Curacao!

The long-talked-about trip to Curacao for Russ' brother's wedding is in the books! It was quite the adventure but full of fun and lots of great memories! Joe and Kathleen planned an amazing trip and we were so excited to be there to celebrate their special day.

After I spent the day packing us all up, we left on Wednesday night after Russ got off of work and headed to Clarksville. We got 30 miles down the road and I realized I had forgotten ALL of my makeup. #EpicFail I made my very unhappy husband turn around to get it and that added an hour to our trip. Yikes. To make matters worse, the delay put us in the path of some really bad storms that rained on us almost the entire drive. And the last hour, we were literally trying to out-drive tornadic weather! It was pretty scary. We made it to Granna's and unloaded the kids and the car about 11p just as the bottom fell out. We got the kids down for no more than 10 minutes when the tornado warnings came through. So we got the kids up and headed to the basement to take cover. We tried to get the kids to lay down and go back to sleep in the downstairs bedroom, but they thought it was playtime. The warning passed quickly, we got them back in bed around 11:30p and then we all went to bed. Whew!

We had a 6a flight out of Nashville, so our alarms went off about 3:45a. Super fun times! But the drive to the city, parking offsite and checking in at the airport was relatively painless. We flew Nashville to Miami with a little layover for lunch and then Miami to Curacao. I napped quite a bit so the flights didn't seem as long. We landed around 2:30p EST (local time). Getting through customs and then the ride to the resort took a little longer than desired, but that's what happens on "island time", I guess. We met up with Joe and Kat when we arrived and they had a fun gift bag for us with all kinds of treats! We got checked in and enjoyed a snack at the grill on the beach before heading to our room.

The sign going through customs!

Selfie outside the airport while we waited for our cab.

Our lunch view from the beach grille!

One of my favorite things in our gift bag from Joe and Kat! I love a good flat koozie!
We also got awesome insulated mason jar cups, sunglasses and snorkeling gear to name a few.

A little bit about Curacao and the resort...Joe and Kat did a ton of research and selected Curacao, which is 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela and is part of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), for their wedding destination. They originally wanted to do Aruba, but after realizing how costly it was for both the wedding and for their friends to travel there, they settled on nearby Curacao. June is off season for Curacao...mainly because it is SO HOT! They do get a really nice breeze which definitely helped, but I can see why December and January would be more attractive. But, it was nice that the resort was not super crowded.

They chose the all-inclusive Sunscape Curacao for the resort...it is an older property that is being updated, but it met our needs perfectly. The price was right, the people were so nice and the wedding location was gorgeous.  They are slowly renovating the many buildings on property, but our entire group was in either building E or F, which were completely updated. We were upgraded to a honeymoon suite room, which had the most breathtaking oceanfront view! And our room was HUGE! The only issue we had was that the air didn't work great...it started freezing up on us on the 2nd day and that made it hot and a little uncomfortable at times. This was the biggest and really only issue we had on the trip...it was definitely a pain that I wish had been resolved.

Selfie from our room balcony!

Gorgeous views from our balcony!

Relaxing on the loungers on our balcony...it was HUGE!

One of many pools...I did not take too many pictures of the pools.

The view from our bed!

The resort had several restaurants on property...the buffet was open for all meals, there was an oceanfront grill that served burgers and such for lunch and was a steakhouse for dinner and then a hibachi, seafood and Italian restaurant that also served dinner. There were several bars, a coffee bar and there was a stocked mini fridge in all the the rooms, too. It was nice to have a lot of variety and for the price we paid in total for the trip, I would totally go back. And the best part was that we did not have to do a THING! That was extra nice for me, since I am the trip planner for our family. Kat and Joe told us where to go, the flights to take and even found a discount website to book through for the best deal. They made it SO easy!

There were lizards and iguanas all over the resort. There are 5 in this picture alone!

The gazebo where Joe and Kat got married! Picture perfect!

Our first night, all 21 of us in the wedding party met at the hibachi restaurant for dinner. I didn't know anyone other than Joe and Kat (Russ had met a few guys at Joe's bachelor party), so it was nice to meet and get to know everyone. We definitely through the restaurant staff for a loop with the large group, so dinner took a while! Afterwards, we caught the fire show and watch a little of the NBA Finals on the huge screen they had set up on the beach. Russ and I called it an early night since we were exhausted from traveling.

The happy couple at our hibachi dinner!

Brothers!

Joe and Patrick doing a little dancing at halftime.

On our first full day, we had no plans...except to relax on the beach! We found chairs under an umbrella, had lots of beach-appropriate drinks and had a great time doing nothing. The resort's beach was amazing and the rock wall they built to break up the huge waves created this awesome natural lagoon that was perfect for snorkeling. The water was cold at first, but was felt great after you got used to it. That night, we went to the Italian restaurant for dinner and watched the resort's dance-off competition, where 2 people from our group participated. They came in 2nd and were sooo fun to watch! Russ and I also played outdoor shuffleboard (that Russ won with our made-up rules) and checkers (where I kicked his tail fair and square!)

