Our Disneymoon PTR + Wedding TR w/ pics - I'm back! (TR link and POP review 9/7)

[DisneyKira]

I love all of the underwater pictures . It looks like you guys had a nice relaxing day.

 

[ronnmel]

I love all of the underwater pictures . It looks like you guys had a nice relaxing day.

I got a couple more underwater pictures left to post for this trip.

We did have a very nice relaxing time for our last day. Too bad the evening was not as relaxing...

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

What a fun day! I think you picked the perfect was to spend your last full day. How funny that Ron had to take not one, but two naps! I don't blame him, though, I probably would have done the same thing!

 

[inkedupmomma]

Super awesome pics! It really looks like you had such a relaxing and fun time! Thank you for sharing it all!

Love the trash the dress pics! I look forward to being able to do that one day

 

[ronnmel]

What a fun day! I think you picked the perfect was to spend your last full day. How funny that Ron had to take not one, but two naps! I don't blame him, though, I probably would have done the same thing!

It's amazing how tiring laying down by the beach or the pool can be. I may or may not have taken a nap too, but there is no picture to prove it...

We want to make a video photo montage out of everyone's pictures of the week and we plan on putting pictures of all our guests taking a nap at some point to the "lazy" song.

Super awesome pics! It really looks like you had such a relaxing and fun time! Thank you for sharing it all!

Love the trash the dress pics! I look forward to being able to do that one day

Glad you are enjoying it. I miss Cuba so much, but it's nice to relive through it all by sharing it with you guys.

I hope that you get to do a trash the dress session one day.

 

[ronnmel]

We are one month away from our Disneymoon!


On another note, I have to be honest with you guys. I've been dreading writing the next update of my wedding TR. Not only was it the last full night, which is depressing in itself, but it also was the point in the trip when I learned about my mom being in the hospital, and Ron and I had a fight. So all in all, the least pleasant of all my updates. I'll try to kick my butt and write it soon, so I can get on with the rest of the TR which include the photoshoot with my mom, as well as going back to the PTR.

 

[ronnmel]

Last Full Day (part 4)- A Sad Evening ​

Day 7 continued

So as I said last several other people joined us and we all had fun in the pool. The guys even had a few races.

All of Ron's family and friends (minus him) had an early reservation at the Japanese restaurant so they eventually all left to get ready. We decided to go back to the room as well. My brother chose this time to leave the beach and show up at the pool. He was very disappointed that we were leaving. I regret a little not staying out with him a little longer, but we had been out since early morning and were getting quite tired. However, my aunt wanted all our little family to get together to call my mom and sing her happy birthday, so we agreed on meeting in her room a little later.

One thing I had not done all week that I really wanted to try before we left was the spa at the top of the rock with the waterfall, so that is where we headed.

Then I had to do a last walking tour of the resort and "say goodbye" to the beach.

Palapas where you can have a private dinner for a wedding.

Very mini palm tree

Our building

Our room was top floor, in the middle

Of course I had to make a sad face for it being the end of our trip

But really couldn't stay sad long with such a beautiful background

Getting back to our room after our last day at the beach and pool

Last towel art

Now the sad part begins.

It was time for my brother and I went to my aunt's room. We first called the house, but only got the voice mail so we left a message singing "Happy Birthday". We then decided to try my step-dad's cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail as well. That's when I really started worrying that something was wrong. I forgot to write it in the trip report, but earlier that morning I had tried to call my mom. When I got no answer I called my step-dad, who said she might just be sleeping, but he would check up on her. Remembering that, I came back to the room and checked my cell (I kept it closed almost all the time). Sure enough, I had a missed called and a message left by my step-brother around noon that day. All he said was to call him back. Of course I knew something had happened to my mom, despite him not saying anything. I tried calling back, but no answer. I was a huge stress ball, but we Ron and I had a romantic dinner for two to go to, our only meal alone for of the entire week.

That is where we had our "fight". Ron was upset at my step-brother for "ruining" our last night by making me worry so much, especially since there was absolutely NOTHING I could do about my mom being so far away. While I partly agreed with him, I also wanted to know what was happening. So instead of comforting me, he was being grumpy and taking it out on me. I cried during our romantic dinner.

We quickly talked it out though and he was more supportive afterwards. During that dinner my step-dad called me back and informed me that my mom had an infection and was out of danger. Thankfully, he kept to himself all the bad details, and just said that my step-brother would pick me up at the airport the next day and explain everything to me.

I never was able to fully regain my happiness that evening. After our dinner I did a quick stop by the lobby to chat with some of our guests, then went back to the room to read and go to bed early.

Also, I really wanted to go hang out on my balcony. I did not mention it before because I don't have any pictures of it, but I hung out on my balcony every evening. It directly faced the ocean, so I would just sit there, listen to the waves, and feel the breeze on my face. As much as I love Disney, there is no single place more relaxing to me in the world than alone (or with my DH) on a beach at night. My balcony was the next best thing. That is also where I sat to write my vows... the night before the wedding (last minute, me?). One night I was even treated to a "lightning show" on the horizon (with no rain or thunder, just beautiful lightning).

