Kenneth and Stephanie: Honeymoon

And we’re back!  After the wedding was the honeymoon.   Oh, in case you’re tuning in late and missed a few episodes, the Honeymoon makes a whole lot more sense if you go back and realize that Stephanie and I had a Wedding Ceremony and a Dinner Reception.  =]

For the honeymoon getaway, we spent nearly two weeks of January in St. Petersburg!  And when I say St. Petersburg, I mean the sunny one in Florida, next to Tampa.  =]  Hello, blue skies!

Upon our arrival in Florida on New Years Day, it was already evening, so we went straight to the beachside condo that my Uncle Enoch graciously offered for our honeymoon lodging.  What we didn’t realize was that it was actually a luxury beachside condo, waaaay better than Steph and I had ever expected.  When we went in, we were greeted in the dining room with an extremely thoughtful gift basket filled with romantic goodies like fresh roses, books of poetry, and Ghiradelli chocolates, none of which were my idea.  Thanks, Auntie Beth and Amy!  We spent quite some time admiring the basket contents as well as the exploring the impressively spacious condo.

In the morning, we realized we had a really cool view from the balcony.  We were literally 30 seconds from the beach (and pool and jacuzzi)!

We had a fun time in the kitchen, whipping up new classics such as garlic and onion tater tots, chicken nugget parmesan over pasta, Steph’s special four-cheese bread, and red wine with popcorn.

When we went to visit the St. Petersburg Pier, Steph really really wanted a seagull to pull her finger.  Okay.  =]

We didn’t actually end up getting on any of the boats, but this one looked fun.

But we did buy our one souvenir for the trip, a fancy candle that the artist made as we watched.

We went to Epcot Center during a weekday, and the first thing we did as soon as we got into the park was to develop an efficient plan so that we could get on as many cool rides as humanly possible.  As the sun was setting, we were just taking our own photos when this man comes up and asks if he can take the photo for us.  Cool — no more trying to balance the camera on a lamp post or garbage can.  It turns out he’s a wedding photographer and he has a hard time leaving a couple with a camera alone when he “sees the shot.”  It drives his daughters crazy, but we thought it was awesome!  And great picture too (with barely any Photoshop touchup)!

The next day, it was time to hit the beach.  Uncle Enoch had a kayak parked in the garage, so we took it out for a spin!

Oops, Steph actually fell overboard trying to take that photo.  Good thing the preservation of these honeymoon photos (and the camera) was made possible by the waterproof camera case we got as a wedding gift!  And come back aboard, honey!

Unfortunately, not only did Steph take a tumble early on in our excursion, but she also remembered that she always gets seasick on kayaks.  Oops.

So pretty much for the rest of the kayaking trip, I had to do all of the hard work, as demonstrated by this action shot with more crazy colors.

Anyway, somehow we eventually made it back safely to shore, at which point Steph promptly fell asleep on the sand.  When she awoke, she was ready to continue her quest for the perfect sunset photo on our balcony.

That Sunday, we decided to visit Uncle Enoch and his family at their home.  Hey, we thought the condo was pretty awesome already, but their home was even more amazing!  Here is the private swamp that they own in the backyard, which is connected to the golfing green and fishing lake.  Wow.  Anyway, considering how the boardwalk isn’t straight, walking around out here at night is not recommended unless you enjoy swimming with crocodiles.

We did a bunch of other things in Florida, such as visited Sunken Gardens, saw a live production of Hair the musical, consumed dozens of episodes of Animaniacs and the entire first season of Grey’s Anatomy (thanks, Jeremy!), and played with cute furry animals in a local pet store.  It’s probably the most relaxed and carefree Steph and I have been in at least the past year, and it was so nice to have absolutely nothing to worry about for a little bit of our lives.  Anyway, this update is getting too long again, so I’ll show you a few more sunset shots to wrap up.

Which one is YOUR favorite sunset?  =]

Until next time!