New Camera

During the honeymoon, we found that our current camera doesn't really do what we'd like for getting pictures. So when we got back, J decided to start looking into getting a better camera. After looking at all the point and shoot cameras and looking at spending several hundred to get closer to what we wanted, he decided to go into the dSLR. We're having a lot of fun learning all that we can do with it now. Once I have some better pictures, I'll put them up here. So far, nothing noteworthy.

Life since the wedding and honeymoon

Getting back into the swing of things took a bit of time. I'm glad we gave ourselves a day to readjust. We tried to have a get together for young adults at FPC, but it was only us. Perhaps next time.


We got some unhappy news the Thursday after we got back. The realtor who has been working with us on switching apartments got in touch with us to let us know that we would not be moving. Our landlord decided to do something else. While we are allowed to stay until the apartment sells, we are going to look into other options. So at the moment we have two different realtors working to find us our next home. Hopefully in the next month we will have more information on where we will be moving. I can say with certainty that we will be staying on the island.


Mardi Gras is in full swing here in downtown Galveston. Last weekend was the first weekend. Since we didn't have to worry about packing we met Shana for the Krewe of Aquarius Kick-Off Parade, which has become a yearly tradition.

It was cold, but sunny. This weekend, some of my college friends are coming down. I don't know if we'll go into the Strand district (we would have to pay), or not. We'll just have to see. For now, life is busy but continuing as usual. It's so nice to be home on the island once again :)

Our Honeymoon - Day 6

Our last day we went back to Hollywood Studios to ride some rides one last time, or two. We did Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania (which we got fastpassed on half way through the line). This time I did a lot better.

I was only 20,000 points behind J this time. We didn't take as many pictures ourselves, we let PhotoPass people take them for us. But I did grab a pictures of the Sorcerer Mickey topiary outside Hollywood Studios.

Due to the way Magical Express works, we got picked up fairly early from the resort. So we were only got to stay about 2 hours at the park. We had a fantastic time on our honeymoon. I'm so glad that we decided to go to Disney for our honeymoon. If we had to do it again, we'd do it the same. The weather was fantastic, I don't think we could have planned it better. Hopefully it won't be 14 years between this visit and the next.

Our Honeymoon - Day 5

On day five, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. Knowing that the animals would be more active in the morning, we decided to go on the Safari first thing. It's set up to look like a tradition African Wildlife Preserve, with a little fun twist. Below is a reticulated giraffe (left) and masai giraffe (right).

There was also a lion and lioness in the safari. They actually seemed pretty awake in the morning.

They had both white rhinos and black rhinos in the safari. Below is a photo of one of the white rhinos.

We went on some of the rides again before grabbing lunch. In the afternoon we did the Backstage Safari. During the tour we saw the nutrition center, veterinary area and night barns for the hippos, rhinos and elephants. While in the night barns we even got to pet one of the black rhinos! To round out the tour we got to do our own little private safari ride again. I'm glad we did the tour, but I don't think it's one we'll do again. Perhaps it's the biologist in me that has a hard time doing backstage tours, I know too much.

After we got done with the tour we had to race back over to Magic Kingdom to have dinner. We decided to do a character buffet at the Crystal Palace. It was the characters from Winnie the Pooh. Most of which we had seen, except Piglet.

After dinner, we had hoped to catch the night parade. Sadly it was cancelled :( So we found a better spot to watch the other evening shows: The Magic, the Memories and You, and Wishes: Nighttime Spectacular. 

I must say that by day five we were pretty worn out. Five days of non-stop going takes it's toll on the body. But we had a blast!

Our Honeymoon - Day 4

Day four was the first day that we bounced around to a couple different parks. We started the day by heading back over to Magic Kingdom. Since we'd hit all of our rides at least once, we started to look for characters to get pictures with. I think my favorite "meeting" was with Aladdin and Jasmine. Despite the fact that we obviously knew the were actors, they kept up the act while we talked with them.

On Thursday, they moved the crane that was being used to touch up paint on Cinderella's castle on Tuesday when we were first there. We were able to get a nice picture without the crane.

We stayed at Magic Kingdom for the morning so we could eat lunch there. After  lunch we decided to take a couple hours and head over to Animal Kingdom. This was to ensure that we got everything in that we wanted to do, since we were going to be doing a backstage safari on Friday. Since I hadn't been to Disney since 1997, this was my first trip to Animal Kingdom.

We did Expedition Everest and Dinosaur while we were there. Along with meeting some of the Winnie the Pooh characters. My favorite being Tigger, of course :)

Once we got in the things that we wanted to do, we headed over to Epcot for dinner and the evening show. While we were there, we were able to meet the main Disney characters. This picture with Donald was one of my favorite. The characters who couldn't talk were the most fun when figuring out that we were on our honeymoon.

