The fairy tale continues

I'm married!   Yup -- still doesn't seem real.  Had to write my name three times today and three times Chris had to poke me about the last name.  Oops.

Had a pretty relaxing day.  The room was decorated when we got back last night and included his & hers Riu shirts that said "Just Married" on them.  Chris wanted to wear them to breakfast, so we did.  While I'd rather fade into anonymity, I was actually fairly happy he wanted to wear them *g*  Some things are worth celebrating.

Forgot the Canadian detail in my description yesterday:  The weather.  It was stunningly gorgeous out.  But hot.  Sweat was dripping.  I was oblivious during the ceremony but remember during pics hoping it didn't show ;) Still though 30deg range and sunny.  Just the slightest of breezes.  Perfect.  Like the rest of the day :)

So today was pretty relaxed.  Spent the am chilling at the pool.  After a quick lunch, was off to the spa for our complementary massage.  I had the same girl for this as who did my mani/pedi, and it didn't hurt -- that's about all I can say for it.  Both masseuses were giggling throughout, which made me grit my teeth and obviously didn't help with the whole relaxation thing.  It was cold in the room and the oils weren't heated, so I was freezing.  And the massage wasn't particularly good.  So by the end I was oily and tense.  Lovely.  Suffice to say, I got what I paid for *sigh*

Went down to the beach and found a bunch of our group playing in the ocean, which was all kinds of fun.  Then it was time to go get dressed again.

Dressed?  Well you see, I kinda really wanted to play in the water with my wedding dress on -- but not on wedding day as I wanted to wear it to dinner.  Well that and we were all kinds of emotional and didn't have enough time.  Tricky.

So I got to wear my wedding dress twice -- with the same man.   Hahaha he had to help me into it this time.  Have to say, the reaction it got the first time was worth not letting him see it ahead of time :)  I even believe he honoured that request and resisted the urge to cheat *g*

Yes, so dressed up and headed to the beach.  For a while we couldn't find Joe and Vicky (who was looking slightly more human today) but eventually we all connected.  

We took some random fun shots while we were searching

Once we met up with Joe and Vicky, we started with a few posed shots.  

Chris and I,

Then us and the bridal party,

And even one with everyone who had come to play :)

When we were done the group shots, the wedding party left (Steph had a quick change and then was going riding :) while Chris and I went to play in the water.  Omg so much fun!  

First we did some walking along the ocean,

Others involved a tree -- that was fun!

The rocks by the ocean were gorgeous, but less fun.  They were sharp!

A lot of laughter and silliness, but Joe and Vicky were super professional and worked really well together. I had given my camera to Aileen, so got some shots in that too (oh yeah, it also floated around on wedding night, so I actually have some pics from that too!) 

In and out of the water becomes particularly challenging when you have a train on your dress.  Added all kinds of amusement to the day.  It kept wrapping around my legs and tripping me as it pulled backwards.  But fortunately I had someone to hold on to ;-P  

Playing in the water was so much fun!

We watched the ocean for a bit, hoping for a wave we could fall back into, but none deigned to join us.  The down side of picking a reasonably calm spot for photos.  

Instead, we lay on the beach and let the waves come to us :)  Amazing.

Even got a shot of the rings in the water

It was SO much fun!  And I think even our photographers enjoyed themselves :)

On the walk home we got some odd looks from people *g*   I was amazed at how many recognized us as having been the wedding couple from the day before; many asked why we were dressed up again.  I guess if I saw people dressed in wedding gear I'd've thought they were *getting* married, not they'd already done so.  But it seems people are somewhat fascinated by weddings and pay much closer attention than I do :)  

We stopped to play in the fountain on the way back -- just cause :)

When we got back to the room I climbed into the shower fully dressed and attempted to hose of the dress.  Actually got a TON of sand out, but the pleats still have a small beach collected.  Put the dress on the balcony to dry and headed out to dinner.   Just the two of us.

It was so lovely.  The food itself was a little fancy for my taste, but good.  The company though…  Amazing.  We were both still feeling pretty emotional and it was super nice to just have that time together.

Barb and Carl had invited the whole family up to their suite for an after-dinner drink.  They had an amazing room -- way beyond what the brochure had advertised.  Two jacuzzis --- one of which was on the second story of their balcony.  Yes, you read that right.  Complete with wrought iron staircase.  All kinds of impressive.  Sat and chatted for a while with everybody and listened to some stories.  Everybody seems super happy with the resort and the trip.

Eventually though the party broke up.  Chris and I went to find Adriana and head down to the beach.  Surprisingly, Geoff joined us.  I think I've spent more time with my brothers this last week than the last several years.  Really cool.  So we relocated to the beach, picking up people as we went, and ended up with about six of us on the beach.  Found some lawn chairs and were set.  I was very tired and freezing, but it was so nice I didn't want to leave.  Yup, had to be at least 25 degrees out and I was freezing   I clearly need to move to a warm climate.

Chris, Adriana and I went for a walk to see if we could find a sea turtle -- and we did, a HUGE one!   In fact, the only reason we noticed her at all is because she moved and it made a sound.  Otherwise we would've dismissed her as a large rock on the beach.  Was going away from the water, presumably to lay her eggs.  Awesome.

Walked back and hung out for a while before Chris and I decided to go swimming, which was amazing.  Not only because I love swimming at night, but when we moved, it was like a trail of water-fireflies followed you.  I'm not even exaggerating.  The water sparkled whenever you moved.  Friends of ours had discovered that the other night and googled it -- it's a thing.  Some sort of phosphorescence in the water.  I'll google later.  But for now, absolutely awesome.  Just magical.  I couldn't even imagine such a thing -- living in the fairy tale continues :)

Perfect