Yesterday, we got our pictures and DVD of our wedding ceremony from the Bahamas. Yay!
During the Bears halftime, I popped in the DVD so we could watch it. Wow... there should be a cheese factor warning on the label. It was pretty funny to watch. They added some extra footage of random stuff and music. Like when I was walking down the aisle, all of the sudden, trumpets were playing and the music got very loud. Ummm... I don't remember any trumpets??? It was so windy that the sound isn't that great in places, so they probably just supplemented in those parts.
Overall, I'm glad we have something to watch and remember the day by, even if it is super cheesy.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas went by too fast!
Matt and I drove back to Rochester in the POURING rain on Thursday afternoon. I was happy when we finally made it home!
We always celebrate Christmas Eve with some family friends and we alternate houses where we have dinner. This year, it was our house (trying out the new kitchen!) We all drank lots of wine, ate lots of good food and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Afterwards, we went to midnight mass, well actually it's 10pm mass. It's always a struggle to stay awake after the wine and food. I don't think there was any snoring this year!
Typical Matt - hanging out on xmas eve
It wouldn't be the holidays if someone didn't change up N-O-E-L!
On Christmas, we woke up early and opened gifts. Everyone got lots of nice things for each other!
My brother always wraps his gifts in old movie posters from the theater
The guys all got Bears gear from my mom for xmas
Merry xmas from the street - Matt's xmas shirt
On Christmas, my gramma, aunt, uncle and cousin came over for the afternoon. We ate more food, drank more drinks and relaxed at home. Awesome day!
The day after Christmas, Matt and I decided to go check out the local Chevy dealership. We've been talking about trading in my old car for a while (we missed out on the cash for clunkers program... boo!) and getting a more practical car. So, I've been doing some research and found a car with everything we're looking for at a dealership in Springfield. We got there and they said they didn't have the car... and that they didn't have any of the particular car I wanted to get (Chevy Equinox) on the lot to test drive. They apparently are selling faster than they've been getting them in. Anyway, long story short, we gave them the VIN I had from the internet and they found the car... and we bought it! Turns out it was a custom order that came in as white instead of silver, so the buyer didn't want it. But, it was marked as SOLD in the back lot, so no other salespeople were even showing it. Guess it was our lucky day! Merry xmas to us! : )
After about four hours of negotiating, paperwork, financing, blah, blah, blah, we drove off the lot with our new car! We drove to Quincy to visit the rest of my Mom's side of the family. The drive was crappy - lots of snow. Good thing we had all-wheel drive on the new car!
Matt and me with my grandparents
I was experimenting with the different settings on my camera and took this picture. I thought it was cool and then I realized you could actually see me taking the picture in the reflection of the ornament. Oops!
The Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's house is very pretty!
Someone (I'm not naming any names!) replaced baby Jesus with a can a Bud Light. It was funny at the time, but probably a little sacrilegious.
Gramma and Grampa with all the grand-kids
Gramma and Grampa with their kids
Adding in the in-laws (aka the outlaws)
We had a great time hanging out with everyone and it seemed to go by so fast. Luckily, we'll see them all again in a few days at the NYE party!
Erin, Ross, Brett, Matt and I all caravan-ed back to Chicago today in the crappy snow. The trip from Quincy to Springfield was not too much fun. For a while, there was only one lane cleared off and snow blowing everywhere. About halfway through, I ended up switching with Matt so he could drive because the roads and snow were stressing me out. From Springfield to Chicago, it wasn't too bad.
We're back at home now relaxing... our foot and a half Christmas tree kind of fails in comparison to the others, but it's all we got!
Hope everyone had a happy holiday and made it back home safely!
We always celebrate Christmas Eve with some family friends and we alternate houses where we have dinner. This year, it was our house (trying out the new kitchen!) We all drank lots of wine, ate lots of good food and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Afterwards, we went to midnight mass, well actually it's 10pm mass. It's always a struggle to stay awake after the wine and food. I don't think there was any snoring this year!
Typical Matt - hanging out on xmas eve
It wouldn't be the holidays if someone didn't change up N-O-E-L!
On Christmas, we woke up early and opened gifts. Everyone got lots of nice things for each other!
My brother always wraps his gifts in old movie posters from the theater
The guys all got Bears gear from my mom for xmas
Merry xmas from the street - Matt's xmas shirt
On Christmas, my gramma, aunt, uncle and cousin came over for the afternoon. We ate more food, drank more drinks and relaxed at home. Awesome day!
