A Wonderful Whirlwind

What a crazy, wonderful whirlwind these past two weeks have been.  

 

At our rehearsal dinner, I had arranged a surprise for *B*.  One of his best childhood friends, Crystal, is eight months pregnant and living in Montana.  Her brother, *B*'s very best friend, is deployed with the Navy.  *B* was disappointed, but he understood that neither could make the wedding.  Little did he know, Crystal and I planned to fly her up the night before the wedding.  We had a lovely rehearsal and went to a small nearby pizza place for a rehearsal dinner.  

 

 

Me and *B* at the rehearsal dinner

 

  My best friend (and maid-of-honor) and me at the rehearsal dinner

 

My brother, who was picking my grandmother up after her plane came in anyway, got both my grandmother and Crystal.  We were all sitting down when Crystal walked in.  *B* didn't even recognize her!  I had to point her out three or four times.  When he did realize, though, he was so overjoyed.  I love this picture:

Crystal and *B* after he figured it out

Though he didn't get a lot of time to spend with her, he hung out with her the night before the wedding.  She flew home two days before her no-fly date.  Now we're just waiting for that baby!

The wedding was gorgeous.  A few things did go wrong (like when our nephew smashed his hand under a kneeler and no one took him outside) but overall it was great.

The baby pre-wedding

Our bouquets in the choral loft, where we sat before walking down the aisle

My parents helping *B* get ready

 

 My mom and my mother-in-law joking about how my MIL 

tripped up the stairs when going to light the unity candle

*B*'s face when he saw me for the first time


Exchanging our vows

Me and my mother-in-law during the sign of peace

Our receiving line - *B*'s best friend was there in spirit (and picture form)

My favorite picture so far (at least until we get the photographer's pictures)

Our rings

Our gorgeous and tasty cake

Cutting said cake

My closest friends from my high school graduating class

 The gorgeous red velvet capelet that my mother made for me so I wouldn't get cold

After the reception, we went out with some of the bridal party in Baltimore City to a pub.  We had a room overlooking the Inner Harbor with a gorgeous view.  The concierge saw that we checked in with our wedding attire on, and they sent up complimentary champagne and strawberries.  How nice!

The very next morning, we flew to Miami, FL and cruised from there to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Isla Roatan.  I have limited pictures of the honeymoon because we switched off whose camera we used.  I will post others when I can copy them from my husband. hee hee :o)  He has the pictures from Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

So I start in Belize.  We woke up early just to watch the sunrise off the back of the ship.  Isn't it gorgeous?

We took a two-hour bus ride through the marshes and mangroves just outside of Belize City and into the mountains further in the countryside in order to visit the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich (shoe-nan-tun-itch).  I love the houses in Belize.  Though they are rudimentary in many cases, the people look so happy with what they had.

 A typical Belizian house

 

 Crossing a river on a hand-cranked ferry to get to the ruins

So, funny story.  I'm the one who originally really wanted to go to these ruins.  I wanted to climb these ruins.  One small problem - I'm deathly afraid of heights.  On the way up, I was looking at the rocks in front of me.  It didn't even occur to me that I was going up, or that there were no railings (though railings don't usually calm me down anyway).  So I got to the top, and I managed to take these two pictures:

 *B* on the edge of the ruins (those whitish specks on the grass are people)

The surrounding grounds and other buildings (again, specks = people)

*B*'s camera has all of the other pictures, the gorgeous scenery, the ruins themselves, me clinging to the walls.  The reason that I only took these two pictures is that right after I took them, I started crying and hyperventilating.  What was I thinking??  I can't even ride in glass elevators without freaking out.  And I'm standing on top of an 850 foot tall building with no railings or protection from falling.

In the end, a very nice British couple and our awesome tour guide, not to mention my husband hee hee :o) helped me down the ruins.  They helped me sit down and slowly inch to the stairs, which were one brick's width from oblivion.  I wish I had pictures of it, but my fingers were digging into every single little fingerhold I could find.  When it was all over, I was - and am - glad we did it.  But you can't pay me to go up to the very top again.

The next day was much more subdued, though not without surprises.  We went to Isla Roatan, which is part of Honduras.  We booked an excursion to kayak in a clear bottom kayak, snorkel, and meet animals. 

What they called kayaking was really more like shallow canoeing.  *B* and I were in a boat together.  But apparently we misunderstood what they meant when they gave directions, and we took on water.  We missed almost all there was to see in the kayaking portion.

I'm not the world's strongest swimmer, but I made it through the snorkeling alright.  We got to see tons of coral and fish.  It was amazing.  I'll post pictures of the first two legs of the excursion as soon as we get our waterproof cameras developed. 

The third portion involved walking through a "park."  When I think park, I think nature reserve.  This was like a mini-resort with animals on the grounds.  They were cute nonetheless.  *B* wore a towel as our clothes were all sandy after the beach activities.  A monkey crawled right into his towel!  Eventually, it turned around to settle in, and I was able to get this quick snapshot:

 *B* and the Capuchin monkey

 A beautiful scarlet macaw in the trees

 A good picture of us on the third deck of the ship while still in port

 Since it was Christmas Eve, the dock workers sent us off in style :o)

We went to a prayer service at midnight on Christmas Eve.  The next day, we wore Christmas attire all day long.  We drew quite a few stares and amused looks.

 My Christmas outfit - not so unusual

*B*'s Christmas outfit - it fits his personality, and everyone loved it

My two weeks in a nutshell.  It was really great to have time to ourselves.  It's amazing though.  I always thought that nothing would change before and after the 18th, other than my name and demographic information.  It took a few days to get acclimated with our new roles in our relationship.  Everything has settled into a new, but pleasant groove - and I cannot be happier.