The Honeymooners---Blog Overload!

Oh, the hooneymoon, where should I even start? We got married Saturday so Sunday Brett had some family (grandparents & aunt & cousins & also his best friend) that had traveled for the wedding & wanted to see our house so they came by Sunday afternoon. They also gave us a few last minute gifts! (Thanks to Aunt Cindy for the money & Grandma Barbara & Chris for the Vacuum!)We then ended up heading to his parent's house for a minute before we headed out. Because we didn't get to try much of our cake the night before it was nice to enjoy it without people shouting, "shove it, shove it" lol. We also got to see a few pictures that family members had taken with their own cameras. Also, don't mind the sick pictures with my glasses on . . . I woke up the morning after our wedding & one as ripped, and I was out of my contacts, and it was Sunday, so mid-way through the hooneymoon we had to call my Cedar doc to fax my records to wally-world so I could get contacts . . . yeah.





And then it was time to get to The Vegas. Our flight out to Florida wasn't until Tuesday, so we had a few days to play in Vegas. It was nice to get to drive together & just talk & relive the past days events. And to fill each other in on what we each did on our own that wedding day. Also, for the wedding I made a bound guest book on heritage makers (amazing go to the site if you haven't seen one!) Anyhow, it had a bunch of pictures of us & quotes & spaces for people to sign, so while we were on our way I read Brett peoples well wishes for us.





Once we finally got to Vegas as embarrasing as it is to say we kinda got a little bit lost. Our destination was the Venetian so we could check in, easy enough considering it is on the strip, yeah? Well you would think so but apparently not so easy for us. We couldn't get over in time so we ended up going into the way ghetto downtown, past the strip, with all the gang bangers & strippers. Luckily it was broad daylight but still not so fun! Once we got back on track we pulled into the Venetian & were officially in heaven! What a way to start our hooneymoon! The room was beautiful & comfortable ( I would put those comfy beds in my house any day!)the hotel itself was amazing. We spent a lot of time just walking around the different shops, eating gelato (yeah, we had it about 3 times) and just relaxing before our early flight out. We loved going to the forum shops @ Caesers as well, a favorite of mine has always been the enormous toy store! Oh, also we went on the gondala, which was a fun experience! We didn't really get a chance to enjoy the pools or jacuzzi but we still had an awesome time in The Vegas.





Early. early Tuesday morning we went running through the hotel with all of our luggage (think "Home Alone") only to find half of the floor was blocked off for cleaning or re-carpeting what have you. So we spent a few mintutes trying to get around that, and actually Brett kinda lost me for a few minutes! But we made it to the shuttle on time & were on our way! Once we got to the ariport we breezed through security (it wasn't too busy) and grabbed some pastries & Starbucks. It was my first time really flying (hadn't been since I was 3 & my family always road tripped everywhere else) so I was kinda scared but also very excited. They gave us these little sandwhich lunches which weren't too bad & we watched some movies on the way. Oh, and we didn't take any "air-borne" or anything so we actually ended up catching bad colds. But it was an exciting trip & I was even more enthusiastic about landing in Orlando! Also I was on the lookout for terrorists & was convinced we had one in the row across from us, she looked pretty sneaky! Ha ha what can I say I was only slightly paranoid . . .





When we landed in Orlando it was pretty stormy & I was just praying that bad weather wouldn't continue throughout the rest of the week. Luckily for us it didn't, we had beautiful sunny days & it wasn't even too hot since it was fall. We checked into our hotel (Calypso Kay) & were suprised to find that Brett's mom had booked us a special condo. Kitchen, living room & all. Though I can't say we really used the kitchen to do much else but heat left overs, it was still a treat!





The remainder of the week was spent between Disney, Orlando & about 2.5 seconds in Daytona (explained later). Let me tell you Disney treats you very good when you are first married! Both of us had already been to Disney World but it was even greater to get to go with just each other. Brett has an Aunt that works for the park & was able to get us in free each day. Her friend Carrie was great, he would meet us at the entrance, give us tips, and even went out of his way to get us "Just Married" pins & autographed Mickey-Minnie pictures. We are very grateful to him & Brett's aunt for being so kind to us & helping us have a master of a hoonemoon!





We spent the first disney day between two parks-- Hollywood & Epcot. Hollywood was fun & had a lot of neat things that had to do with movies, but out of the two I loved Epcot! It was simply amazing. I had been before but hadn't spent a lot of time just wandering & enjoying it. The architecture was fabulous! And for those of you who haven't been, in each country the epcot has, Disney goes to that country to recruit interns to come work at Epcot. In other words, all of the workers in Italy are from Italy, Japan they are all Japanese etc. Epcot also had a very interesting exhibit you can go through that shows you all of the modern marvels you can update your house with. At the end of our long day we ate dessert in a French pastry shope & watched the gorgeous firework display. It was the most romantic of the parks.





