Minimoooon!

Since we had our “mini wedding” we decided to take a “mini honeymoon.” Because of certain restrictions, like the fact that we couldn’t leave the country because of Bryan’s upcoming deployment, and the fact that it takes all day to travel from upstate New York to anywhere, we settled on Orlando, Florida. We only had four days to celebrate our marriage so we chose an early flight on Friday morning. And so it begins… Bryan and I went to bed early Thursday night, he even commented to me at about 9:45 that we were actually in bed before 10pm! Yeah, well, so much for that. You see, when you are a Platoon Leader and one of your soldiers gets a DUI, you have to go in and do a bunch of paperwork and work out legal issues. So at 11pm when Bryan heard the wonderful news, he had to get out of bed and rush into work. He made it home be 3am, laid down for about 45 minutes while I showered, and we left the house by 4am. We made it to Orlando around 10am and we were thrilled to hear that Nana and Grandpa (Bryan’s grandparents) were also in Orlando. They graciously picked us up from the airport and we had lunch at an amazing seafood place. It was SO wonderful seeing them, and we decided we should just randomly meet up in other states “for lunch” more often! Once they dropped us off at the Omni Hotel at Champions Gate (amazing golf hotel), Bryan and I went up to our room and crashed. We woke up around dinner time, asked the concierge where we should eat, enjoyed a $90 “cab ride” in an Excursion and instead of settling for an upscale restaurant, we walked down the street to the Ale House. Nothing beats a long day like a pitcher of beer and some burgers.

Saturday we decided to go to SeaWorld. Even though it was freezing, it was still a blast. We went to the “Shamu Show” were we drank hot chocolate and watched Tilikum and Dawn dance in the water together about one week before her tragic death. We saw sharks and dolphins, parrots and penguins and even went on a rollercoaster ride. This time, Bryan made me sit in the front seat! I was terrified at first, especially on our first drop. Once I opened my eyes however, I realized all of the exciting things that I could see. It whoops and whirls over the water and from the top of the steep hills I could see all of SeaWorld to my right and Orlando to my left. This thrilling, awesome ride made me realize that even when life is speeding by at a million mile per hour, it should never go by fast enough for me not to open up my eyes and take in everything around me. I thanked Bryan after we were safely stopped. I was scared and he made me take a chance. The beauty of it all surpassed the terror.

On Sunday, Valentine’s Day, Bryan and I woke up with a couple’s massage (I highly recommend doing this) with chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, a sauna, and other spa services that we soaked up the afternoon with. We then went back to our room, showered and changed and went to dinner. We didn’t make a reservation in advance, and as it ended out, most places were completely booked (silly us, it was Valentine’s Day). We ended up at Olive Garden (no complaints there) and had a romantic meal next to their fireplace. We then went and saw the movie, “Valentine’s Day,” and ended up at a dueling piano bar, “Howl at the Moon,” to top the night off. This was by far was the coolest bar I have ever been to. We had an amazing time there and ventured back to our hotel in the early morning hours.

Monday was our last day, and we had a late flight home. Luckily, the weather finally cleared up on Sunday and we were able to lay out by the pool all day long. We even went around the lazy river and caught some rays…Bryan had a bit of a burn to prove it! We were sad to go home; even though the weather wasn’t the greatest the whole time and we paid ridiculous amounts for cab rides. Though the highlights of our trip were not the ones we were expecting to have prior to going, we embraced new adventures and created memories that will last a lifetime!