The big day has come and gone, and it could not have gone better! There was of course, the few hiccups that just made the day more unique and special. For example, the priest forgot to bring a pen for us to sign the registar, and to go into the back room with us on the altar ready to sign while everyone stared at us in confusion. He still could not find one in the back, and had to ask the congregation and finally borrow one from Kent’s dad, who is famous for only wearing shirts with front pockets so he can hold all of his pens. Priceless.

The weather turned out way better than I could have ever hoped for, amazing for a summer famous for nonstop rain (the chance of rain for the day all week was 0%! I didn’t even look out the window right when I woke up because I was that sure that it would be perfect.) The tent looked beautiful, the farmer left the wheat in the field which bordered all sides of the yard, and the night ended with a crazy fun and wild dance party, just me and Kent’s style! Our dj was wonderful and stayed for longer than we’d booked him for. It pays to hire friends of friends to do these types of things for you!

Buuuut, since I don’t have my pictures back quite yet, I’ll stop talking about the wedding and start talking about the honeymoon! We  spent our first day and night in Los Angeles, then spent twelve days in the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Maui. It was a completely amazing vacation and I still miss it every day!

Here are a few pictures and a few highlights!

We didn’t have time for much in LA except a quick tour of Hollywood boulevard, Rodeo Drive, and the beach. We rented bikes and biked from Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach, because, well, we didn’t have time to walk it! Kent made fun of me because the bike I rented was SO squeaky which he thought was a pretty typical thing to happen to me. Whatever, it was the only one with a basket!

Now in Kauai! (It always takes me at least three tries to spell that, even after being there.) The guidebooks told us to try shave ice at Jo Jo’s. It’s an amazing Hawaiian dessert made by shaving a huge rotating chunk of ice and then flavouring it with whatever you choose. I loved it and had it many times during the trip!

On our last day in Kauai we treated ourselves to a helicopter ride! I love Kent’s hair in this shot.

Before take off! We both got really motion sick on the helicopter and Kent even had his “Aloha bag” out (which is forever what I will call barf bags and you should too!) but thankfully for the rest of the passengers on board, didn’t have to use it. After the flight we just collapsed on the ground for a while then had to go for recovery drinks, although we had “happy hour” drinks every day, come to think of it. You Americans love your happy hour! Kent says it’s just as popular here, but I don’t believe him. If every bar/restaurant here had amazing drink deals every afternoon I’m sure I’d do a lot more afternoon drinking!

The Napali cliffs… nothing more beautiful than a helicopter ride in Kauai. I learned on this ride about a group of waterfalls called the “Five Sisters Waterfalls.” So neat!

Kent fell in love with snorkelling. It was like being inside an aquarium, way cooler than I expected!

Ohh, just a new friend we shared a plane ride with! Kent told everyone back home that he was going to Hawaii to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter so it could not have been more hilarious that he actually did meet him! Dog’s response to Kent asking for a picture? “Okay, ready, shoot.” He was no-nonsense! But it was really great of him to pose for pictures with a bunch of people while trying to get to his luggage.

We took a boat ride to Molokini crater and another Hawaiian island, Lanai, for some amazing snorkelling. The boat was awesome, they served us breakfast and lunch, the crew was so fun, and it had an open bar! We went with the Pacific Whale Foundation, which I definitely recommend.

Kent’s sister and her husband bought us a bike trip down the crater in Maui as a wedding gift! We were driven to the top of the crater on a bus and then we biked down. It was really cool and a bit scary with all of the hairpin turns. I loved the views from this spot, with the sheep in the field and the ocean in the background.

Of course we had to go to a luau! The food was amazing, especially this pig which was cooked underground. We ate with a cute newlywed couple across the table from us who were from Utah.

We went all out on the last night since we cooked/picnicked almost all of our meals on the trip and went to the nicest restaurant we could find. It was SO worth it, one look at this picture can probably tell you why. I love that Kent is a chef and trips to nice restaurants always feel a bit like research.

That’s it for the pictures, although I have many more that you can see if you have me on facebook. Here’s a few side stories that the pictures don’t tell, for the people who have seen all of these already:

1. Kent bought a speargun our first day in Maui from a super great local guy at a surf shop. He gave Kent a flier with the best places to spearfish which quickly became our bible. We found that the fish in Maui weren’t quite as plentiful as in Kauai and they were smarter, so he never did catch one but man did he love going out with that spear. He has always loved fishing but has definitely caught the fishing bug since returning from Hawaii.

2. On the flight from LA to Hawaii, there was a contest to figure out exactly when we’d hit the halfway point, keeping in mind wind speed and all this other stuff that went right over my head. Guess what? Kent won! Luck was on our side this entire honeymoon. When they announced his name on the plane I laughed so hard… and I was the only one that clapped, along with maybe two other people. The prize was a Hawaiian cd which became our soundtrack for the trip every time we drove (which was a lot.) After a few days this song was basically on repeat the whole time. Listening to it brings me right back! 

3. I’d never heard this before the trip, but in Hawaii people kept asking me why I had a Hawaiian name (Micaela). After thinking about it, we realized that Hawaiian words are full of vowels, and m, c (and k), and l are common consonants. That’s probably why I loved all the Hawaiian words so much and our drives often consisted of us repeating our favourite Hawaiian words over and over again. (“Lahaina!” “Haleakala!”)

I’m glad we had such an awesome honeymoon even if it means that our trips for the next year or two will be nonexistent (well, they should be anyways!) Posts to come on the wedding and on married life, which is pretty great. Last night Kent surprised me by picking me up on my walk home from work and had a picnic packed and we had dinner by the lake! Really though, nothing has changed since we still live in the same apartment together, except that we laugh every time we say “husband” or “wife.”