The day after Christmas, Matt and I decided to go check out the local Chevy dealership. We've been talking about trading in my old car for a while (we missed out on the cash for clunkers program... boo!) and getting a more practical car. So, I've been doing some research and found a car with everything we're looking for at a dealership in Springfield. We got there and they said they didn't have the car... and that they didn't have any of the particular car I wanted to get (Chevy Equinox) on the lot to test drive. They apparently are selling faster than they've been getting them in. Anyway, long story short, we gave them the VIN I had from the internet and they found the car... and we bought it! Turns out it was a custom order that came in as white instead of silver, so the buyer didn't want it. But, it was marked as SOLD in the back lot, so no other salespeople were even showing it. Guess it was our lucky day! Merry xmas to us! : )
After about four hours of negotiating, paperwork, financing, blah, blah, blah, we drove off the lot with our new car! We drove to Quincy to visit the rest of my Mom's side of the family. The drive was crappy - lots of snow. Good thing we had all-wheel drive on the new car!
Matt and me with my grandparents
I was experimenting with the different settings on my camera and took this picture. I thought it was cool and then I realized you could actually see me taking the picture in the reflection of the ornament. Oops!
The Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's house is very pretty!
Someone (I'm not naming any names!) replaced baby Jesus with a can a Bud Light. It was funny at the time, but probably a little sacrilegious.
Gramma and Grampa with all the grand-kids
Gramma and Grampa with their kids
Adding in the in-laws (aka the outlaws)
We had a great time hanging out with everyone and it seemed to go by so fast. Luckily, we'll see them all again in a few days at the NYE party!
Erin, Ross, Brett, Matt and I all caravan-ed back to Chicago today in the crappy snow. The trip from Quincy to Springfield was not too much fun. For a while, there was only one lane cleared off and snow blowing everywhere. About halfway through, I ended up switching with Matt so he could drive because the roads and snow were stressing me out. From Springfield to Chicago, it wasn't too bad.
We're back at home now relaxing... our foot and a half Christmas tree kind of fails in comparison to the others, but it's all we got!
Hope everyone had a happy holiday and made it back home safely!
It's like a new house!
My parents re-habbed the old kitchen, living room and entry way of our house. When I walked in, it was like a different house. It took a little while to get used to! I wish I would have taken more "before" pictures, because it's amazing how different it looks!
The new eating area
My Mom LOVES her new kitchen!
I LOVE the new kitchen, too!
My Dad's favorite part - big tv over the fireplace and nice comfy couch!
They only got it finished less than a week before Christmas, but they got the tree up!
The new eating area
My Mom LOVES her new kitchen!
I LOVE the new kitchen, too!
My Dad's favorite part - big tv over the fireplace and nice comfy couch!
They only got it finished less than a week before Christmas, but they got the tree up!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Movie night and a rant
Last night, the new movie theater in the South Loop, Showplace ICON, opened to the public. They had given away passes for you and a guest to get into a movie and everyone got a free soda and popcorn. Erin, Hany and I had a few passes and decided to check it out. There is a nice bar/lounge at the theater. If you pay $5 extra, you get to sit in the VIP upper section of the theater - more room, big chairs, tables with drink holders between every two chairs - and you get to drink alcohol from the bar in there. I think it would be an awesome place to take a date.
We saw The Informant with Matt Damon. It's about the ADM whistleblower that worked with the FBI, but had some problems of his own. It was set in Illinois (since ADM is in Decatur, IL). Good movie - basically, any movie that keeps my attention the entire time and I don't get bored is good to me! I have a short attention span sometimes. : )
Ok, and now on to my rant of the day...
Yesterday, I spent an hour shopping at Nordstrom Rack only to get to the checkout and find out my credit card was declined. Ummmm... what?!?! Seriously, I haven't even gotten close to the limit on this thing and I pay it off entirely every month. So, of course, I was not happy. I used my debit card, so all my shopping was not wasted.
I get back to work thinking that I'd have a call on my cell phone saying "please verify the charge... yada, yada, yada". Nothing. No call. So, I call them. Turns out they've declined my charges for the past two days and there was a hold on my account and no one bothered to call and tell me. The credit card company rep says to me that my charges were flagged by their fraud department.
Really??? This amazes me. One charge was a final payment on the photo booth I'm getting for NYE. I already made a payment to this same company earlier this year and that wasn't declined. The next charge was at Nordstrom Rack, a place I shop frequently.