The next day was Magic Kingdom which is one of the funnest & most familiar parks for most! We had a blast going from Splash Moutain to Pirates, Main Street USA to Tommorow Land. I also took Brett on one of my fav childhood rides, Peter Pan. Somehow his family had always skipped this neat attraction! This day is also when we found out just how generous Disney can really be. Now, keep in mind that we are wearing "Just Married" pins & people are shouting "Congrats" left & right. Apparently, these wonderful pins also result in freebees. When we were getting lunch in adventure land they noticed our pins & gave us free choc. cakes. We were extremely psyked, but it gets better. Because we went late September, early October, Disney was all decked out top to bottom in fall/Halloween decor. The holiday seasons in Disney also mean special events, and in this case it was the "Not So Scary Halloween Party". While wandering around we discovered more about this party. Magic Kingdom would be closing several hours early & only admitting people in with seperate tickets for the party. Dissapointed that we would have to leave the park early we ventured to Guest Services to learn more about it & how much it was. The tickets were about the same price as the regular tickets! And all it really is is trick or treating, parades & fireworks. We decided that was a no go. As we were turning to leave (oh, not to mention that by this time we also had not only the "just married" pins but also mickey ears with wedding hats & veil) anyhow, as we were turning to leave the man behind the counter said, "wait a sec." He had me fill out a form & then returned with two tickets to the special party! Exciting stuff! We used the extra time to enjoy some more rides but also did our fair share of trick or treating & watched the parades, shows & final fireweorks. Great times.





The next day we headed off to Universal. I hadn't been since I was small so Brett was more than happy to tote me around & show me his favorite attractions. We also stopped at Guest Services to see if they had special just married pins, but to no avail. Guess we weren't in the magical world of disney anymore! We went on Jaws, OH and a way fantastic ride was the mummy! So much fun, but because of the plane ride we were both coming down with nasty colds! On our hooneymoon of all times . . . Universal was also decked out for the Halloween season but not in such a fairy tale way. There were creepy jack-o-lanterns everywhere. As we were enjoying the park Brett realized that some of the rides he wanted to show me were in Adventure Island. So we headed over there. First thing I see is the Hulk. The Hulk is a very large, twisting, turning, tumbling roller-coaster. As I make a bee-line for it I realize that Brett's hand, which I am so ernestly tugging, is actually trying to pull me back. Startled, I turn around. Now, Brett & I had discussed our love for theme parks, including roller coasters. Brett had always said he loved roller coasters too, but as we head for the Hulk I find out otherwise. He had meant he loved rollercoasters like Space Mountain. Not Hulk. He had never tried any large roller coaster & was not about to. I was not about to go on it by myself. Seeing as how both Brett & I are both stubborn we both tried to get the other to do what we wanted. I lost, and we left the Hulk in a patch of green behind us. Still to ths day I think, wistfully, someday Brett will try a huge coaster, someday. But we enjoyed both parks.





Also, Universal was to be closing early too because they were having their own party. But this one was not Mickey's "Not so Scary . . ." one. The party for Universal was to be a haunted one. A lot of the lots & warehouses in the park were transformed into haunted houses. The hardcore kind. The theme this year was "Bloody Mary" just to give you an idea. I had never in my life been to even the haunted houses that small towns put together or the haunted hospital. But I was game to try it so we got tickets for the party. We don't have many pictures of this because I pretty much spent the whole time being scared out of my pants. It was still daylight when they started haunting. The very first house Brett & went through we actually got to by accident. At that point, much of the park if ropped off & there are paths leading out to the different haunted attractions. We thought we were getting on one ride, but the path kept going. Once we realized where we were headed I decided to be brave and trudge forth. But I ket asking every worker I saw if this was a "very bad one" or very scary. The haunt we were headed for was creepy fairy tale stlye. So we figred it may not be that bad. As we entered I knew it was going to get bad. I really freaked out and latched to Brett's hand & burried my face in his shoulder. I was in hysterics. And I started the thing out closing my eyes. But just to hear strange people breathing down my neck, eyes I couldn't see, and creepy music, I was freaked. Not to mention I got squirted with some water towards the end of it---not expected! I could not wait to get out & I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I did not open my eyes the entire time. I came out bawling & a worker had to ask me if I was okay. What a big, grown-up 21 year old. There were 7 year olds coming out of that thing laughing with glee & I was officially basket-like. But as the night wore on I learned to open my eyes & smile at the creepy people that jumped at me. It was really neat after I got past my "initiation". We also went to a way odd & creepy magic show. We ended the night with a yummy, loud meal at Hard Rock Cafe.

