Wow a post without a title using Our 10.11.08!!! Let us see how long until it is used within this writing!

With our wedding day and honeymoon behind us looking back has been exciting for both Josh and I! So many fond and everlasting memories, we like to relive many of the moments and happenings both from Our 10.11.08 ((that didn’t take long – ha!)) and our honeymoon. While we relived our wedding day as best we could through Inside Our Shell, we also wanted to write a little something about our honeymoon – Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!

The one thing that both of us liked so much about our honeymoon, was that it started immediately after our wedding reception! A town car ((not a limo)) was waiting for us and off we went to the airport. While the drive was a bit slower than we would have normally liked, it didn’t seem to bother us nearly as much with just getting married we were kinda in our own little world anyway! Arriving, we checked in as Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Cook and spent our wedding night at the Marriott which is connected to the Philadelphia International Airport. Both exhausted, we find awaiting us chocolate covered strawberries and champagne! Mr. Cook had this arranged and while exhausted we still managed to eat the strawberries and take a sip of champagne before collapsing for the night. Oh yeah and we had to take out the 1,000 bobby-pins holding my wedding do in place, yeah that was fun!!!

Having to be up before the birds our rooster abruptly woke us at 5:30am! Still tired, but excited because we were going to Mexico!!! The one thing both of us realized was that we didn’t give much thought to the fact that we were going away for a week. Yeah we knew we were going to Mexico, going on a honeymoon, but with the majority of our focus and excitement on the wedding day itself, there was not as much anticipation or thought put towards going to Mexico for a week. Imagine our feeling when we came to realize that we didn’t have to go back to work, were going away for a week on vacation and we were now Mr. & Mrs. Cook!!!

Our time in Mexico was a blast!!! We always seem to have a good time whenever on vacation, but for some reason this vacation was a bit different, hmmmm maybe the fact that it was our honeymoon had something to do with it! While we experienced rain all but one day of our time in Mexico, we still managed to have a fun time regardless! We even came home a little red and did look like we were away in Mexico and not away at a rain forest, emphasis on rain, for a week.

To highlight on some of the memorable moments of our time spent in Mexico, I’ve bulleted some to not have this writing go on and on like the majority of our vacation posts. We know everyone enjoys our writings, but sometimes we go a bit overboard ((Morocco & Rome, Our Cruise, Las Vegas…)).

One thing we noticed while sitting in the airport was the number of couples flying to Mexico. Seriously 95% of the passengers on our flight were honeymooners! We did try to upgrade to first class, but when flying with almost all honeymooners the chance at a free upgrade is pretty much non-existent. We did inquire however and their was only one seat in first class and being our honeymoon, we decided to sit together! 🙂

Once arriving in Mexico we were hounded by all the “Tourist Chasers”, luckily we were informed of this by our travel agent and were told to just act like you do not speak English and they will leave you alone. Josh took it one step further and rambled a few lines in German and they let us be. Keep that in mind if you are ever hounded, it works well!

The ride to the resort was rather interesting… We were told we would have shuttle service, I think we both pictured something different than what was there to shuttle us to our 45 minute away resort. Not bad, not bad at all, let’s just say it is glad that we like each other and are newly married people because it was a bit of a crammed ride. Olympic Tours had a conversion van waiting for us, which would not be a big deal if there weren’t 10 of us waiting to be shuttled to our resort. Four of us had to squeeze into the back seat of the van. When I say squeeze I mean Josh was kissing the glass and I was half on his lap and the guy next to me, Phoenix as he came to be named, was half on his wife’s lap, it was a cozy 45 minute ride. To make matters worse, CC, Phoenix’s bride was jabbing at the jaws the entire ride.

Our travel agent got us the package of all packages for we had what appeared to be an early check-in sorta thing without checking into our room. We were able to select our room a few days in advance, which Josh did. When we arrived at the resort we were escorted to a Concierge Desk where we were given our All-Inclusive bracelets and we could enjoy the restaurants, bars, beach, pool, you name it. Our room was not available until 3pm, but since we had our room picked out in advance we were able to begin our honeymoon only having to wait for our room to be ready. Those who hadn’t picked out their room in advance ((Poor CC and Phoenix…)) had to sit around without the availability to the restaurants, bars, beaches, and pools. They just had to wait while we got to eat, drink, swim etc. what a treat!!!

Our buddies… The four legged friends who decided they were hungry and helped themselves to our Congratulatory Cake, made themselves be-known a few times throughout our stay. I must say that the housekeeping staff at our resort were phenomenal, seriously whenever we spotted one of our buddies they would show up with bug spray and within a couple days they had left with us a can of our very own. While this may disgust some, Josh and I realized that this was a downside to our resort and we think the area is just known for having ant issues. They did however, do everything in their power to resolve the problem and nip the problem in the butt. Way to go housekeeping!!

Tequila – oh the memories. This memory will stick with me forever, you see, Josh was hugging a toilet and I was not!!! While rubbing his back I actually said to him “So this is what it feels like to be on the other side”…. 😉 Lots of tequila was consumed and I think tequila and I get a long rather well for I woke up the majority of the time feeling great! Hector how you feelin’?

Singing in the Rain, Josh and I Walked in the Rain…. what a blast we had. Like I said prior it rained every day but one. We decided the one day to walk around 5th Ave – which is a street with a bunch of stores etc. We were about 12 blocks from our resort when it started to pour. We decided to go into a restaurant and have a beer, when we came out it was still raining. So we threw all caution to the wind and walked back to our resort in the rain on the beach! It was so much fun and we really had such a fun time! People were looking at us like we were nuts or like we just walked out of the ocean. We had our sunglasses on because the rain was coming directly at us, so that probably made us look even more strange. That was a highlight for sure, it brings a big smile to my face just typing about it. 🙂

Cozumel, Senior Frogs, Carlos & Charlies… margarita, margaritas, margaritas…. Yards, yards, yards…. balloon hats and rings, goofy pictures -framed… we had no choice… balloon contest, chef hats and nicknames ((Josh appearing as ‘Sex Instructor’)), oh and that sticker ((Bubble Butts!!!))… Fat Tuesdays… another margarita and a 1/2 hour water shuttle ride back to Playa Del Carmen. A phrase that captures it all…. Out of this world, would do again, without question! What a fun day!

Our one day on the beach… interesting. The beaches were okay, but nothing to write home about. In fact, it may have been a good thing it rained everyday we were there. Thinking about it now we may have gotten tired of that beach. Nude old ladies, Mexican selling goods, just not a beach to overly relax. Oh and a man stole our seats the one day!!

One good yummy thing – Mango Tangos!

Hot Rocks massage – now this was relaxing!

Pool – being that it rained as much as it did, we played a good amount of pool. I think that this was the first time Josh and I had ever played pool. It was entertaining and we met some fun couples. Good times! Pool, Mango Tangos, & Tequila, what a combination!

What a honeymoon, what a vacation, what a great time! While I didn’t go into detail about our entire trip these are all memories that have stuck and will continue to stick with both Josh and myself. Mexico was what we had hoped for, minus the never-ending rain, a relaxing, fun, laid back week spending time together as Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Cook!

Love you Hubbie!