So, all those other charges when I went to the Bahamas and charged stuff and then two days later was in St. Lucia charging stuff... that didn't raise any red flags? Or when I paid thousands of $'s for wedding stuff to Chicago and the Bahamas... no flag? Or when I bought a Wii and games at a Michigan Target randomly a week ago... this raised no flag? Even Matt's credit card wouldn't let the Wii go through (that's why I ended up using my card).
I told them to ok the photo booth charge, because I was going to be re-doing that charge. Ok, they said. Result = declined AGAIN. I call the credit card company again. They send me back to the fraud department. I tell them that they are declining a charge that I already called and ok'd. I answer all these crazy questions for them about past credit cards, car loans and bank accounts I've had, and they say it is now ok. Go ahead and re-charge. That was yesterday. I'm still waiting for the charge to go through. It's "on hold".
Ugh.
We saw The Informant with Matt Damon. It's about the ADM whistleblower that worked with the FBI, but had some problems of his own. It was set in Illinois (since ADM is in Decatur, IL). Good movie - basically, any movie that keeps my attention the entire time and I don't get bored is good to me! I have a short attention span sometimes. : )
Ok, and now on to my rant of the day...
Yesterday, I spent an hour shopping at Nordstrom Rack only to get to the checkout and find out my credit card was declined. Ummmm... what?!?! Seriously, I haven't even gotten close to the limit on this thing and I pay it off entirely every month. So, of course, I was not happy. I used my debit card, so all my shopping was not wasted.
I get back to work thinking that I'd have a call on my cell phone saying "please verify the charge... yada, yada, yada". Nothing. No call. So, I call them. Turns out they've declined my charges for the past two days and there was a hold on my account and no one bothered to call and tell me. The credit card company rep says to me that my charges were flagged by their fraud department.
Really??? This amazes me. One charge was a final payment on the photo booth I'm getting for NYE. I already made a payment to this same company earlier this year and that wasn't declined. The next charge was at Nordstrom Rack, a place I shop frequently.
So, all those other charges when I went to the Bahamas and charged stuff and then two days later was in St. Lucia charging stuff... that didn't raise any red flags? Or when I paid thousands of $'s for wedding stuff to Chicago and the Bahamas... no flag? Or when I bought a Wii and games at a Michigan Target randomly a week ago... this raised no flag? Even Matt's credit card wouldn't let the Wii go through (that's why I ended up using my card).
I told them to ok the photo booth charge, because I was going to be re-doing that charge. Ok, they said. Result = declined AGAIN. I call the credit card company again. They send me back to the fraud department. I tell them that they are declining a charge that I already called and ok'd. I answer all these crazy questions for them about past credit cards, car loans and bank accounts I've had, and they say it is now ok. Go ahead and re-charge. That was yesterday. I'm still waiting for the charge to go through. It's "on hold".
Ugh.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The P.O. Xmas Party
On Sunday, we went to the Purple Otter Xmas party... $2 drinks on a Sunday night = DANGEROUS! : )
Ahhhh... Ross and Erin
Future bros-in-law
The hat was a little big for Sam : )
Brett, me, Erin and Ross
Notice, there are no pics of Matt anywhere. He was saddled up to the bar playing his favorite new drinking game. His iPhone has an app that lets him shake the phone and it randomly selects a drink. And then he drinks that drink. Not a tough game, by any means and I'm not sure if there is a "winner", except for the bar. And maybe the makers of Advil. : )
Ahhhh... Ross and Erin
Future bros-in-law
The hat was a little big for Sam : )
Brett, me, Erin and Ross
Notice, there are no pics of Matt anywhere. He was saddled up to the bar playing his favorite new drinking game. His iPhone has an app that lets him shake the phone and it randomly selects a drink. And then he drinks that drink. Not a tough game, by any means and I'm not sure if there is a "winner", except for the bar. And maybe the makers of Advil. : )
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sitting at work...
Enjoying a beer! : )
You would think this is awesome... but, I'm actually doing work. Matt is in the conference room drinking beer, not doing work. Seriously - I am not busy any other day except the one of our company holiday party! Any other day, I could leave for 4 hours and come back and no one would notice. Ugh.
You would think this is awesome... but, I'm actually doing work. Matt is in the conference room drinking beer, not doing work. Seriously - I am not busy any other day except the one of our company holiday party! Any other day, I could leave for 4 hours and come back and no one would notice. Ugh.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
It's going to take some time...
...to get used to my new name!
Today, I was filling out the email to send in to change my name at work and I got through the form and realized that I had typed my OLD name in everywhere. Yep, I'm changing my name from Stacia Duesterhaus to Stacia Duesterhaus. Oops!
