Trip to the zoo!

Oh yeah, I also managed to squeeze in a trip to John Ball Zoo while my relatives were here. Yeah, I was an adrenaline junkie--no wonder I've been sick in bed for the last couple of days. Oh well, it was all worth it! Here's some of my favorite pics from the zoo.

My trip to D.C.

My "fake" honeymoon was spent by myself at a work conference just outside of D.C. It was hard to leave so soon after the wedding, but the pain was eased by having my room upgraded to a king size suite--awesome! I made sure to spend adequate time there, but I did manage to get out and see a few sites before I left too. The most surprising site on the river cruise was the National Cathedral which was so beautiful and could be clearly seen, but just not captured on my camera. It was magical. The pentagon was also very cool looking but I couldn't get a pic of it either, though my plane flew right over it when we took off. I was very surprised they allowed that. I'd love to go back and visit again--with my hubby next time, and hopefully take in some of the museums and see more of the city. (oh, the pic of the sculpture was near our hotel on the beach area. It was so cool and enormous!)

A little R & R

While my relatives were still in MI after the wedding, I decided to show them some sights of west MI, so I took them up to Silver Lake to see (and tour) the sand dunes and then we made our way to the beach in Grand Haven--a must see. We had a blast!

Our Big Day

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Sorry, I haven't had time to post. I've been a little busy. The last of my relatives just left this evening. Yep, we've had a full house the whole weekend. Now, I'm leaving for D.C. in the morning for the next 4 days. Wow, happy honeymoon, eh?! Anyway, it's been a whirlwind and I'm exhausted, but everything went great (well, except for my dress breaking before the reception--it still didn't look as bad as the one on my last post), and by then, I really didn't care that much. We still had a perfect day and a lot of fun! I would post a picture but I didn't take any on my own camera--again, a little busy.

On Saturday, we had a family BBQ at our house once we got back from the hotel. It was a lot of fun, even if I burnt a lot of the food. Oops! After dinner (and cake), we opened the rest of our wedding presents, and then we played some games. It was a fun night.

Yesterday, my 2 aunts & 2 cousins and I went all the way to up to Silver Lake. I wanted them to see the sand dunes. We rode on the dune cruiser and that was a blast (literally!). No better way to experience it if you don't have your own dune buggy. We even got to walk along the beach of Lake MI. We made the traditional stop at Whippy Dip for some treats, then ventured to a road side stand for fresh peaches, blueberries and sweet corn. Yum! We furthered on to Grand Haven where the girls wandered all the way out into the Lake while the rest of us sat on the beach with the waves hitting our feet. It was super windy and almost chilly, but we didn't care. We were able to hit a few shops before they closed, then made it home for a BBQ (again).

Today, we visited John Ball Zoo before I had to run 1/2 of the group to the airport. The rest of us spent a few hours at Woodland Mall, then we stopped by to pick up my hubby (ha--how funny to say that!) and we thought we were going to have a nice dinner at Village Inn Pizza Parlor on the way to taking them to the airport. Too bad they forgot to make our pizza and we were there almost an hour! We had to get it boxed as we ran to the car so they wouldn't be late catching their flight. Bummer! It all worked out ok, I think (haven't heard from them so I assume they got out ok).

Now, I'm off to do my own laundry and pack for my own trip. A couple of days of R&R. I won't know what to do with a full day tomorrow by myself. I have a feeling the king bed and room service are going to get a lot of use!

Damn paparazzi must have got me while I was giving my dress a test run around GR earlier this week!

Engagement pic

I think our announcement is going to be in this Sunday's paper. That's what they tell me anyway. Hopefully the pic looks ok--apparently they didn't like that it was a horizontal shot rather than vertical so they were going to "fix it". Hopefully we don't look like coneheads or something!

More pics from the shower...

Thought I should include the ones who put this all together for me...Jinnifer, Lorie and Kim and the moms. THANK YOU!!!

WTF of the Day

For Krista.....

The Shower

This weekend was my bridal shower, put together by Jinnifer, Lorie, Kim, my mom and Mike's mom. It went great, although it was a little surreal (and awkward being the center of attention.) I am wondering if I will feel the same at the wedding. I know it seemed to go by really fast--I've heard that's how the receptions go too. Sometimes I feel so silly talking about the wedding, wedding, wedding. Even after all this time, it almost doesn't seem real.

Anyway, it was GREAT having so many of my friends there. Unfortunately, a few could not be there due to other commitments, etc., but still, we had 18 so I was very happy! I didn't get to really "visit" all that much but I think we kept it moving so people weren't sitting around looking at towels for too long, well, except for Krista, but that's a special case. : ) I received some very nice gifts, which we will put to good use. Of course, Kim made me cry with her gift - - a shadowbox with our invitation. It literally took my breath away. I was not expecting that.

I am so lucky to have so many friends who care about me and support me. It is actually difficult to speak about it in front of everyone without getting emotional, but I am really very grateful to all of them and am so glad to have them in my life. The girls worked hard and put together a fabulous party. I cannot wait for everything to come together for the wedding.

My parents were in town for the weekend and that went well. They took Mike and I out for dinner last night. Today we all slept in and were lazy. It was great not having to do anything today. It's been awhile since I've had that luxury so I took full advantage. It will be awhile before that happens again. . .