Our Engagement-Moon

Engagement-moon: a trip planned for a proposal. 

We're back! It was, ya know, your average vacation by the beach. Ok, maybe not. It was THE most amazing vacation so far in my entire life.

This post is going to be disgustingly long, I apologize for it's length in advance. Grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, rum runner (gosh I miss those!) and/or an entire meal to enjoy because there's a lot to cover.

Where to start? Let's rewind back to the airport leaving DC. We were packed, ready to go all ahead of time. And, like I mentioned before, I wanted to get to the airport in plenty of time. We did. Nate did not enjoy that fact. He twiddled his thumbs, took a tour of the airport that he knows like the back of his hand, but I was happy to not have to worry :)

We went all out and upgraded to first class, holler!!

We landed in St. Thomas shortly after 9pm which ended up making the next morning more magical. We had no idea what anything looked like in the daytime. They showed us to the room, told us it was oceanfront, and we wondered around, grabbed a late dinner, and settled in for an amazing vacation!

Waking up was like Christmas morning. We closed the dark, heavy curtains so that we could reveal our balcony view in the morning. Seriously an amazing moment. We opened the curtains to a complete panoramic view of the east side of the St. Thomas shoreline, facing St. John.

 

That's St. John island

 

Crystal clear water, here we come!

At that point, I didn't care what happened the rest of the trip. This view and ocean breeze was perfect for me!

We headed off to explore the resort, starting with the breakfast buffet at "Manor House" which was the dining room that had the same view as our balcony. We did the all inclusive package, so we could eat and drink as much as we wanted and never had to worry about paying or even tipping as that was discouraged since it was included in the package. Talk about a worry-free stay!

Here are some pictures from wondering around the resort's grounds...

 Walking through the Relaxation Garden

 Sign for Iguana crossing. Little did we know that was going to be a valuable warning later in the trip!

 All the hallways have these little peek outs to the turquoise below!

Then we also stumbled upon this little gem on the rooftop - 

A little wedding spot overlooking the same view as from our balcony, simply gorgeous! It's called the St. John Terrace since it overlooks St. John island. Naturally I gave Nate the eyes *hint, hint* and he just smiled back. I had decided to not think about the fact that Nate and I weren't engaged yet because it would make me a little sad the rest of the trip.

We then went down to the pool area which consisted of three pools that flowed into each other with waterfalls with a view of Sugar Bay, which is where our resort's private beach was located. 

View as you walk down to the pool and beach. 

Gorgeous flowers, trees, landscaping everywhere.

 

The pool area also had Mangrove Restaurant where they had just started their brunch buffet. We had the wristbands to eat and drink as much as we wanted, so what the heck. We piled plates full of more food, loaded up on pina coladas, and enjoyed the sun and pool.

It was beach time after that and I was so excited when I saw this beaut - 

I love, love, love palm trees! This was the only one on the beach and no one under it, so we set up camp and spent the rest of our first day underneath it. We couldn't get enough of the view from the beach!

So that was our first day! Fun in the sun and pure bliss!

We headed off to get cleaned up and went to dinner at the Manor House, enjoying a warm yummy dinner. We checked out the casino for a bit, there was a strange dance party going on at the DJ section which gave countless amounts of entertainment and then Nate said let's go for a walk back to the pool and the beach.

On our walk back to the pool//beach, Nate says let's go back up to the St. John Terrace to check out the night view. I thought, well that's kinda silly it's pitch black out and windy, we won't be able to see anything or really enjoy being up there. My idiot difficult moment #1. Nate didn't argue since what I said made sense, so we continued on to the beach. 

We get there and he says let's go walk down to the water. I said absolutely not. The hotel warned us about the noseeums which are these awful sand fleas that come out at night on the beach. They bite and it's not a fun experience. I did not want to get bitten up. My idiot difficult moment #2. Nate didn't argue since it made sense, so we just stood there looking at our perfect little palm tree that we spent all day under.

He started talking about our memories from past vacations and how I always take a picture (or six!) hugging a palm tree. He said that was a special memory, and we should do it "forever." I thought that sounded really nice, though I was getting a little confused why he was so focused in on palm trees.

Everything after that is a bit of a blur. But it definitely involved him saying that we should make sure we would keep making memories forever, getting down on one knee, pulling out a shiny rock, and ASKING ME TO MARRY HIM!!!! I was totally shocked. My throat closed, my heart and breathing stopped, and my mouth dropped wide open.

Then... I.Started.Balling. Not little teary eyes, full blown crying with the shoulder shakes and all. I think I nodded yes and Nate attempted to put the ring on my shaky finger. We had to sit on the lounge chairs next to the pool before my knees gave out. We sat there hugging, laughing, (me) sobbing, and I was trying to look at the ring through my watery eyes. I could tell I was really going to love it when I could clear my eyes and actually be able to see it.

Here are some photos at nighttime around the pool/beach area to give a better idea of the proposal setting...

We went back to the room where Nate had secretly ordered a bottle of champagne to be delivered. So sneaky! 

 

We sat out on our balcony listening to the ocean, sipping champagne and started talking about how his plan came together. I'm going to let him tell this part...

A vacation was really the only plausible way to pull off a surprise on Kylee. We had to be somewhere where everything was out of the ordinary, because otherwise she would have immediately realized something was up. Likewise, I had to keep the ring both away from her and in my possession for as little time as possible; otherwise, she would have sniffed it out. So I arranged to have it delivered to my office Friday, and knew the key to my effort would be to get it on her finger as quickly as reasonably possible. Fortunately, I was able to pull off all of the above and catch her completely off-guard.