It's harder than I realized to change my name. And I'm not just talking logistically. I mean, I've had this name for 35 years! I never really questioned that I would change my name when I got married. I always thought I would. But now that I'm doing it, it's kind of sad in a weird sort of way. How crazy is that???
Today, I was filling out the email to send in to change my name at work and I got through the form and realized that I had typed my OLD name in everywhere. Yep, I'm changing my name from Stacia Duesterhaus to Stacia Duesterhaus. Oops!
It's harder than I realized to change my name. And I'm not just talking logistically. I mean, I've had this name for 35 years! I never really questioned that I would change my name when I got married. I always thought I would. But now that I'm doing it, it's kind of sad in a weird sort of way. How crazy is that???
Monday, November 30, 2009
Back to work
This is my first full week of work since October... November was so nice!
This past weekend after we got back from Peru, Indiana, my parents came up to Chicago for a visit. We went wedding dress shopping on Saturday out to the 'burbs and my sister found her wedding dress! I love it and it looks beautiful on her! Actually, just about every dress she tried on looked gorgeous on her... she could walk down the aisle in a trash bag and still look great! : )
On Saturday night, we went to dinner at Pete's Pizza - yum! Then we all went to see the movie Blind Side. I liked the movie a lot. I didn't really know the whole story about Michael Oher before seeing the movie.
Yesterday, Matt picked out his tuxedo for the NYE wedding reception. The boy is going to look sharp! I can't wait to see him all decked out! : )
Last night, we had breakfast for dinner and I tried out our new waffle maker. It's awesome! I love waffles!
This past weekend after we got back from Peru, Indiana, my parents came up to Chicago for a visit. We went wedding dress shopping on Saturday out to the 'burbs and my sister found her wedding dress! I love it and it looks beautiful on her! Actually, just about every dress she tried on looked gorgeous on her... she could walk down the aisle in a trash bag and still look great! : )
On Saturday night, we went to dinner at Pete's Pizza - yum! Then we all went to see the movie Blind Side. I liked the movie a lot. I didn't really know the whole story about Michael Oher before seeing the movie.
Yesterday, Matt picked out his tuxedo for the NYE wedding reception. The boy is going to look sharp! I can't wait to see him all decked out! : )
Last night, we had breakfast for dinner and I tried out our new waffle maker. It's awesome! I love waffles!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Turkey Day
I hope everyone had a nice turkey day and stuffed themselves! I know I did! : )
Matt and I went to his hometown of Peru, Indiana for the festivities. We drove there on Wednesday and came back early Saturday morning. While we were there, we ate lots of food and enjoyed visiting with everyone.
Matt and Ryan's cousin Scott got schooled in euchre by the girls (me and Scott's girlfriend, Kelly). It was actually a really close game, came down to the last hand. Intense!
Quite a crowd for the Thanksgiving day meal
Matt loves Thanksgiving
Best idea ever = turkey + gravy + noodles - which you put on top of the mashed potatoes = YUM!
On Friday night, we had taco night at Ryan's parents' house and a friend of Matt's from high school came over with his fiance'. We played a new game that we got called Smart Ass. The guys won that game... not because they are smart asses. You have to figure out who/what/where am I type questions by the clues read.
Matt and I went to his hometown of Peru, Indiana for the festivities. We drove there on Wednesday and came back early Saturday morning. While we were there, we ate lots of food and enjoyed visiting with everyone.
Matt and Ryan's cousin Scott got schooled in euchre by the girls (me and Scott's girlfriend, Kelly). It was actually a really close game, came down to the last hand. Intense!
Quite a crowd for the Thanksgiving day meal
Matt loves Thanksgiving
Best idea ever = turkey + gravy + noodles - which you put on top of the mashed potatoes = YUM!
On Friday night, we had taco night at Ryan's parents' house and a friend of Matt's from high school came over with his fiance'. We played a new game that we got called Smart Ass. The guys won that game... not because they are smart asses. You have to figure out who/what/where am I type questions by the clues read.
Monday, November 23, 2009
New name
This morning I walked over to the SS office to officially change my name. I didn't think much of it until I had to actually SIGN my new name on a piece of paper. I've been practicing for fun for a while (like anytime we go out and I pay by credit card, I always sign my new name to the extra copy... because I'm cheesy and it's fun!)
