Our Honeymoon!

I just got back from the best week of my life.  I didn't think my Love high could get any, well, higher after our wedding but I was wrong.  Very, very wrong.

Spending a week in paradise with your best friend is heaven.  Seriously.  I think that's what my heaven looks like.

It was just Nicholas and I for seven full days.

A gorgeous room, with a ridiculously comfy bed.

Too much lingerie (although my husband thinks there's no such thing as "too much lingerie").

Gorgeous beaches with amazingly soft sand.

Postcard worthy sunrises and sunsets.

Delicious food, available whenever you want.

Endless amounts of alcohol.

Fun and exhilarating excursions.

Super fun couples!

I mean, seriously....BEST.WEEK.OF.MY.LIFE!!!

What beats living in a bikini in gorgeous Jamaica with your new husband?  Nothing!  That's what!

We left St. Louis at 6am and arrived in Jamaica early in the afternoon (a HUGE perk of going to Jamaica was we didn't lose a day of vacation due to travel.)  When we arrived, our room wasn't ready but they handed us Jamaican Rum Punch drinks and led us to a waterfront restaurant to have lunch.  Don't mind if I do!

5am at St. Louis airport waiting to board our flight!

filling out my customs form on the plane.  It was exciting to finally be able to check the "married" box!

handsome husband at lunch, waiting for our room to be ready

view from lunch as we await our room

By day, you could find us poolside, beach side, or in the water.

I won one of the poolside games!

If you notice, 99% of the volleyballers are dudes.  Us ladies would lay out, and the guys would play pool (or beach) volleyball.

That island was also part of our resort.  It had more beaches (some nude), pools, and the Thai restaurant.

We also went on quite a few excursions.  We went on a Catamaran Cruise.  We opted for the daytime one because it was a little bit more "party" (the sunset one was more "romance") because we were in the mood to have a bit more fun.  And I am so glad we chose thing one.  We set out on the catamaran and stopped after a while for some snorkeling.  Then once everyone was back on the boat, we headed to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville where we had lunch, played on the huge waterslides, and water trampolines.  On the ride back, the real "party" side of the cruise came out.  They blasted some ass shaking music and everyone was dancing.  The staff had a bottle of Jamaican rum and were just pouring it in everyone's mouths.  Shy Nicholas and my{not so shy}self partook in the body shots!  They had us lay down and just poured the rum all up and down our chests and stomachs.  As soon as the guys had it all licked up, they dumped more on us.  Sounds raunchy but we're young and it's or honeymoon!!!

our catamaran 

Margaritaville!

 And if you feel so inclined, you can watch the video here

after our catamaran cruise

On another day, we took a two hour bus ride to the Ochos Rios part of Jamaica and climbed Dunn's River Falls.  It was a lot of fun and we ended up meeting another couple from St. Louis who got married the same day we did!!!  We pretty much stuck together that day and I'm holding Tim's hand in most of the photos you see of me holding a random person's hand.  After climbing the waterfall, we were taken to Sandals Ochos Rios for lunch and some lounging on their resort.  Then we headed back to Montego Bay where Nick and I stayed at Sandals Montego Bay (the resort literally right next to ours) for a while.  (They had shuttles that ran every hour to take you to and from the other Sandals resorts).

{that's Tim!}

the water was sooooo cold!

(Water shoes were mandatory.  Thankfully we knew this ahead of time and bought $10 shoes back in St. Louis at Target.  Those that didn't have them had to buy them there and they were in excess of $20)

{that's Tim and Kasey right there in the top right}

We did it!!!

(You can see people holding hands in a line.  This is how we had to climb the waterfall.  I'm not sure why though because I feel like this lessened my balance.)

At the resort, they had two different Jamaican Cardinals hats!!!!!!!!  Nick got the top one (with the bottle opener) and it has the Jamaican flag on the back.

Our resort, Sandals Royal Caribbean, had quite a few restaurants.  Each had a unique menu (Thai, French, English Pub, etc) and they all had dress codes (some casual, some much nicer).   We enjoyed visiting each restaurant and experiencing some new cuisines.  I actually didn't get too many "food porn" shots but I got lots of photos of us all dressed up.

I took lots of these photos this week.  I was excited to have a wedding band and for Nick to have his new bling too!

We spent our evenings watching sunsets, drinking at bars, watching the nightly entertainment (beach parties, skits, concerst, etc).  We also visited the piano bar with new friends and played various games such as pool.  

They had a chocolate bar!  TONS of chocolate treats and chocolate fountain!

  

Beach Party!

The Cricketer was our favorite night hang out.  The bartender there was awesome and he knew us after the first night.  He called Nick "Soldier Boy" because his shoes were always so shiny (we didn't change after our nice dinners) and because he knew Nick was in the military.  The moment he saw us enter the bar, he was already making our drinks and setting them down for us right as we sat down at the bar.  Before we could ever finish a drink, he had another waiting for us.  He took such great care of us!!!  He was one of the funniest people we've met and was always more than willing to pour everyone at the bar shots.  Every night was a certifiable good time!!!

Tion pouring all of us shots!  (the couple at the end are from St. Louis too!)

With our other favorites Deon and Kevin!

Tion pouring us more shots!

New friends, Ashley and Shannon

It was seriously the best week of our life.  It was so hard to come back to reality.  It was nice to be able to order as much food as we wanted and not worry about the price.  We were also able to try a lot of new foods because if we didn't like it, it wasn't a big deal!  Of course unlimited alcohol was fabulous as well.  All-inclusive is definitely the way to go!!  I don't think I could ever do any other type of vacation.
The hardest transition back to the States was having to wait for our check and pay it.  We were so used to just getting up and leaving when we were finished (we would have tipped but they aren't allowed to accept them.)

Our honeymoon was absolutely the best week of my life.  I hate that it had to end and that I have no idea when we'll ever be able to go on another vacation like this.  Thankfully I have amazing memories, photos, and videos to remember it all.  It was the best way to celebrate a new marriage!

{If you're interested to see ALL of the photos, you can check them out here.}