.

By the way, a friend once told me that if you pour shampoo in a hot tub, the jets make it bubble up and overflow - the bubbles will just never stop. Turns out, he was right.

Honeymoon - Day 1

It is never easy to spring out of bed when the alarm goes off at 3:30am... unless you know you're about to hop a flight to Belize for eleven days. That's how our day started. The car service came at 4am to bring us to LaGuardia and we were on our way!

The trips from LaGuardia to Miami and Miami to Belize City were fairly uneventful. But the trip got monumentally more interesting when we saw that the trip from Belize City to San Pedro Island would be made by a little 8-seat puddle jumper! Andy, who is not so fond of small planes, was most surprised when the one extra passenger they didn't have a seat for was allowed to climb into the co-pilot seat. Andy prayed he wouldn't get curious and push any buttons.

We arrived at the Phoenix Resort (http://www.thephoenixbelize.com/) and were amazed that the resort looks EXACTLY like the photos on the website. We were greeted with a tropical drink, tour of the grounds, and the exciting news that we had been upgraded to a 2-bedroom condo. The place was huge. Two massive bedrooms, including two huge bathrooms , a large balcony with lounge chairs, and a table with seating for 6 (in case we made friends), and a comfy livng room, also with balcony access. The condo came equipped with flat-screen tvs, purified water, full kitchen (stove, oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, garbage disposal, pots, pans, plates, etc.). A dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, and sweeeeeeet hot tub were also handy additions to the room. Immediately, we headed down to the pool. Belize was pretty warm, so even I went into the pool to cool down. Frozen mojitos in the pool? Don't mind if we do.

We took a walk along the beach later for some food ad stumbled into Caliente's, where we enjoyed chicken quesadillas, tacquitos with four different types of hot sauces and salsas, and "Dirty Bananas", a banana daquiri with a little kick and some tasty chocolate accents. YUM.

Grocery shopping in the afternoon was interesting, as we figured out what kinds of food Belize does or doesn't have, as well as tried to figure out what everything actually cost. ($1 US = $2 Belize, so we had to remember not to be sticker shocked when we saw that juice was $15). This would make for some easy (and cheaper) breakfast and lunch options throughout our stay.

Dinner was at Fido's, a nice walk down the beach. We had an amazing popcorn shrimp for an appetizer. I got a lime glazed chicken with potatoes and vegetables with a strawberry banana daquiri while Andy enjoyed English fish n' chips and a banana daquiri. This was definitely going to be a good week for eating and drinking. Especially when we popped open our first Belikin Beer (from Belize) that night. Amazing.

We were asleep by 9:00, Belize time.

Wedding = Great success!

We did it! Andy and I got married! I'm someone's WIFE! (whoa.)

The day was shocklingly perfect. I had myself prepped for a disaster of some sort throughout the day, and was almost surprised at how much I was able to enjoy my own wedding. The day was perfect for us. I had told a few of my friends during the planning process that the wedding was turning out to be more formal that I had thought - the venue (which we looooooooved) was more formal than we thought we'd go for. The dress that I found was more princessy than I thought I would want (but I loved that too). So we tried to add some fun aspects as well. Turns out, we had some surprise fun thrown in. Some highlights:

Starting with the ceremony...

• Our very talented friend played us down the aisle on the piano.... but when everyone stood, he could no longer see us, so he kept on playing, not knowing whether or not I'd made it to the front of the room yet. When no one tipped him off that he could stop playing, Andy made the decision to yell to the back of the room that he could cut it. Excellent tension breaker to an already emotional ceremony (between me and dad, a few tears were shed.)
• The rings made a distinct :clink: as the hit the floor during the ceremony. Our precious ringbearer, Lucas, was trying to be the best ring bearer he could be by making the ribbons on the pillow even, not realizing that those ribbons were the only thing securing the rings. It was kind of adorable.
• After all that, the exchange of rings portion of the ceremony was somehow missed, and we had to stop the pronouncement of husband and wife so that we could swap rings. We will have to play back the video when it comes in to find out if we were ever actually pronounced husband and wife.

Seriously, I loved all that. It was so appropriate for us, since we hardly ever act seriously for an extended amount of time... especially with an audience.

Though we didn't get as much time to mingle during cocktail hour as we would have liked to, (man, those pictures take a long time, huh?) we loved that we did have a chance to get out and say hello to some of our friends and family. I even managed to score myself a mini grilled cheese with tomato soup shooter or two. SCORE.

Then, the reception. We wanted to start things off with fun entrances, and I think we accomplished just that. Even the DJ remarked that he got a kick out of our request to enter to House of Pain's "Jump Around". We wanted to get people in the mood to party and get on the dance floor.

As it turns out, that wasn't much of a problem. People were on the dance floor ALL NIGHT LONG. We actually ended up having to extend the party with the head waiters, bar tenders, and DJ because it was clear no one was leaving before midnight... or MUCH later. Between the power slides, air guitaring with crutches, dance off's, chair lifts, Call On Me dance routines, and sing-alongs, I think I can put our wedding in the "win" column.

To Do Lists

I live by my to-do lists. It is the only way I can keep all my tasks straight at work. It is the only way I remember what I need to pack or finish doing before a big trip. It is how I am (attempting) to keep myself from freaking out about what needs to be done for the wedding. (Check in with me in about a week to see if I managed successfully).

I came across this adorable little number today, and instantly became jealous of the kid who wrote it. Oh, to have this life again...