I’ll start at the beginning. So, there I was, crying, and the doctor smacked me on the thigh. Oh… too far back? Ok, I’ll start at the beginning of the trip instead.

We left August 31st for Philly. Whenever I fly with Jenna, two things happen. One, the planes are always on time (I know, she sucks!), and two, they will damage her luggage in some inexplicable way. This trip was no exception. We flew four times. All four flights were on time, and all four times, they damaged her luggage. She lost a wheel, lost a foot off her big suitcase, they tore a hole all the way through the inside pocket, and then they broke off one of the zippers. The quadfecta.

I’d personally trade luggage damage for on-time flights any day, so I was happy. And it helped that my luggage went through unscathed in all cases. Go figure.

Sunday we literally went to WaWa for hoagies and then straight to the Marriott for a whole lot of nothing. My favorite activity! Monday we goofed off all day, then Rachel and Mick had us over for a cookout and we talked smack about stupid ho’s all night.

Tuesday was a travel day. We hopped a plane from Philly to Boston and then drove from Boston to Portland, Maine. That night we did nothing except eat room service lobster. Wednesday we went to the Old Port and shopped and ate at the Dry Dock restaurant, famous for their fillet mignon sandwich.

We also went to Macys and Jenna got the sale of the century there, buying about $600 worth of clothes for $140 worth of gift cards. Major score.

Thursday we drove from Portland to Bar Harbor. It’s only about three hours, but the last hour and a half only covers about 40 miles. It’s a winding crappy road through town after town and hopping around between islands. You can’t really tell you’re island hopping, but the map swears we were.

We finally got to the Harborside Hotel in Bar Harbor and they promptly put us up in an “oceanfront” room that actually overlooked the pool. Jenna = not happy. So we marched back down to the front desk and informed him that pool does not = ocean. He took pity on us and found another room. It just happened to be a first floor room at the very end of the hotel… 6 feet from the water. You could literally open our sliding door and spit into the water. Jenna = happy.

We decided to brave the uphill walk into town, and quickly found Route 66 restaurant which had the largest portions of seafood I’ve ever seen. I ate 1/3 of my food and then we decided to get down to some serious shopping. Well, we tried. The only thing Jenna wanted was a clock from the clockmaker, and he was closed already. So instead we wandered around all of the other shops, and we bought gifts for Rachel (our officiant) and David (the best man).

I knew David (my brother) had flown into Boston, so I decided I would get him a gift that couldn’t possible go back on the plane. I got him a hunting/survival knife. I’m sure he was strip searched at Logan.

Anyhow, right as we finished buying those items, Rachel called and said she and Mick were at the restaurant across from our hotel on the second floor balcony. So I called my brother to tell him and his wife to meet us there, and… they were already there… two tables away from Rachel and Mick. They just didn’t know it.

Anyhow, the morning of the wedding (Friday), Jenna and I woke up early to room service and then went back to the clock shop. She found a French marble clock from 1860 and we bought it, thus fulfilling her shopping needs. Then it was time for us to split up into boys room and girls room. Jenna got our room and my parents room became the boys room. We boys (my dad, her dad, my brother, and Mick) decided to grab lunch at La Bella Vita overlooking the harbor. We sat there from about 12 till after 3PM, as the four of them tried to talk me out of getting married. “Save yourself.”

At 3, I started freaking out because I still had to iron, shave, and get ready for the 5 PM service. We also had to go down and stake our claim on the beach, since it was public. So we all got ready and walked down about 4:30 to claim the beach. Then we stood around nervously waiting for the girls. Finally 5 arrived, and the procession of the girls began. You’ve already seen pictures (back 2 posts).

Rachel did a fantastic job with her officianting, and everyone there said it was “the most beautiful wedding they’ve ever seen.” Right after the service, we shot pictures for about an hour, then everyone scattered to get ready for dinner at 7.

Jenna and I were fashionably late, of course. The Bar Harbor Club was incredible. My grandmother who’s been all over the world said it was the best food she’s ever had. Four courses, amazing seafood, perfect steaks, sickeningly rich sweets. Oh, and the piano guy was great. It almost became karaoke (see video clip part 2, one post back).

Saturday late morning the entire group of 17 of us met up at La Bella Vita for lunch. It was one last big hoorah for the group, and after a very nice time there, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. For Jenna and I, it meant checking out of the snitzy Harborside and into the Days Inn Bar Harbor.

Two hours after checking into the Days Inn, we checked out. And not for the reasons you pervs are probably thinking. No, we didn’t rent it by the hour. It was dingy, run-down, and it had a STRONG smell of mildew. We went down the street and stayed at the Holiday Inn Regency which was an oceanfront room. We hid out there for 2 days before driving back to Portland on Monday.

