Random Honeymoon

Now that all of our pictures are nicely organized in the new iPhoto I can't help but peek back in time a bit. Just a little over a year ago, Nate and I were on our honeymoon experiencing paradise on earth: Ti Kaye Village on the Caribbean isle of St. Lucia. We decided to splurge on our first real vacation together and it's highly unlikely that we will be able to afford a trip like this again, but it was worth every dime.

33 personal cottages on a hillside, on a cliff like this:


With a secluded little porch, hammock and all:Ah yes, and our own private plunge pool and outdoor shower overlooking the ocean. Nate was in heaven can you tell?

Yep, pretty much paradise:In all of the hundreds of pictures we took, one thing stands out to me right now: our honeymoon was full of randomness! Good randomness, but still quite interesting occurrences that only we could appreciate [well, hopefully you readers, too!] I could show you a ton of 'picture perfect' photos or I could show you the random funny ones, and I choose option B.

Exhibit #1: Our first SCUBA experience. We are not certified divers, but the resort offered an introductory class [that landed us diving in 40 foot waters within an hour]. Incredibly scary and exhilarating at the same time. Nate had a minor panic attack at first but then sucked it up and enjoyed the ride:) Me? I apparently forgot how to fake smile underwater. These photos crack me up because I look completely ticked since I didn't even bother trying to smile---which is not like me.


And Nate re-discovered his inner confidence on this one:Exhibit #2: I grew a unicorn horn. No, seriously, something really weird happened to my forehead. In hindsight, it probably had something to do with the sun. But one morning I woke up to a new hump on my head and I nearly lost it---assuming that I was dying, and my brain might be swelling. Normally my forehead goes straight down without a curve. But take a look at this:

Pictures from that day are hilarious because you can see the shadows from my horn. You see the little bump there? FREAK!
Exhibit #3: We attended a wedding on the beach for some Italian strangers turned friends. This is Stephano and his new wife. Stephano and Nate immediately became best of buddies, almost to a point where I was worried my new husband would run off to Italy to be with Stephano for life.
He barely spoke any English at all, but my goodness he tried. We met him on a boat excursion one day and figured out pretty quickly that he was a character. Out of control, full of energy, and Italian. Then one day at the pool he walks up to us and says in his broken English, "I....marry.....today. You....come." Meaning he was getting married on the beach that night! Squeeeeee! A wedding!!!

So yes, we attended along with 4 other randoms at our resort [kind of made me sad for them, since they didn't have any family there]. Here is our new friends with the minister and the Italian translator:)
And the after-party on the beach. What a crew, huh? TOTALLY random.
The 'reception' involved coolers of beer, Pringles, and a tiny little cake. It was absolutely fabulous and probably the most fun we had during the whole trip. I don't know why but I love this picture full of strangers having fun in St. Lucia:
The SCUBA instructors at the resort were awesome and quite entertaining. Nate bonded with those boys, too, and together they made a gay pyramid with the groom. Sheer happiness, I tell you:

Exhibit #4: We coaxed one of the resort staff to give us a 'wine tasting' in their awesome cellar. It was incredibly under priced considering that he poured us FULL GLASSES of the wines. I think I lost count at 8 different kinds of wine, including some bottles of expensive stuff he probably shouldn't have opened for us:) Random but awesome.
Exhibit #5: I fell asleep on our hammock after a long day in the sun. No biggie, right? Nate took this picture because if you look closely you'll see that my eyes are partially open. GROSS!

Exhibit #6: The last night involved going into town for a city fish fry. We made friends with some other honeymooners [kind of random when a honeymoon should be all about the newlyweds, right?]. Me and this girl Elizabeth had a strange desire to karaoke to "Friends in Low Places" by Garth. So here is one of the locals [who was missing an eye!] jamming out to American country music. What a show boater and completely random.

Exhibit #7: The van ride back to the airport might have been one of the worst experiences in my life. I wanted to die at that moment because I was so car sick. They drive on the left side of the road, zooming passed goats tied to ropes, up hills, twisting and turning around the little island until your stomach says "ENOUGH!". I almost died, true story.
This picture is random because this is the view of the famous Piton mountains from our van window. My new husband decided to take some pictures while his ghost-white wife clung to her very life in the front seat. Although I'm an advocate for photography this was too much.

And so, my friends, the lesson is this: you can take the newlyweds to paradise but you can't leave behind the everyday randomness that is their life. Sigh, I want to go back right now:)