Honeymoon - Day 1

Brent and I left for our honeymoon early Sunday, July 5th. We did manage to watch the fireworks with his brother and family in Apple Valley Saturday night. Then, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our 3:30 am wake up call!

Waiting for our flight.

We flew in to Philadelphia airport and picked up our rental car. A Chrysler Sebring (with New York license plates - we thought that was cool). The drive to Beach Haven, NJ took us a little over an hour and a half. Driving onto Long Beach Island was amazing. Everywhere you looked there were little shops and restaurants and everyone was dressed in their beach gear. We pulled up to Brent's cousin Brian's beach house to find no one there! Brian, his wife Beth and their 2 girls were supposed to be there when we arrived. We walked around to the back of the house where they have a ginormous deck that looks out onto the bay. We noticed their boat was gone, but we didn't have to wait long and they returned. Since Brian works in Toronto and they have a house in upper New Jersey, they only stay at the Beach house when they have free weekends. Wish I had a weekend beach house! :)

Our rental car. Pretty nice ride!

After our hellos (we had just seen them at our wedding), we ran and grabbed some lunch while Brian showed us around the island a bit. After eating, Brian took Brent and I out on the Jet Ski. It's a multiple person Jet ski, so we could all go at once. I had never been on a jet ski and it was interesting being on such a large body of water, but it was also fun, although I wouldn't let him go too fast since I have a small fear of water (that happens when you can't swim). Brian showed us where to go and not go out in the bay (there are surprisingly quite a few shallow spots in the bay that you don't want to get stuck on). After our tour, we headed back and all of us went out on the boat. Brent and Bridget (Brian's daughter) went out on the tube and the rest of us just relaxed on the boat.

Brent and Bridget on the tube in the bay

View of the inlet the house is on. This leads out to the bay.

After our boat ride, we all got showered and dressed for a nice dinner. Brian and Beth took us out to a restaurant called "Bistro 14". This restaurant was a "B.Y.O.B." establishment. I have never heard of a restaurant where you bring your own booze. We did bring a few bottles of wine, some beer and malibu. I guess liquor licenses are very expensive on the island, so most places allow you to bring your own. They even open your wine bottles for you and bring you glasses. A nice way to save some money on dinner, which is a good thing because most of the restaurants are not cheap!

Brian and Brent at the restaurant and the "B.Y.O.B" sign!

After dinner, we headed to Fantasy Island, an amusement park on the island. The girls went on a few rides - their favorite was the "monster roller coaster". I even managed to talk Brent into going for a ride on the Ferris Wheel - he had never been on one!

View of Fantasy Island from the Ferris Wheel.

Brian had to leave the house at 4:00 am the next day to catch his plane for work, so we all headed back and went to bed (Brent and I were also tired from our early morning flight). The bed we had was so comfortable, we sleep really well! We didn't even hear Brian or Beth leave the next morning!

To be continued...