Monday afternoon we went to see the Portland Head Lighthouse. You can see a picture I took there under the “Reception” album on my Facebook. Eventually I’ll post it here.

Tuesday, it was back to the stinking Boston airport and a quick flight back to Philly. Wednesday we went to Jenna’s grandparent’s house to show them photos and watch the video since they were unable to make it to Maine. We hung out with her family until late that night.

Thursday it was time to fly back to KC. We got the airport early enough to have some breakfast, then right before we boarded our 3 1/2 hour flight, the gate attendant got on the speaker and said “Folks, I’ve been informed by the flight crew that you should use the facilities now, because the onboard lavatories are broken.”

Yeah. That’s not what you want to hear before a long flight. There were groans and moans, but none of us had a choice. It’s not as if they were going to refund our tickets if we decided not to go. We taxied out to the runway and sat. For an hour. By then, I needed to use the restroom already. Nice.

However, as soon as they turned on the inflight air conditioning, the lavatory started working again. I know… very frightening. But a happy announcement, nonetheless!

Thursday night we helped Jenna’s brother finish moving out of our house. YAY! Friday I had professional cleaners come get all the cat pee out of the carpet. Then came the task of moving everything back into my man room. Yay!

I basically spent the entire weekend cleaning, mowing, and being a good homeowner.

That’s that. Not entertaining to read, but certainly informative.

Part 1

Part 2

We left KC on Sunday and flew into Philly. Sunday night and Monday we did exactly nada. Monday night, Rachel and her hubby invited us over for a cookout. We ate burgers and talked trash about stupid people for several hours. As you may know, Rachel is going to perform our wedding this week.

Tuesday morning we slept in, then hopped a plane into Boston. We grabbed our car and drove the two hours up to Portland where I am today. We’re going to go to Macys so Jenna can spend some of her gift cards from the shower, and then later we’ll probably go down to Old Town for some shopping and dinner at Gilbert’s Chowderhouse. The seafood is so fresh here, the cook just walks out back when you order, sticks his hand into the ocean and grabs a lobster.

I will probably have some pictures to post tomorrow. So far all we’ve seen is Philly and the Marriott in Portland. I know – we’re totally lazy. And I love it.

Ciao for now!

Peace!

Pete

When Jenna and I first met, we were convinced we’d be having a humongous wedding in Philly.

That was before we decided what our budget was for the wedding, and before we realized we didn’t want to have a wedding that was a pain in the butt.

Our first fallback position was to elope. We figured we could have a nice party when we got back, and we wouldn’t have to worry about planning anything. But, we worried our parents would disown us for not having them there.

Eventually it evolved into what we’re calling a “Planned Elopement” where we run off to Maine to get married and have our honeymoon, but we invite our immediate families. The advantage to this plan is we get to have the wedding in a pretty location, and afterwards we’re already on our honeymoon.

We made it “every man for himself” as far as getting to Maine, so there’s an element of survival of the fittest on attendance. We figured her family was close enough to drive, but mine would have to fly. My family seems game, and happy to have a vacation in Maine themselves.

Then, to include all of our friends and such, we’re throwing a FUN reception here in KC. Again, we didn’t want anything typical or pretentious, so we reserved 12 private lanes of bowling with an open bar. It’s a posh room, yet balances nicely with the fact it’s a blue-collar sport. Beer and bowling. Ahh.

We’ve also reserved a photo booth for the reception, so everyone that comes can get free pictures taken in the booth, which when combined with alcohol should be very entertaining.

Now, if we could just get our @#$@ together and send out invitations, we’d really have a plan! Oh, and if you can’t make it for beer and bowling (since you’re not invited), feel free to send us something expensive from our Bed Bath & Beyond registry.

I kid.

But not really.

Pete

We’re getting married!

Yes, you heard correctly. Pete “Bachelor till the rapture” finally popped the question. It was this past Friday night. We went to Skies for dinner. I did more than my normal amount of lying about why we were going, and I must say it worked perfectly. She didn’t see it coming at all…

This was evidenced by her response, which was her shouting “SHUT UP!!!” (If you know Jenna, this isn’t hard for you to believe)

Then she asked “IS THAT REAL???” No, she wasn’t referring to any particular part of ME, she was referring to this:

Yes, it was a wee bit over the top, but nothing short of a 2+ carat aascher was going to cut it for my lady. I must say, my popularity with the ladies has increased significantly since Jenna started showing that bad boy around. Of course, the lady who sold me the ring told me that SHE would marry me if I wanted.

Women and their diamonds!

Jenna was far to excited and confused to be able to eat, so we boxed up her $100.00 dinner in styrofoam so we could throw it away later.

We spent Saturday shopping and stuffing our faces at Crown Center.

I’ll post again once I have the pictures… I know, I’m a slacker.

Pete