I got all nervous today that I would spell the name wrong or something. I'm sure the lady thought I was a nutcase. : )
I got all nervous today that I would spell the name wrong or something. I'm sure the lady thought I was a nutcase. : )
New toy
This morning I got to use the new coffee maker and brewed myself a hot cup of coffee right in my own kitchen! Exciting!Thanks to Tony for the great gift! : )
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Happy birthday to Ross
To celebrate Ross' birthday, we all went to dinner on Saturday night at Hugo's Frog Bar on Rush. The good thing about this place is that they have the same kitchen as Gibson's, so it's basically like eating there. We had loads of good food and wine!
Brett tried his first oyster
Check out the size of these potatoes!
And this cake!
After dinner, we walked to Finn McCool's to watch football.
Way to ditch out of the pic, Matt
That's better!
The boys did a tequila birthday shot with Ross
Brett tried his first oyster
Check out the size of these potatoes!
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And this cake!
After dinner, we walked to Finn McCool's to watch football.
Way to ditch out of the pic, Matt
That's better!
The boys did a tequila birthday shot with Ross
Friday, November 20, 2009
Our honeymoon
We left bright and early Monday morning to catch a flight back to Miami and then we were off to St. Lucia!!!
The flight to St. Lucia was b.u.m.p.y! Thanks again to Hurricane Ida! Boo!
When we got to St. Lucia and walked into Customs, we noticed something... almost everyone there was a newlywed! Seriously, I've never seen so many bride/groom t-shirts, bags with wedding dates, shiny new rings and couples! We realized that any hope of honeymoon upgrades were probably out of the question. : )
All of the flights to St. Lucia must get in at the same time, because it was packed! Getting through Customs and to our hotel shuttle van was like being herded with a bunch of cows. We just moved with the masses!
Our shuttle ride was a little over an hour long and it was giving me flashbacks of our trip to Costa Rica. St. Lucia is very similar to Costa Rica - mountains with roads carved in them, hairpin turns snaking through, drivers who pass when you think it's a completely blind turn and they shouldn't be... we just sat quietly until we got to resort. Luckily, we had taken some Dramamine, so we were all set!
The resort was beautiful! We went through a short orientation when we got there and then checked out our room. We actually were upgraded, which was awesome. The room we ended up with was near the main lobby/pool/restaurant and it had a fridge with complimentary water, juice and soda. That water was a lifesaver!
For most of the time there, we had a daily routine...
- get up early enough to claim our chairs at the pool and grab fresh towels (they all go fast!)
- get breakfast at the main buffet
- lay out at the pool for hours and drink fruity drinks from the swim up bar (awesome!)
- grab a late lunch and take a nap
- grab a late dinner around 8-ish
- listen to the nightly bands by the pool
The pool and swim up bar were our favorite hang-outs!
The drink menu... our goal was to try them all, but we didn't quite make it!
We were pretty lame and didn't make it out super late most nights. Apparently, laying around all day makes a person pretty tired!
The resort had daily activities at the pool and at night at the main pavillion. The pool activities were pretty fun to watch. We played in the pool Olympics one day and our team won! They had people that worked there called "playmakers" that would encourage everyone to participate. One playmaker in particular (Ricky) was super funny. Everyone at the resort knew Ricky - he was everywhere!
One of our late nights out was on Friday night - there was a street party with lots of entertainment. We went there after dinner at Kimono's, which is where we met another couple Ben and Lauren. So we hung out together for the night. I was excited to find out that there was karaoke at the pub on the resort that night... so, of course, we had to go!
I convinced Lauren to go up with me, but she didn't want to sing! And speaking of Ricky, he was the karaoke host!
We went on one day tour with Joe Knows St. Lucia tours. Our tour guide, Al, drove us all over St. Lucia and showed us the cool sites. As I mentioned before, the roads were quite twisty and hilly, so the ride was a little much at times. There were a few times Matt looked kinda green, but he made it!
We ate at some great restaurants, both at our resort and the other Sandals. You can stay at one resort and visit the others for free. They have shuttles that take you back and forth all day long.
We ate at a Japanese restaurant called Kimono's - our chef was a riot - he kept yelling "NIIICCCEEE" over and over!
There was a fancy French restaurant that was supposed to have a dress code for men where they had to wear dress shoes. Matt hadn't brought any, so he ended up wearing his golf shoes! : ) Of course, when we got there, other men were wearing flip-flops, so Matt didn't have to worry.
The resort we stayed at does a complimentary photo shoot for the guests. After putting it off the entire time, we decided to do that the day before we left. I loved how the pictures turned out (even though some are kinda cheesy!)
The honeymoon was fantastic and we really did not want to come back to Chicago!