Heading to dinner in China at the World Showcase, we were able to see them beginning to get ready for the fireworks. It's no wonder that Disney is the leading consumer in fireworks. We had dinner at Nine Dragons and then found a nice bench with a good view to see the fireworks show that night, Reflections: Illuminations of Earth.

Three parks in one day made for a whirlwind day.

Our Honeymoon - Day 3

Day three was a full day of Epcot, including our Dive Quest and backstage tour.  We spent the morning riding rides: Soarin', Test Track, Mission: Space. Around lunch, we headed to the World Showcase for lunch. Here I am in Japan, the closest I'll get to it for now.

For lunch, we ate at the buffet in Germany. It was pretty reminiscent of the festivals back home. We were seated during one of the sets of the band, which reminded me of the Schauplatlers (don't know if I spelled that right....). 

In Norway, we decided to have some fun by posing like some statues there. J did a pretty good job, right?

The Dive Quest was amazing. We lucked out with a smaller group, only 5 people total diving. Everything was provided for us, except our masks. We got to spend 40 minutes exploring the Seas aquarium. Being in the tank while the park was open meant that we became cast members. So as we are swimming around, people eating in the restaurant or touring the aquarium were watching us. I found it just as much fun to wave at them as to look at everything. It was our first dive in salt water, and with sharks. Definitely an exciting experience, although nerve wracking at times. All in all, it was an experience I'm glad we decided to do.


After we finished up, we headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner at Fulton's Crab House. We tried conch fritters for the first time and found them extremely tasty. J got crab legs and I got a mix of fish, shrimp and scallops. Again, we got free dessert. This time chocolate cake; however, we were so full we had to take it with us to eat the next night. By the end of the day we were very exhausted.

Our Honeymoon - Day 2

Day two on our honeymoon, we spent all day at Magic Kingdom. That morning we both got to see something that we'd never seen before, the opening of the park. It was a cute little event, with several of the characters from the park.

The downside to going during the off season, the rides tend to stop working (or their are down for repairs). I'm fairly certain that day that everything we tried to ride, or at least 95%, broke down at some point while we were there. The teacups, weren't one of those rides. Yes, we went on the teacups once.

That afternoon we saw the Dream's Come True parade. It was filled with lots of Disney characters. It was one of the must see things at Magic Kingdom, and a great way to stop and rest our feet.

Big Thunder railroad was closed while we were there. To make up for this, we went on Space Mountain (a lot). Fairly early on, we figured out where the camera was. From then on we decided that we needed to pose our pictures. This was the only one worth purchasing was our third trip on Space Mountain (last for this day). Inspired by Em, this is the "window licking" pose.

That evening we had dinner in our hotel at a place called Artist Point. We managed to score some free food because we were on our honeymoon. A delicious mushroom soup (yes, I ate and enjoyed it) and some wonderful dessert with champagne. It was a great ending to a great day.

Our Honeymoon - Day 1

I'm so glad that we waited to leave until Monday. In the end helped make the trip that much better. We got a day to recoup from the wedding, see friends and family one last time, time to pack.


Monday morning we loaded the car with our bags and made the drive up to IAH. We arrived in Orlando in the early afternoon. Disney really has streamlined the vacation process. We got special tags to put on our bags that made sure they "magically" arrived in our room at some point. Their coach was there to pick us up and take us to the resort. It was so easy, and worry free.


Once at the resort, we dropped what stuff we had and headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the afternoon. We decided to get our bride and groom mouse ears, which were helpful that night in getting special treatment. While waiting to be seated we learned about the celebrations buttons, which helped us later in the week. Dinner that night was at the Sci-Fi Dine in Drive in. The tables were designed like cars and they projected some fun little clips on a big screen. Luckily for us, that night was extra magic hours (emh) at Hollywood Studios. After our dinner we would be able to stay on and ride more rides, getting to do everything we'd wanted to before going back to the lodge.

Waiting in line for our bus assignment

Yeah, we're cute like that :)

The view from our room at Wilderness Lodge

The cute kissing pic in our "car" at the Sci-Fi Dine-In

Our Wedding

Our wedding day dawned chilly and windy, but otherwise perfect. The ceremony was beautiful and went off without a major hitch. The reception was ah-mazing! We got so many compliments. I'm quite proud that we were able to put on such a great event on our own.

Our first dance at the reception

For me, I only started losing my composure when it was just me and one other person (Heather, Dad, J). As long as I was with many people I kept it together. J had tunnel vision, so bad so that there were many things he didn't notice about the ceremony. I giggle at it, but I guess it's good that he only had eyes for me that day ;)

Pictures are still be loaded onto Melissa's website. So far, they are all fantastic and I cannot wait to see the rest. Click here to see all the pre-ceremony, ceremony and some post-ceremony photos. I know that there is so much more I could elaborate on, forgive me for keeping my post on it brief. Many thanks to all our friends and family who were there to share in our special day. To all those who couldn't join us, we were thinking of you.