Nate's co-worker, Claudia, captured these pictures of the moment he opened the package containing the ring at his office (the day before we left). Thank you Claudia, these are priceless!

Then we made a few phone calls to share the news. Honestly, I barely remember details of those calls. No, not due to any alcohol, we were well controlled. But for the first time in my life I finally understood the full "cloud 9" feeling. I truly felt like I was floating around, barely comprehending any details, enjoying and taking in one of the happiest moments of my life!

So the next morning, our balcony view had just a few new additions....

I couldn't have picked out a more perfect ring for me. From the dainty band, cathedral setting, to it's simplicity and it's understated perfection, I am so in love and impressed with Nate's pick. GREAT JOB BABE!!

So what happened next? We headed right back to that palm tree to spend another care-free day in the sun. Ready to walk out the door, Nate reminded me it probably wasn't a good idea to take the ring with us to the beach. It is slightly too big on me and with a violent shake or a freak accident (which I am prone to), that ring would fly right off. 

I was so sad. Here I am after trying to reason with him... "but....but...I just got the ring and now I have to take it off?!" He was right though, not worth the risk, so the ring had to stay tucked in the room each day for the rest of our adventures.

Later we went back up to the St. John Terrace and started picturing a wedding at a place as beautiful as that spot is. 

And then Nate took off to enjoy the view ... and to start screaming "I'm king of the world!" Long attention span that one has.

The views from the terrace were amazing, here are a few more....

We learned a few interesting things about the island. Like there are cats.... everywhere.

Same thing with iguanas. They are actually protected, so they are all over the place and no one can touch them. Every morning they have a feeding hour when you can help feed them some lettuce. Nate was the lucky one to go first.

This is after the first attempt when the mean little guy snapped at Nate. Impressed he tried again! I know they like their lettuce and all, but there's something about a reptile with a built-in mohawk that doesn't make me trust their intentions.

We were just hanging out, looking at the ones still hanging out in the tree and the others that were eating...

....and then all of a sudden we hear this huge splash in the pond next to us and I look down to see this guy swimming at me full speed and come climbing up about a foot away from my feet....

They plop out of the trees and swim over for feeding time. Scary little suckers. 

I decided to get away from the ones dropping out of the trees and attract my own group. 

They even provided lots of entertainment at the pool and beach. We were laying at the pool, heard a scream and then this lady fell into the pool, scared from one that went scurrying past her. It ran right under our lounge chairs, out to the beach. They crouch down when they sense someone walking by. This enables them to completely surprise people as they are walking along the beach and almost step on this....

Should've had the cameras rolling, people's surprised reactions were hilarious!

We spent one day over on St. John, which we absolutely loved.  

Pulling into the marina on the ferry.

 Their local 7-Eleven

The beaches on St. John were beyond perfect! Absolutely breathtaking and so much better than we had imagined.

This beach is where they shot the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Nate was real bummed we were a few years behind. It was an amazing location!

After a month of tanning, I still managed to blend in with the white sand!

Creative, I know.

We got back to St. Thomas just before a quick rainstorm hit. Beautiful double rainbow behind "our" palm tree!

After getting cleaned up, it was live band night on the deck and they were awesome!

They even let one VERY enthusiastic fan join in on the spoons. He kept us so very entertained!

And just because we were in St. Thomas, we were not about to miss and MSU game. So we sat out on the deck, beach in the background, live band jamming away, and were able to watch the game right at our seats on the big screen.

Then the waitress came by with two beers and said they're from the gentleman at the front table. Odd. Never had anyone send each of us a beer. So we wandered over there and it was a UofM fan. Resisting the urge to roll our eyes and walk away, we chatted for a bit. Turns out he and his wife are very nice UofM fans and said from one great MI team to another, this beer's on us! We thought about sending a painkiller (very nice rum drink) back to them saying it was to help drown the pain we've caused UofM (4 years!!). But we decided to be equally as nice and send another drink of what they were already having.

Then the zero fun, disappointing loss happened. Good thing we were somewhere that quickly distracted us from our sadness.

Our last morning we lounged at the pool and beach, then ran around and took a bunch of pictures of ourselves (Nate's attempt at getting out of having to take "engagement" photos). A much needed photo of me with the palm tree was top on the list.

Here's the trouble with enlisting strangers to take very important pictures of you - they usually suck at it! We tried to get the very spot where Nate proposed (below), but clearly the guy lacked the ability to capture a good picture....

Let's try a different person at a different spot....

Clearly getting a majority of the wooden post vs. the ocean behind us more important. Let's try a third time...

Again, capturing most of the wall makes more sense than the ocean. Duh. So we went back to taking our own.

Me lounging and trying to permanently burn the image of the water into my brain before we leave.

Last cocktails of the trip!

Then we started our journey home. Nate calling Jonathan to be sure he could pick us up later. 

"Crap, yeah, I guess we are headed back."

Oh adventure home. I do not miss you. I don't have the energy for that story right now. I'll post it later. It was special!

Other than amazing memories, we also brought home some awesome looking bug bites. Remember the noseeums that I mentioned before and was afraid of going on the beach at night because of? Yeah, pretty sure they attacked us. This is the worst one and was painful and hot to the touch - probably not a good sign. But we're watching it to be sure it's not infected.

Nate's leg received a lovely array of bites too. We both were covered in random bites and came home looking like we contracted some strange form of chicken pox. If you go, wear repellent!

Despite the bites, the trip was flawless and I am just so happy right now! I know the adventures of planning a wedding will be some good times. Our hope and goal is to have as stress-free of a planning process as possible and an amazing wedding!

Cheers!