We stopped for one last picture our on shuttle back to the airport
The flight to St. Lucia was b.u.m.p.y! Thanks again to Hurricane Ida! Boo!
When we got to St. Lucia and walked into Customs, we noticed something... almost everyone there was a newlywed! Seriously, I've never seen so many bride/groom t-shirts, bags with wedding dates, shiny new rings and couples! We realized that any hope of honeymoon upgrades were probably out of the question. : )
All of the flights to St. Lucia must get in at the same time, because it was packed! Getting through Customs and to our hotel shuttle van was like being herded with a bunch of cows. We just moved with the masses!
Our shuttle ride was a little over an hour long and it was giving me flashbacks of our trip to Costa Rica. St. Lucia is very similar to Costa Rica - mountains with roads carved in them, hairpin turns snaking through, drivers who pass when you think it's a completely blind turn and they shouldn't be... we just sat quietly until we got to resort. Luckily, we had taken some Dramamine, so we were all set!
The resort was beautiful! We went through a short orientation when we got there and then checked out our room. We actually were upgraded, which was awesome. The room we ended up with was near the main lobby/pool/restaurant and it had a fridge with complimentary water, juice and soda. That water was a lifesaver!
For most of the time there, we had a daily routine...
- get up early enough to claim our chairs at the pool and grab fresh towels (they all go fast!)
- get breakfast at the main buffet
- lay out at the pool for hours and drink fruity drinks from the swim up bar (awesome!)
- grab a late lunch and take a nap
- grab a late dinner around 8-ish
- listen to the nightly bands by the pool
The pool and swim up bar were our favorite hang-outs!
  |
The drink menu... our goal was to try them all, but we didn't quite make it!
We were pretty lame and didn't make it out super late most nights. Apparently, laying around all day makes a person pretty tired!
The resort had daily activities at the pool and at night at the main pavillion. The pool activities were pretty fun to watch. We played in the pool Olympics one day and our team won! They had people that worked there called "playmakers" that would encourage everyone to participate. One playmaker in particular (Ricky) was super funny. Everyone at the resort knew Ricky - he was everywhere!
One of our late nights out was on Friday night - there was a street party with lots of entertainment. We went there after dinner at Kimono's, which is where we met another couple Ben and Lauren. So we hung out together for the night. I was excited to find out that there was karaoke at the pub on the resort that night... so, of course, we had to go!
I convinced Lauren to go up with me, but she didn't want to sing! And speaking of Ricky, he was the karaoke host!
  |
We went on one day tour with Joe Knows St. Lucia tours. Our tour guide, Al, drove us all over St. Lucia and showed us the cool sites. As I mentioned before, the roads were quite twisty and hilly, so the ride was a little much at times. There were a few times Matt looked kinda green, but he made it!
Our first stop was a banana plantationMatt played golf a couple times, but it was really hot. I walked along one time to take some pictures. Not too many golfers were out there. Matt was covered in sweat by the time he finished 9 holes!
Our tour guide, Al, tried to get us to put this snake around our necks, but we said NO WAY!
Matt and me with the Piton mountains in the background
We went to the "drive-in" volcano, called that because you are actually in the crater portion of the volcano. Luckily, it's dormant! It smelled like sulfur SO bad! We're standing in front of the boiling pools of mud. You could actually get in a mud bath that was like a hot tub, but we were already super hot, so we decided not to.
We took a quick dip in a waterfall
We had lunch at the Beacon Restaurant - traditional St. Lucian creole food - very good!
We stopped off at a rum factory and paid $3 to try all the rum varieties we wanted! They had some "double strong" stuff that was like Everclear and they even had peanut butter rum!
We ate at some great restaurants, both at our resort and the other Sandals. You can stay at one resort and visit the others for free. They have shuttles that take you back and forth all day long.
We ate at a Japanese restaurant called Kimono's - our chef was a riot - he kept yelling "NIIICCCEEE" over and over!
There was a fancy French restaurant that was supposed to have a dress code for men where they had to wear dress shoes. Matt hadn't brought any, so he ended up wearing his golf shoes! : ) Of course, when we got there, other men were wearing flip-flops, so Matt didn't have to worry.
The resort we stayed at does a complimentary photo shoot for the guests. After putting it off the entire time, we decided to do that the day before we left. I loved how the pictures turned out (even though some are kinda cheesy!)
  |
The honeymoon was fantastic and we really did not want to come back to Chicago!
We stopped for one last picture our on shuttle back to the airport
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