A Florida Wedding & Fun!

Apologies for running a bit behind, but I wanted to be sure to blog about the lovely Florida wedding I attended for my lovely Aunt Kris AND the fun little vacation we had while staying in Florida for a week. So here is the abridged version.... although, I'm sure it will be long enough (we WERE there a week, ya know). If it is any consolation, there are a lot of pictures. :)

After flying into Tampa and making an overnight stop at our home base of St. Pete's Beach (one of the many islands that strings along the Gulf side of Florida), my mom, her boyfriend and I make the quick jaunt to the place that all children dream about and many parents dread. Fortunately, there were no children with us - unless, that is, you count me being a goofball about seeing.... DISNEY WORLD! We checked into a hotel in the town of Kissimmee, FL and made our way to the very magical Magic Kingdom. We hit all the big rides (Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, you name it), we rode the train around the park, ate the yummy and extraordinarily overpriced food and, of course, watched all the Disney characters as they strutted down Main Street during the daily parades. Here are some pictures from our Disney fun:

THEN the next day we visited some place even more MAGICAL - Epcot! Don't get me wrong, I love a nice Disney character as much as the next guy, but Epcot was AWESOME! There was a nice amount of fun rides (although, I do admit I almost vomited on MISSION: Space) including Sorin' which takes you with a bird's eye view across California blasting the scent of oranges and pine trees at you AND Test Drive which is a replica of the GM tests they run on all their prototype vehicles - pretty spiffy. My favorite part; however, was the back half of the park where there is a lake surrounded by 11 country duplicates. Everyone showed up to play - Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada. It was a blast! We grabbed una cervesa en Mexico, a German beer and pretzel in Germany, gelato in Italy... this place is otherwise know as Jessie's Heaven. Here are some Epcot pictures:

THE WEDDING

Ok, now to the wedding part. :) We drove back the night before the Rehearsal. My mom, grandma and I prior to the rehearsal went for some very important business - mani's and pedi's!!! DUH! Afterwards, it was time for the Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner. It was so great to see more family and friends.

Bride-to-be, Mother of the Bride, Sista of the Bride and Niece of the Bride:

The day of the wedding consisted of a Ladies Brunch (and, of course, a Dude's thang at a bar down the street which we do not speak of).

...and then an unexpected parasail through the Gulf of Mexico with some amazing ladies....

...and then WEDDING TIME!! We got ready, took some pictures and before you know it, Ms. Kristen Johnson walked down the isle to meet Mr. Rick Avila. Let the pictures speak for itself....

The wedding was beautiful and everyone looked stunning. We were fortunate enough to have a sunny day (although very toasty), to skip the random tropical storms that hit the coast that week, and on top of that have an amazing sunset. The wedding was followed by a happy hour and then a DELICIOUS reception dinner at Patrick's (Patrick not only owns the restaurant but was also the minister - two birds with one stone!).

POST WEDDING

After recovering from the lovely wedding, we explored the Gulf coast a little by driving north to Clearwater, FL. The Gulf coast in this area is lined with tons of small islands all connected with small bridges. Very cool to see. Once we were north in Clearwater, we explored the pier (covered in pelicans and seagulls) and docks - we were lucky enough to see both a manatee and a pod of dolphins from the pier. Shortly after we were caught in a torrential downpour. And I mean TORRENTIAL. Coming from Seattle, I've never seen anything like this... it dropped 3-4 inches of rain in about 5-10 minutes! Florida means business when it rains. Here are some pictures of our last bit of time in Florida:

Later that evening, we absconded with my grandma in a "beach chair" to get her down to the Gulf of Mexico to get her feet in the sand and in the water. It was quite a site, I do have to say....

And then we ended the trip, yet again, with some beach relaxation and then back at Harry's Beach Bar... *sigh* What an awesome vacation and getaway from reality. Thanks, Aunt Kris, for having your wedding in such an amazing location! hehe. :)