Deep Breaths

The Big Update, Pt. 4: The Honeymoon

I know, I know . . . we've been stretching out this Big Update post longer than George Lucas strectched out the Star Wars saga. This is the last installment, I promise. The reason for the lack of activity on the blog is that we've been house-sitting for a friend of ours (sans internet access) since we returned from the States. We should be back online more regularly in about a week, and we will have plenty of exciting things to share, including pics of our new car and the new youth room we've been fixing up at the church. But for now, feast your eyes on this little virtual photo album of our honeymoon.

This is our cabin (tastefully named Midnight Fun), just outside of Pigeon Forge, TN in the Smoky Mountains.


The cabin had a nice comfy living area, as well as a host of other fun features . . .

. . . like this jacuzzi . . .


. . . a rock wall shower with a waterfall shower head . . .

. . . and a hot tub on the back deck, perfect for soothing my aching muscles after a long day of shopping at outlet malls.

Clearly, the cabin was not somewhere we wanted to leave very often. But when we did venture into town, we enjoyed some of the local culinary specialties, like breakfast at the Pancake Pantry . . .

. . . and dogs from Fanny Farkle's. Seriously, isn't my wife cute when she's enjoying her food?

Clearly, we stuck to a strict low-cal regimen while we were honey- mooning.


We took a ride up to the top of a mountain on a ski lift that offered equal parts scenic beauty, quaint charm, and heart-pounding terror.

You guys can make up your own caption for this one. Only in Gatlinburg . . .

Upon returning to Cleveland, we took part in a 1920's-era murder mystery. Here we are, the (slightly crooked) district attorney and the sultry lounge singer.

And here's the entire cast of characters. Special kudos to Adam for busting out the mutton chops.

Leia had never taken part in a 4th of July celebration before . . .

. . . so my brother-in-law Sean and I put on a little pyro- technics display for the whole family.

The ladies mostly just stood on the porch and yelled at us to be careful . . .


. . . but at least Leia got some cool pictures. I think this was right before the fire department was called in.

After nineteen glorious days, we headed to the airport for our looong return trip to Cyprus. We had a couple of final photo ops with my family . . .

. . . then said our tearful goodbyes. *sniff*

We had a twelve hour layover in Amsterdam on the way back, so we thought we'd do a little sightseeing (in spite of the fact that we were complete zombies by this point). This is the central train station. European architecture never ceases to take my breath away.

A lovely old church. I find it sad that Europe has all these beautiful cathedrals that basically stand empty for lack of worship- pers, while we in the States content ourselves with meeting in sparkling new high-tech spaces that basically feel like public auditoriums. There's just a certain lack of sacredness in most of our churches that really hits you when you visit places like this.

We took a boat tour along the city's famous canals. This is a spot where you can look down under seven bridges that stand in a row. (Admittedly, you'll have to squint pretty hard to see all of them in this picture.)

Finally, this is the statue that stands outside the Anne Frank House Museum, a sobering place if ever there was one. Compre- hending the horrors of the Holocaust never gets any easier, does it? Leia and I both felt that this experience was worth the stopover in Amsterdam.

So that's it: the end of our wedding and post-wedding adventures. We hope you'll keep coming back to see what's going on in our new lives as man and wife. We think the best is still ahead. We love you all.

–John

posted by John and Leia @ 1:02 PM