our honeymoon

ever since i first proposed to diana we had been busy planning the wedding. it was a lot of work (from many other people too, thanks mom!), but everything went really well. it was, to be honest, one of the greatest days of my life. everything went well and it was certainly a blessed day. i wrote a bunch about it, which you can read all about here.
well, logic would dictate that after a wedding comes the honeymoon! diana and i soon headed out to mexico to enjoy the beautiful riviera maya! i must recommend it, when ever you have one of the best days of your life, i would certainly suggest following that up with one of the best weeks ever! check out all the newly wed fun and sun here! we hope you enjoy reading about it, because we certainly enjoyed living it! even thought the honeymoon is over, we look forward to the honeymoon continuing through out the rest of our lives!

bye bye mexico!

with everything packed and everything ready to go, we head down to the bus stop and wait for our bus to bring us to the airport. we didn't have to wait long, and the bus trip to the airport was only about 15 minutes, so we were actually ahead of schedule!
when we got to the airport we checked our bags and headed up to the security check in. all went well and we looked through the duty free stuff, diana wanted a new perfume. thats when diana realized that she forgot to put her watch back on after the security check! oops! we went back to the checkpoint and they were actually quite easygoing about it and we werent suspected of being terrorists or anything! we grabbed a bite to eat in the airport (having learned on the flight over that the plane doesnt serve free food and the stuff they do offer is way too expensive). the flight was a bit bumpy, enough so that diana and i had our barf bags ready just in case. fortunately we didn't need them, and we arrived safely and on time in chicago!
we found our car in the parking lot all safe and sound. after we picked up poco, our dog, from diana's old house, it was time to head home. time to start our lives together as a married couple!
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in memoriam

its always hard to say goodbye to a loved one. unfortunately i had to do just that when we left mexico. i have had this pair of sandals for many many years. i have many fond memories of them. they have been with me to many many places. i remember i first got them when i was hoping to go to mexico over the summer for course credit after my freshman year of college. i needed something to wear down in the hot weather that would be comfy but also cool on my feet. i've warn them every summer since, usually i would wear them exclusively- work shoes and tennis shoes would be banished to the closet, only taken out for emergencies like mowing the lawn. the years had been rough on these wonderful sandals, and their looks soon faded. last summer diana had had enough of them, she felt they were too disgusting to continue wearing, i disagreed saying that they had a lot of 'character' (which was code for 'i know they are disgusting, but they are comfy!').
at the end of the summer diana had told me i had to throw them away, but i refused. i held on to them even when i knew they had long since been past their prime. when we had been making plans for our mexico honeymoon i was hoping to take these sandals out again for a new summer of fun. diana shot that idea down. we came to an agreement: i would get to bring the hideous sandals with on the trip to mexico, but i would not be able to bring them back. it was a hard decision to make, one that still haunts me to this day, but i said yes. i did it. all week i wore them with pride, enjoying every single comfortable step. at the end of the week the dreaded deadline was upon us. it was time to say goodbye. i found a nice place for them, where they could see the sunrise and the beautiful beach. i put a dollar in the heal of one of them and said goodbye. where are they now? probably walking the beaches of cancun waiting for me to return. i hear that if you stay on the beach after sundown you can hear the faint footsteps of these magnificent sandals as they forever wait for their owner to come back.
shakespeare was right: its better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all. i miss you sandals... we had eleven years together, and they were some of the best in my life.
1998-2009

may you rest in peace.

packing up

it always comes too quickly, huh? it felt like we had only just arrived, and now it was time to pack up and go! our flight didn't leave until 11:00am or so, so we got to get a good nights sleep and take our time getting everything packed. we both had a great time and were sad to say goodbye to such an awesome week!
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moon palace: lobby

when we first got to the moon palace we were pretty impressed- the place looked so great! the lobby itself is really beautiful and inviting. once we walked in to the lobby of the resort we knew we were going to be in for a good week!
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room with a view

our room was so amazing! we spent a bit of time there and each morning when we would wake up i couldn't help but step out on to the deck just to see that beautiful view of the ocean- you couldn't take your eyes off of it! the only thing more amazing than that view is looking at my beautiful wife (there, that should earn me a few brownie points!)
(more pics: 1, 2, 3)

moon palace: pools

during the week we spend a ton of time at the moon resort pools. now, here's the thing: i'm not much of a 'sit around and lay out in the sun' kind of guy. the first day we arrived in mexico it hit me what this was actually going to be like. the whole time we had been looking forward to this trip i had never really thought about the fact that i was going to have to spend a lot of time out in the sun! at first when it sunk in i was dreading it, but that quickly faded away. the first time we went down to the pool during the week i realized that this was going to be great- a chance to just sit and enjoy the weather, enjoy a good book, and enjoy my new wife. thats when i realized everything was going to turn out just fine!
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angry tummy