I could get used to waking up to this view!!

We made friends with this iguana.

He liked banana peels.

Kat had this tank made for Joe at her bachelorette party to Panama City!
The way they spelled "hand's" makes it even better!

Ready to snorkel!

Some of the group at the Italian restaurant at dinner.

I was white; Russ was black.

He would not give up without a fight!

Saturday was wedding day! We enjoyed some time at the beach in the morning and then Russ and I splurged on a couples massage at the spa. So nice! We got ready for the wedding and headed down to the gazebo area. Everything really was picture perfect and I was really impressed with the wedding coordinator and all the details...it didn't look look like a typical tropical wedding at all. The flowers were gorgeous shades of coral and even had some native succulents mixed in. The minister was a little kooky and talked a lot about all the trouble and bad times that they would have in marriage...kinda a downer, but also some true! After the ceremony, we enjoyed cake (the coral ombre fondant cake was both beautiful and delicious) and a champagne toast before taking tons of pictures and then having a private dinner on the beach. It was really a perfect night!

Russ got the honor of holding onto and bringing up the rings during the ceremony!

Jason (Kat's brother-in-law) walking Kathleen down the aisle!

Russ taking up the rings.

Laughing at the crazy minister.

Wedding guests after the ceremony.

The next morning, Joe and Kat treated the entire wedding party to a fun excursion...we rented dune-buggies for a guided tour around the island! Russ was our driver and we started out by going all through the streets of the city until we got to the dirt trails. Once we got on the trails, it was goggles on! We were allowed to pass each other and drive a little crazy...it was so fun and super dusty! Russ and I borrowed cloth napkins from the hotel to keep the dust out of our mouth and nose and I was so glad we did. Our first stop was at the "blow hole" on a rocky cliff next to the ocean. It was so cool and scary at the same time because the drop down was a long one. Then we rode past the windmills to a small bat cave area where we climbed up to the top. It is said this is where the first settlers lived because the cave was at least 30 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. The view from the top was stunning and was totally worth the hike up and down. And we saw some of the most amazing cactus plants I have ever seen! Our last stop was the ostrich farm...ostrich is a delicacy in Curacao and they raise them for meat. We had some ostrich jerky, which was not too bad, but that is all we were brave enough to try. We headed back to the resort filthy, tired and hungry for lunch. This was something that I would have NEVER done, but it was an absolute blast and I would totally recommend it! It was a fun way to see the island and do something different.

Russ with "Joe's Bros" or "Joe's Hoes" and Russ liked to call them.

Before picture when we are all clean!

Driving through the Curacan streets.

Looking like bandits with our napkins on!

The blow hole!

Hiking up to the cave.

Made it to the first stop!

Old carving, cool!

See our dune-buggies all the way down below.

We made it to the top!

Bats in the bat cave.

Making the hike down.

Gorgeous birds at the ostrich farm.

Gross spider at the farm. Yuk!

Baby ostriches.

This peacock was amazing!

After showers, we spent the rest of our last day relaxing on the beach. Russ went snorkeling again and ventured over the rock wall where it was definitely more rough but there was different kinds of fish. We had dinner at the seafood restaurant that night (which was our fav!) with Christy and Jason, Kat's older sister and brother-in-law. We really hit it off with them and enjoyed spending time and getting to know them. We are excited to get together with them in Nashville soon. Russ had a little too much fun drinking and was in pretty bad shape at the end of the night. He ventured over to Mambo Beach (the public beach club next door) while others of us stayed up and talked at the hotel. It was almost 2a before we went to bed!

Russ about to go over the rock wall to snorkel.

Dinner with Jason and Christy.

Blackmail evidence of Russ' partying that night. HA!

Monday was a long travel day home. We didn't land in Nashville until 10:30p and were in Clarksville at almost midnight. I was tired and glad to be back and anxious to see the kiddos. We did sneak a peak of both of them sleeping before we called it a night. The next morning, Tyler woke up and was SO excited to see us! He kept saying, "Granna, it's Mommy and Daddy!" It was very sweet. But Tyler did not want to leave Granna's house to head home and he even wanted ME to stay there so Granna could go back to Memphis with him, Daddy and Caroline. Ha! Guess I know where I lie on the food chain!!

One last picture in paradise before we left!!

It really was a great trip. We are so proud of Joe for taking the marriage plunge...something that we both wondered if he would ever do! He truly met his match in Kathleen and they both seem truly happy together. Welcome to the family, Kat!