Settling in...

After we got back from Belize, we had a few days before my parents got back from their time in Seattle - we accomplished a lot! We finished moving my last items out of my condo, trucked some old furniture to the dump, and bought some new bedroom furniture.

We had a wonderful whirlwind of birthdays in August - Friday, August 8th was my Dad's birthday, and we took my parents out to dinner.Saturday, August 9 was Ed's birthday - we started out with a trip to Georgia Aquarium
where we especially enjoyed the antics of the sea lions anticipating feeding time!We also enjoyed watching the whale sharks, massive groupers, hammerheads, rays, and other large fish in the humongous aquarium.Saturday night, we had a group of friends over for a fantastic steak grill out for Ed's birthday - I overestimated the steak needs, so we ate steak most of the next week! It was much fun to host a birthday dinner for my hubby! (And we were mighty proud of our combined efforts - my marinade and Ed's grilling - we'll definitely have to do more!)Happy Birthday, Ed!! We enjoyed other special meals with friends on Jeanie's porch (which currently seems to serve as our dining room). Jeanie did the food for our wedding, which was phenomenal - and she sets a very pretty table!Sunday lunch with Jeanie, Vince, and Alvin - while Jeanie did the food for our wedding, Alvin did our flowers, and Vince worked his tail off wherever needed to make our wedding day extra special!We had a little extra adventure - my dad's residency papers for Cameroon got lost while they were here - something we discovered at the airport! So, we had to send my mom on by herself (she wasn't very excited about that), and I got to keep my Dad for an extra 10 days while we waited for my Dad's visa from the Cameroon Embassy - it was touch-and-go, so my Dad was very excited when it finally showed up as scheduled, in time for his flight out the next day! Fortunately he got back to Cameroon without further incident!...And the birthdays continued - our friend Heather had her birthday just a few days before...
her son Thomas' birthday! Doesn't he look like a little executive in a party hat and pacifier?

Honeymoon fun in Belize!

We had a terrific time on our honeymoon! We went to Placencia, in southern Belize, and it's awesome - much less developed and touristy than the north, with so many things to see and do! First, we flew to the capital, Belize City, and then we took a tiny little Cessna to Placencia.
We stayed in a wonderful little hotel - more beach house than resort. The owners are really welcoming and personable, their little restaurant was amazing.... and the view from our room, well..you really can't get much better!

We did different fun things every day - went kayaking and snorkeled off the kayak....
We saw a lot of fish, but the darned things are pretty fast! Starfish are easier to photograph.
We also took a second snorkeling trip on a speed boat out to the barrier reef to snorkel off one of the little islands with a guide - it was awesome!!
We found this road sign in town - maybe not yet appropriate.. :)
We made boat trips up jungle rivers and went on rainforest hikes - where we saw alligators, turtles, manatees, giant land crabs, beetles, huge trees, MOSQUITOES.....
and howler monkeys!We love boat trips!
We went on a trip to the southern inland portion to see Mayan villages and ruins. This was the view from a beautiful visitor center of the Nim Li Punit ruins. You can see all the way to the ocean.Though we didn't go to the large famous ruins, the ruins we saw were fairly impressive - the Lubantuun ruins here are a pretty extensive complex.We did get in a little bit of beach time...and made some new friends with whom we shared a wonderful seafood dinner!We already miss our tropical paradise!

Wedding - reception and get-away!

The beautiful spread, thanks to Jeanie and Alvin, overlooking the river

Ed's dad welcoming the guests and giving a blessing

My dad, with his own welcome and blessing
I thought our cake was mouthwatering!
To us!



Cutting our cake
Smile!No cake smearing on face allowed!

Eat up!

Mmmmmm

Showing Jessica the flowers

Kisses for Uncle Ed :)

A few Ed and Julie pics

Ed and I got a little bored with all the picture taking, and decided to amuse ourselves by hailing a passing raft and offering free beer - turned out the guys were having a bachelor party!
Getting ready for our send off.....nice to be in t-shirt and shorts!

Going down to the riverbank

Shoving off.... Bye-bye!!

We went about 2 miles downstream before getting picked up and taken back to the house, where everything was cleaned up and we had a few more precious hours with family before we took off!

Wedding - friends

Though we had an intimate setting, there were some wonderful friends who made the day extra special!

Dakota, a dear friend and mentor from college - we led a lot of Bible studies together!

Richard and Heather, us with their son, and Jon and Kelly - friends from church and choir

Some of Ed's friends from tennis and poker

Meghna, a colleague from work, and her family

Rick and Rina, Ed's friends from work and tennis

Meredith, a dear friend from work

the Borsts and Gary, friends from church

Aruna and Jenny, favorite former roommates :)

Alvin, who did our flowers

Jeanie - our next door neighbor who did our food

Rob, my supervisor from EIS

Adam and Bobbie, friends from work, with their daughter Mara

Sherstin and Steve, who are getting married soon!

David and Laura, also getting married soon, and Kevin, who got married the next weekend!

the "Smelly Creek Boys"

the Tarpleys - much fun to have them!