Took this pic because I'm a phlebotomist (person that draws your blood at the hospital)







Our last day of theme parks was animal kingdom. Another favorite! Yes, I'm aware I say that about most all of them! But this park is remarkable! I love the plant life, details, lands and everything else. We started the day off with a delish breakfast at Rain Forrest Cafe, another first for Brett, as was the Animal Kingdom. And then it was off to the park! We went on the saffari & even though the lions were sleeping away hidden, we got to see a lot of animals. We got drenched on the Mount Everest ride, and saw "Tough to be a Bug"(see picture with Brett touching dung . . . hot.). Also, this was the only park (besides Epcot) where I found almost non-fast food. The choices at the other parks were primarily pizza, burger, chicken nuggets, ect. When we got to the Animal Kingdom, I was so very stoked to see asian food! Not high class asian food, sure, but a little something other than chicken nuggets! Sick . . . Also went to see Nemo the Musical, which was surprisingly amazing. The puppets (I guess you'd call them that?) were so intricate & the whole thing was cute. Bring your kids! We ended our last day at Disney with a run-through of the magic kingdom & if I remember right some ice-cream. It was so sad to get on te boat & say goodbye to a land of magic & re-enter the real world where each & eery person you run into doesn'r treat you ubber-special and where you can't round a corner & run into a cartoon. I have been begging Brett to go back for our anniversary!:) But I also ask for a puppy aout everyday & that's a no go too :(


















So the next part of our trip starts going all "Just Married" like (that movie . . . about the newly wed Brittany Murphy & Ashton Kutcher). The last few days we were supposed to go to Daytona to a lovely, beautiful resort hotel on the beach for some relax time after the theme parks. I am such a summer-lovin gal & had been looking forward to the beach for AGES I really do miss it so much. My Nona & Uncle & my parents & sibs all live in Florida. So we agreed to meet them all for lunch (My Nona couldn't make it to the wedding because of health problems). We ate at one my fav places . . . The Boston Fish House. GREAT place. They get all of their sea food fresh from Boston, it's rushed there on boats. We had a wonderful time & it was great to catch up & for Brett to meet that side of my family. Needless to say we took our time. Once we were finished there we decided it was time to head off for Daytona. MapQuest in hand, we jetted off (PS I hate MapQuest . . . ) First off, it took us a bit longer to get there than we thought, second off we got lost. Like out in the boonies lost. It felt just like that movie "Vacancy". I was so afraid our brand new rental car was going to go ka-put in the middle of the forest. Stupid Mapquest sending us off the freeway . . . grrrrr. WELL after circling around for a few hours & getting al turned around we figured out where to go & found ourselves in Daytona. Can I just say that the "Daytona Strip" is kinda sick. Not what I expected. As you drive down the beach front, you'll lovely hotels, and then . . . trash. Pretty tall building . . . and then a tattoo parlor. No joke! I got all anxious driving & just hoping our hotel was as nice as the pictures showed . . . we finally found our hotel. It was beautiful, and SAFE feeling. Right on the beach. And we had a suite booked. Well, we didn't know what the deadline was to get there & not meet our reservation. Turns out we were 15 minutes late for it, and so the meanies booted us down the street to some run-down scary hotel with cop cars out front . . . ummmmmm no. Checked in & the bathroom was sick (I did not use it all night, And I SO wanted a shower . . . ) and the whole room just felt . . . yuck. I ended up sleeping fully in my clothes with my hood on my head for fear of who knows what. Needless to say we checked out immeadiately the next morning. Brett has a great grandpa that lives in Florida also so we went & spent some time with him until our flight out on Tuesday. He was so sweet, he was so excited for us to come & excited to have some people to talk to, his wife died a few years back. He even insisted on making us dinner & wouldn't even let us help with dishes.

Tuesday morning we headed for the airport. It was bittersweet. We were vacationed-out, yet it was hard to leave. Oh, and we so missed our layover flight. We were stuck in Texas for 8 hours! We ended up buying books & eating Panda. Once we flew back to almost home-sweet vegas, we were a bit jet-lagged, tired! So we headed to the Venetian for one last night! It was such an amazing trip & we had so much fun, even despite the hicups! And now that it's still winter I sooooo miss that wonderful weather!