So, the Honeymoon's over...

And it's back to reality as we know it! The honeymoon (Sandals, Grande Riviera, Jamaica) was absolutely fantastic...I'm still having a hard time realizing it's over! But it's getting easier and easier as we get slapped with reality...we are moving in 3 days. Yesterday, we spent the day cashing in gift cards for goodies such as a vacuum cleaner, iron, and kitchen rugs.  Today we packed...all. day. long. But enough about that...if anyone is reading this (still trying to determine that part), you may want to hear about our honeymoon. Much more exciting!

Day 1: We arrive in Jamaica, welcomed by a bottle of champagne and a visit to the butler's lounge where we met the first of our two butlers, Calicia. We are brought to our AMAZING room, where we had a pool that we only had to share with two other couples. We were tired, but luckily our butler had already made us reservations at the "come as you are" restaurant, which was awesome because we didn't have to worry about where to eat.

Getting served champagne in the butler's lounge

Day 2: We arranged to have room service for breakfast every day, which is included when you have butler service at Sandals.  Our other butler, Nicola, who was pregnant and super sweet, brought it to us bright and early.  We went and got a couple's massage, and spent there rest of the day by the pool.  For dinner, we had a candlelight dinner on the beach, literally.  As in, on the sand, waves occasionally coming beneath our feet.  It was the most romantic and special thing we did.  It lasted about 2.5 hours, and we will never forget it. We picked out a special bottle of wine we wanted to try at dinner, but our waiter couldn't find it anywhere in the resort.  He told us to ask our butler, and she could probably get it for us by the end of the week.  Well, by the time we got back to our room, it was already waiting on us! She was so fantastic! I want her back!!!

Ready for our massages!

Not "candlelight" yet...but it was an hour later!

Day 3: We rented a beach cabana and hung out on the beach alll day.  The rental of the cabana included butler service all day (he was constantly refilling our frozen drinks!), lunch brought to our cabana, and a massage.  Afterwards,  we went to a restaurant called Gordon's on the Pier which was only for butler service guests.  it had a buffet that included the meatiest crab legs I have EVER had.  Fantastic.

Day 4: We decided to make this a "water sport" day, since all water sports are included, so we went back out to the beach and did some snorkeling, kayaking, and paddle boarding. We met some other couples that we decided we liked, and spent the afternoon at the pool with them. We took a "lovers" cruise that evening, which was very nice and we had fun dancing. Then, for dinner, we went to a restaurant called Valentinos.  This was the only negative experience we had, since we had to wait for about 2 hours and missed the "wear all white/eat chocolate" party...however, we met another couple at the end of the party that happened to be staying above us, and we went back to our places and took a dip in our pool with them after I sang karaoke.

Lover's Cruise

Day 5: Since we tipped our butler at the cabana on the other day we spent there pretty well, he let us stay there all day without having to officially 'rent' it, so we spent most of this day by the beach and at the pool again.  For dinner, we went first to the sushi place on the resort, then to the Tepan Yaki grill.

Martini's before tepan yaki grill

Day 6: We decided to have another water sport day, and I tried and actually wound up being half-decent at wind surfing.  We also went to a flip-cup competition at the main resort pool.  For dinner, we went to one of the only restaurants we hadn't tried, which was called Garden Terrace.  They served traditional Jamaican food and we really liked it...a little spicy and very good. Afterwards, there was a talent show, which consisted mostly of Sandals staff, but also some guests. Some of the best talents were the breakdancers!

Yes, that's really me.

Day 7: Our last day...we went ziplining over the rainforest, which was a lot of fun and a little scary! There were nine ziplines, and two of them went straight down. When we got back, it was raining, but we went out to the beach anyway and stayed underneath the cabana again.  For dinner, we decided to go two places...at 6:30, we went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Neptunes, which was very good, and we decided to end our last night by going back to Gordons at 8:30 and having our butler deliver the bottle of wine from the first night that we ordered.  Throughout the course of the evening, we had five entrees consisting of filet mignon, tuna, salmon, mahi mahi, and crab....needless to say, we are still working that one off!!

Ready to zipline

Us with Nicola

Day 8: The saddest day of married life thus far (and hopefully, ever!) was having to leave Jamaica...we went out to the pool for a last few pictures taken by Calicia that we had wanted to get all week by the waterfall.  We will always miss our honeymoon! :(

One of our last pics in paradise!

Us with Calicia

Thank you everyone for making our wedding perfect...especially our parents.  We will never forget that day or our wonderful honeymoon....we are excited about leaving Auburn and starting this new chapter of our lives, but sad at the same time. Keep checking for updates on the move! Thanks for reading! :)