The wedding installment 8

Final packing to leave for home after our first night's stay in the real master bedroom of the villa.



I made myself a chavrie omelet for breakfast. I brought the rest of the food from the fridge and Jim cleaned up a lot of the kitchen. Phil and I loaded our stuff in the car. Then we went for a neighborhood walk with Jim. When we finished loading Jim’s stuff in the car, Nat was just pulling in. It seems there was a new set of guests moving in during the afternoon. The Buteras had to rush to pack and get out.


From Foursquare we learned that they used the early checkout to go back to Paradise Cove for lunch before their flight. There was quite a line at US Customs (in the Bahamas!) and Jim had an incident where his customs card got caught in his zipper! Big laugh all around. Our flights were uneventful.



We discovered Cuban food at the Miami airport. We loved the papa rellanas and spinach empanadas – lunch for under $5! We had 3 hour layovers in both Miami and Dallas.



Lucky us that all our luggage made it safely to Austin and we were home before midnight.

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The wedding installment 7

The morning began with a mad rush for Rob to take Chloe and Camille snorkeling on a party boat

When they were safely off, Gwyneth, Phil, Jim, Marty and I headed off to explore the West End of the island.  We drove through many villages including 8 Mile Rock and stopped to search for a cache at Paradise Cove aka Deadman’s Reef   It was the perfect spot with very friendly owners and staff.  We searched for a while with no luck and decided to go to the end of the island and come back for lunch.

Paradise Cove

We had to give our names to explore Old Bahama Bay Resort where we admired the yachts and had a chat with the chef from one of the yachts.  Then we drove along the water in West End.

 West End

Back to Paradise Cove for lunch and a stop in town at Butler’s.

Conch Fritters

Suze and Luis had come to do their wash on the way to their honeymoon at Pelican Point near the east end of the island.

Nat called to tell us about a political rally downtown that would be on TV but urged us to go see it live.  There were at least two rallies – one at which the prime minister spoke (everyone had on red shirts) and the PLP one where everyone had on yellow shirts.  Rob, G and I drove to find the rallies.  There was no parking but we did find them and saw firsthand the intense political participation on the island.  After we got home, Jim, Marty and I went for a walk.

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The wedding installment 6

Slow morning start.  Phil and I took the coffee pots we had borrowed back to Suze’s room and chatted with Luis and Susannah.  Then we walked over to the Grand Lucayan Hotel to use the ATM and to check out their gorgeous pool and beach. 

Back at the villa we met Belle and took her to the airport.

Bye Bye Belle

I paid cash for the rental car and we had pasties for lunch.  We saw her safely off and headed back to get Gwyneth and Camille to go for a ride.  Rob took Chloe, Suze and Liz out on the boat.

We met up with Marty and Jim on their bikes way back on from Barbary Beach.

 

Barbary Beach

We headed out further to Lucayan National Park where we went into a couple of caverns and then took a nature walk to the beach.



Ben's Cavern
We went a little further east to look for a geocache and had a Coke at a beach bar at Bishop’s Resort.

 Bishop's Resort
Suze and Luis and a bunch of folks ate a Zorba’s in the Lucayan Marketplace.  We met up with them there, but G and the kids went to a pizza place. Rob, Jim and I got takeout from a local place further away – Simply Native.   Local dessert is guava duff.

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The wedding installment 5

There was a violent storm early in the morning.

Jessica and I scurried to get everything ready for the brunch.  Almost everyone came.  Phil and Rob played shuttle bus back and forth to Pelican Bay

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Brunch

I made a frittata from the leftover rehearsal dinner roast veggies per Marty’s suggestion and Jessica arranged the other leftovers very artistically.  She baked all the hors d’oeuvres that we got at Butler’s the day before. http://butlersfoodworld.com/

Some of crowd at brunch 

I had a bunch of rum punches.  Susannah changed her name on Facebook!

Changing her name on Facebook!

Some of us went out on the boat to get gas at the Lucaya Marketplace marina.  Chloe and I went swimming.

 Swimming
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The wedding installment 4

The big wedding day!  Jim and I went out early to scout out where we thought the wedding might be. Jessica, Belle and I went to Butler’s to get food for the Sunday brunch.  We completely changed the menu but got it done!  I took Jessica and Danielle to the hotel to dress and have their hair done.

Then Phil, Belle and I went to the Garden of the Groves recommended to us by church friends



 We had a wonderful lunch there and returned to get ready.  Susannah wanted me to help her dress so I took Chloe with me.  We got to ride to the wedding in the limo!




It threatened rain and was windy but only a few sprinkles came toward the end of the ceremony.  The officiant was funny and good.  The violinist was awesome – Same processional as Gwyneth, Pachabel Canon.  Everyone looked wonderful.  What a fabulous day!  This was so perfect for Susannah and Luis.




Gwyneth took great pictures – look at them
Since I didn't get any pictures at the wedding I am including this one that has Luis in it! The first dance after the obligatory ones at the reception was YMCA!  Food was great – I got the last bit of mushroom risotto.



  

Look at my wedding day pics

The wedding installment 3

Phil and I went on an early bike ride to Taino Beach.  We found a geocache and took a nature walk. 



Taino Beach Geocache
The kitchen refrigerator stopped working in the morning, which we discovered when we heard a beeping noise.  The repairman came and it was dead so we plugged in the extra refrigerator in the garage.  Made it quite inconvenient but at least there was one!  Chloe went to the beach club with Jessica and Danielle.  We picked them all up later.



Practice run The big event of the day was the rehearsal dinner hosted by Luis’s family at our rental villa.  Joseph, the caterer did a great job. The villa worked great for the party – lots of places to set up and for folks to eat.






Gwyneth took lots of good pictures of the party.

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The wedding installment 2

I got up early and enjoyed the sunrise.  After one cup of coffee, the coffee maker broke.  We managed to make filter drip coffee for several days.  Nat came over and showed Luis and Rob how to work the boat.  Chloe and I went out with them.  Then Rob took the girls on the jet ski.



We decided that Gwyneth and Rob and kids should move upstairs and give the big master suite to Belle since she couldn’t manage the stairs.  The blowup mattress for the girls fit fine in the smaller room, leaving the bunk for Jessica.


Pelican Bay Hotel from boat We took the boat over to Luis and Suze’s hotel and Phil and I got out to go see them.  They took us back to the villa so we could go pick up Belle at the airport.  We ate a pastie at the airport while waiting.  Rob and Gwyneth went all over looking for a grocery store and bought pizzas which I made for our supper.

We went over to the hotel for drinks with a lot of the guests.

See my pics of the day

The wedding installment 1

We got up super early (4:30) to head to the airport.  Travel was pretty uneventful, thank goodness. When we got to immigration at the Grand Bahama airport there was Liz Farrell!  I realized when I went thru immigration and was asked if I had been to the Bahamas before, that the answer was yes – when I was pregnant with Suze!  She must have remembered the good times she missed out on then when she chose her wedding destination!  We rented the car without any problem and headed for the villa.  Driving on the left was much easier than I anticipated because there was no traffic.  We took Liz to our villa first before taking her to the hotel. 



Jim and Marty were there, as were the Buteras.  The villa is just lovely!

Jim and Marty had taken the upstairs master bedroom, and I gave the downstairs one to the Buteras.  The bed in our room is so high, I had to move a chair next to it to get in it!



We took Liz over to the hotel.  Later we all met up at Taino Beach for a community fish fry.  I was really tired.




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