soon after our lunch it was time to head back to the moon palace! we hopped on the bus and found seats. the hour bus ride went by pretty quickly, mostly because both of us slept most of the way...
when we got back we went to the room and hung out for a bit. after a while it was time to take a walk around a bit, and find ourselves some dinner. realizing we had eaten at every place there by now, we went back to the place we went that first night- the mexican restaurant! it was a decision that we would both regret for the rest of the night...
right after we were done we walked over to the lobby bar to enjoy the live music. a couple minutes after we sat down i had a gurgling in my tummy and made a quick run for it! when i got back diana wasn't feeling very well either. we walked back to the room where diana laid down and tried to feel better. i walked back to the lobby to pick up some tums and other stomach stuff. she took some, but it didnt seem to help too much. for the rest of the night she stayed in bed feeling terrible. i tried my best to make her feel better, but there was no use, whatever it was needed to run its course, and that was going to take all night.
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oh, sombrero!

after enjoying the ocean sun, we were getting a bit hungry. it was lunch time so we headed over to the restaurant where our free food was awaiting. we loaded up our plates and found a place to sit. as we were enjoying our food and conversation we were suddenly surrounded by music! there was a group of mexican musicians who were going from table to table singing traditional mexican songs to each couple- they even put sombreros on our heads!
diana was very very embarrassed by it, but i thought it was great fun! she kept telling me to tip them quickly so that they would move on, but i took my time about it so we could enjoy this unusual and unique experience a bit longer!
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beach seats

after all the fun of snorkeling and parasailing, we decided to spend a bit of time just relaxing on the beach! it was such a beautiful view! diana pulled out her book and i pulled out mine. we sat and read for a while.
soon after, she got a bit warm and took a quick dip in the water. behind us, i soon realized, was where they kept the horses! one of the options at this resort place was to go for a horse ride on the beach. as we were enjoying our time lounging around, those who had gone for the horse ride were coming back.
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sail on, silvergirl

we finished up with the snorkeling and walked down the beach to find a nice place to sit out and enjoy the rest of our afternoon here at marina maroma. just as we get comfy diana happens to notice a couple parasailing. 'oh, that looks like sooo much fun!' she says. now, i may be new to this whole husband thing, but i had a pretty good idea by that point that we wouldnt be sitting at the beach for long. i tell her i will go and see what i can do and i head back to the front desk and ask if we can still sign up to go parasailing. we still have plenty of time, so i sign us up!
i went back to get diana and she was quite pleased about it! we walked to the dock and onto the boat that was going to be pulling us. they welcomed us aboard, wrapped life vests/ harnesses around us both and off we went! when we got out into the open water the started letting out the parachute. when it got full we went to the back of the boat and were clipped on. once we were both on, the boat speed up, and way we went! the boat quickly became very small and we were rushed higher and higher into the air! it was really fun to be up there with diana, and so peaceful!
(more pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, and a video!)

with the fishies

soon after we arrived we all piled on a big boat. we were handed a snorkel, mask, and flippers for our feet. we each found a seat on the front of the ship and rode out for a little bit to the edge of the reef. when we got to the area we wanted to snorkel in, the guide got up and informed us how to do everything we were going to be doing.
it was all making sense and i was doing well, right up until the time when we had to actually jump in the water! i had no fear of the actual snorkeling bit, i was actually quite looking forward to it. rather, it was the 12 foot jump off the edge of the boat to the water that had me terrified! once i got over that i jumped in and we were off! the dive itself was really cool, seeing all those fish and ocean life was really amazing. if you stayed close to the guide he would periodically feed the fish, so they were always nearby. diana had a great time, and later said that the snorkeling was the best part of the mexico experience. i had a good time too, but found out the hard way that underwater masks dont seal so well around the nose if you have a moustache... i spend the first 10 minutes coughing in salt water. finally i realized that it wasnt going to seal, so i just had to keep one hand at my mask plugging my nose the whole time i was down there. oh well, it was a really great time anyway!
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a day away

up and at 'em early, we were excited for our day away!
we got ready, had breakfast and were out the door by 7:30am, we went down to the expo center where we were going to get picked up, but we were early and diana had left her brush at the room, so we walked back and got it and then returned to the expo center.
by 8:00 the bus came and took us away to the adventure that awaited! after about an hour bus ride we arrived at the location. most of the time was spent on the highway, but about the last 15 minutes of the drive was slowly going through some pretty rough terrain, a two track road with huge fields of six foot tall weeds on both sides! finally we arrived, got out, and saw the beautiful sight of what awaited us: snorkeling!

