Saturday, May 7, 2011

Maui Honeymoon

Jason and I decided to go to Maui for our honeymoon. Our dream vacation right now is a trip to the Greek Isles, but we didn't want to deal with the long flight and time change on our honeymoon. Since we knew we wanted somewhere tropical and close, what better place than Hawaii! Jason had been as a young kid, and I had only been to Oahu when I was a freshman in high school (which I was not impressed with). We debated between Maui and Kauai, but opted for Maui since there is a little more activity on that island.

Our flight left the morning after our wedding. Unfortunately, it was delayed over two hours due to mechanical problems. Uh...not very comforting. Due to the time change though, we still landed in Maui around 4 and got to our hotel around 5 or so!

We stayed at the Marriott on Kaanapali. Our room was oceanfront, and we had an awesome view! This was our view upon arriving that evening!

Below are some other views from our balcony...



The first night there, we walked around Kaanapali, went to Whaler's Village, and had dinner at the Hula Grill. Check out the free ice cream sandwich we got with our Marriott reward's card!

Monday was our beach day. We just wanted to relax that first day so we could unwind from all the wedding frenzy. The weather was gorgeous that first day. We spent a few hours at the beach/pool. We then walked around Lahaina and got the best.shaved.ice.ever! We then had dinner that night at Kimos and sat right along the water. It was an incredible view with a gorgeous sunset that night. And, my coconut crusted swordfish was delicious!

The forecast was predicting rain while we were there, so we wanted to make sure we did the Road to Hana before the rain came. The drive was very pretty, but definitely a little bumpy on the backside. My favorite part was the black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park.

We were very excited for snorkeling on Wednesday, but were then disappointed in the site that was recommended to us by Kaanapali. So, we set off for a second recommended location called Big Beach (Makena State Beach) that was over on Wailea. Well, once we got there we realized that this certainly was no snorkeling spot, but rather one of the best body surfing beaches! The waves were huge, raising to probably five or six feet, crashing right on the shore. Not only that, but it was the prettiest beach I have even seen. Turquoise water hitting a white sand beach ~ breathtaking! Jason had a blast bodysurfing in these waves, while I was getting way too beat up by them! Nonetheless, it was such a beautiful beach that we made another trip back later on in the week.


On Thursday we had breakfast at a place called Kehei Cafe, another recommendation. Jason was excited to try the Loco Moco, a hamburger patty covered with eggs and gravy, all over a mound of rice. Can you say gross?! I chose the banana macadamia nut french toast with coconut syrup. Yum! After our massive breakfast we worked it off by hiking at Iao Valley. We had a difficult time staying on the actual trail due to all the brush, but we sure did enjoy the scenery. That night we had dinner at a deep dish pizza place. It was good, but nothing beats Zachary's pizza!

On Friday we had tickets for a whale watching boat trip. We got them for free by attending the Marriott's time share presentation. An hour of your time for two tickets valued at $60 each is not a bad deal! It was the end of whale season, so we didn't see tons of whales, but did see a few. Our favorite part was actually meeting and talking with other couples on the boat trip.

Our last day was spent relaxing - did some more pool time, went back to Makena Beach, and did some shopping. We stumbled across a store called 'Big Daddy Surf,' and those of you who know the story of Big Daddy will surely appreciate that! For our last hooray of the trip, we had tickets to the Old Lahina Luau. This luau is great, and I highly recommend it. You see a pig roasting, the food is great, lots of dancing, and you get one of those real floral lays! I've always wanted one of those :)

We had a great time in Maui, but were also excited to come back home and start real life together! We're learning lots and having a great time together!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Wedding Workings = Blogging Break

...but now I'm back...as Rebecca Baker!

So, I haven't blogged since the first of the year. Oops! Things really didn't get all too busy with wedding planning until mid-March or so, but I just never made it to the computer to blog before the wedding.

I figured I would use this blog entry as a quick snapshot of all the pre-wedding festivities I was busy with since I never blogged about any of them.

First is my bridal shower. My sisters and mom threw me a bridal shower with all of the relatives and family friends on February 5th. It was a gorgeous day! My sister Mel hosted it at her house and did an AWESOME job with all the decorations - that's definitely her niche! Here a few pics of the decorations.


I thought the shower might be a little overwhelming since it was going to be a mix of my family, Jason's family, our family friends, and two of my personal friends, but it all worked out great! And, we got lots of great stuff for our place!

'The Future Mrs. Baker'

Sisters

Mom and her daughters

With some of my future family...

(For the complete blog of my bridal shower, visit my sister's blog: Something Blue...)

Next was my bachelorette party. I didn't want a big production for my bachelorette, but just a fun day with my closest friends. I decided to do a day of wine tasting in Napa, and then come back for dinner and presents at my sister's house. It was a beautiful day in Napa, especially with all of the spring colors. Here a some pictures from our day wine tasting.

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without some hearts...

The wine tasting group

Sisters

Friends since elementary school

Future cousin-in-law and sister-in-law

Lunch at Dean and Duluca

Again, Mel did an amazing job hosting the shower back at her house, and we had some yummy appetizers. I was definitely a little red in the face opening up these presents, but it was so fun to spend the day celebrating with my friends and sisters.

(For more details, visit my sister's blog: Wine Tasting in Napa and Around the Clock Bridal Shower)

Then came wedding week! Ah, everyone says this week is crazy stressful. I have to say that I really was not that overwhelmed with a list of things to do. We had a few things lefts, such as tying ribbon on the programs and the menus, making the place cards, and finalizing some of the logistics. The one thing that stressed me out the most was the freaking weather forecast that couldn't make up its mind about sun or showers! Ah, so annoying. My sister and I were obsessed with checking the weather and kept refreshing it all day on our computers. We kept joking that God was playing tricks on us because Saturday was the ONLY day all week where the weather kept changing, and it was the ONLY day that had a potential of rain out of the entire 10 day forecast. Haha. I did have one melt down on Thursday night (sorry Jason) - mostly because I was just tired and done with all the planning.

Here we are tying lots and lots of bows :)


Finally...April 2nd came!! It was everything I had dreamed it would be. Such a great day!! (And the weather was absolutely perfect - sunny and 70!) I had so much fun! I will do a whole separate post once I get all of my professional pics...but here is a sneak peak :)

More to come soon...but for now, I am loving married life!