cool down

we got back to the hotel room and hung out for a while. they had free wi-fi at the resort, so diana and i each took turns playing on the internet!
when we first got to this resort on our first day i mentioned to diana that we should take a little video of the room so that we could remember it and show it to everyone when we got back so they could have an idea of how cool this place is. she was all for it. the problem though is that i didn't to it right then, instead i waited and ended up doing it after we got back from the sun palace. by now diana was tired and didn't want to be filming a video... but i did it anyway. if you would like to see it, you may find it here.

bus stop

we packed up and left the sun palace for the last time, knowing the rest of our days here were going to be too full to stop here again. as we waited by the bus stop we just enjoyed the time together. i asked diana what she had been enjoying the most about the day. here is a video of her answer.

sun palace again

we had such a good time on wednesday that we decided to go back to the sun palace. thats the one thats just for adult couples, which means the pools are quite chilled out, a very welcome change.
we got there and once again headed to the beach. we got another umbrella for our chairs and sat down. we both enjoyed the lounging around on the beach and reading. periodically we would walk out into the water and get a face full of salt water, then head back onto the beach! we walked up and down the beach for a bit as well picking up some little seashells as a little souvenir of our time in mexico.
eventually we walked up to the pool again and lounged around there for a while. before we knew it it was already time for the bus to come and bring us back to our own resort.
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poolside lunch

we woke up at 9:20 without an alarm. we tried to get out of the grogginess of sleep in time for breakfast, which came about twenty minutes later. we ate and then chilled out for a while. i messed with the computer while diana read on the balcony. we didnt have any big plans for the day so we took it a bit easy (as apposed to...?) we went down by the pools for a bit and found our way to the seafood restaurant for lunch. while there we decided that we should go out to the sun palace again!
we quickly headed back to the room and packed up so we could make it in time for the bus to take us there.
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mexican italian

when we went down to the lobby to get some more money changed into one dollar bills for tips we also decided to sign up for the snorkeling trip. we were going to do the dinner cruise, but it was 80 bucks extra per person! yeesh, no thanks! we shopped around a bit at the lobby stores and we got a little box trinket to keep pennies in- got to have a souvenir, right? when we left the lobby we saw that there was a little market set up in the theater area so we wandered around there for a bit. as the day went on diana and i needed a little time to rest, so she sat back and watched tv for a bit in the room.
by 8:30 we were ready to go for dinner. we wanted to try somewhere new. the little brochure thingy told us that there was an italian restaurant, but we had been all over the beach resort and hadn't seen it! we pulled out the map of the place and soon discovered our oversight: along with the beach resort, they also had a golf resort on the premises! it was tucked away a bit from the beach, but there was also a huge place filled with people who must have been more interested in golfing than swimming! we saw that the only way to get to it was by bus, so we got on the bus and went to the golf resort. it was quite a maze, after the bus, then we hopped on an 8 person golf cart that whisked us away about a mile down the path. when we finally arrived at the place it was quite dark and we were really hungry! we put our name in on the list and were soon welcomed in to the nice looking italian restaurant, and the food was amazing. we took the cart back to the bus stop, but we figured we had eaten to much to take the bus, so we walked back the rest of the way. we got back to the room around 11:00. we were both exhausted, so we watched tv for a bit, diana read a magazine, and soon after we called it a night.
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hanging around

when we first got here to cancun diana really loved our room and everything, as time went on she complained only about one thing: our deck didn't have a hammock! she was so disappointed, almost all the other decks did, but ours didnt.
diana kept saying how she wanted to lay in a hammock and enjoy the sun. well, as we were walking back to our side of the resort we finally saw it: a hammock out by the pools for anyone to use! diana was totally pumped and hopped on it immediately!
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the other beach

the resort we were in was so big that we had only ever seen one of the three pool areas! we decided that we should change that, so we decided to check out the rest of the resort. there are buses that travel back and forth between the two lobbies every fifteen minutes, so we caught one of those and rode it to the other side. we must have gotten off at the wrong place because we went to the third lobby, which is all newly built stuff, in fact, not everything in that area is even built yet! we ended up going past a bunch of spots where construction was still going on.
we laid down at the pool and kicked it for about a half hour. diana looked up at me and announced that she was bored, so we walked down to the beach and could see the second set of pools just down the way. we decided to just walk over to them and see what it was all about.
(more pics: 1, 2, 3)