I don't want to end this update on a sad note, so let's post a picture of our beautiful resort at night.

Up Next : Going back home

 

[mickeystoontown]

The pictures you took of your last walk around the resort are gorgeous! I can see why it's the perfect setting for a wedding.

I was sorry to hear that you and your new hubby had a bit of a tiff during your romantic dinner. I can see both sides of the story though. Your step-brother had to leave you a message and you had to call back and try and find out what was going on with your mother.

 

[DisneyKira]

I am so sorry to hear about your bad night! Everybody has different views on what "bad news" they can get on their vacation. Looks like you wanted all the details, and your hubby wanted to wait until you got home to hear any bad news. I am sorry that you both had such a rough night .

 

[ronnmel]

The pictures you took of your last walk around the resort are gorgeous! I can see why it's the perfect setting for a wedding.

I was sorry to hear that you and your new hubby had a bit of a tiff during your romantic dinner. I can see both sides of the story though. Your step-brother had to leave you a message and you had to call back and try and find out what was going on with your mother.

The setting was beyond perfect! I got to see even more of our guests' pictures this weekend and saw several things I did not have time to try, like get a drink at the pool bar. We weren't there long enough!

At the time my step-brother called me (noon), things were VERY wrong for my mom. I think at that point they didn't even know if she was going to last the day. So of course he had to call me.

I am so sorry to hear about your bad night! Everybody has different views on what "bad news" they can get on their vacation. Looks like you wanted all the details, and your hubby wanted to wait until you got home to hear any bad news. I am sorry that you both had such a rough night .

I didn't want to know *all* details, but I did want to know if something was wrong. That's why my step-brother called, because my mom was very sick when they found her. I was very thankful though that when my step-dad called later that evening he only told me the bare minimum and did not tell me how bad it had been.



Speaking of which, I realize that it's been a while since I've given you an update on my mom's health. She spent about 2 months in the hospital, trying to regain as much strength as possible. Now she is in a CHSLD, which sort of means a center for long term care. She doesn't need medical care anymore, hence why she left the hospital, but she requires too much help to go home which the center can provide for her. The center mostly has older people. She's one of the 2 youngest!

At least she has a much bigger room and she gets to get out of her room a lot. They dress her in the morning and put her in a wheelchair. She can move around by herself a bit, but it tires her out. She has visit every day and we bring her outside. There is a little park with view of the river so it looks lovely. She also has her own tv in the room. So all in all, things are not great, but much better than last month.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm sure it's very hard to see your mother's health deteriorate. I went through that with my dad and I can sympathize with you. At least you know your mother is being well taken care of in the facility and you are able to visit with her and take her outside for walks.

 

[ronnmel]

I'm sure it's very hard to see your mother's health deteriorate. I went through that with my dad and I can sympathize with you. At least you know your mother is being well taken care of in the facility and you are able to visit with her and take her outside for walks.

Yes it is pretty hard, but at least she's in a great center and has lots of people visiting her.

Sorry you had to go through something similar. I guess as we get older we all have to go through that, I just have to witness it at a much younger age than most.

 

[DisneyKira]

Speaking of which, I realize that it's been a while since I've given you an update on my mom's health. She spent about 2 months in the hospital, trying to regain as much strength as possible. Now she is in a CHSLD, which sort of means a center for long term care. She doesn't need medical care anymore, hence why she left the hospital, but she requires too much help to go home which the center can provide for her. The center mostly has older people. She's one of the 2 youngest!

At least she has a much bigger room and she gets to get out of her room a lot. They dress her in the morning and put her in a wheelchair. She can move around by herself a bit, but it tires her out. She has visit every day and we bring her outside. There is a little park with view of the river so it looks lovely. She also has her own tv in the room. So all in all, things are not great, but much better than last month.

That is so wonderful that your mom is doing better! You seem to have such a positive attitude, but I am sending you hugs anyway .

 

[inkedupmomma]

im sorry the last night was a bummer! good thing it happened at the very end though!

how is your mom as of now? ill keep you all in my thoughts <3

 

[ronnmel]

That is so wonderful that your mom is doing better! You seem to have such a positive attitude, but I am sending you hugs anyway .

I've kinda had to accept the fact that my mom probably will never get better. For now I'm happy as long as she doesn't get worse. I just try not to think of the future and of everything she'll miss (like playing with her grand-kids).

im sorry the last night was a bummer! good thing it happened at the very end though!

how is your mom as of now? ill keep you all in my thoughts <3

Yes, thank god it happened on the very last night of our trip and we were able to have the time of our live before!

Like I said in post 270, my mom has been moved to a center that is for long term care, when people are not really sick anymore, but require too much care to go home. She gets to move around a lot more (in her wheelchair). She is even able to move the wheelchair by herself a little, but gets tired quickly. She started reading again, which is great! We doubt she'll ever get to come back home, but at least she's much more comfortable where she is now.

 

[ronnmel]

Though this is the very last part of our wedding week in Cuba, it's not the last wedding update. There will be two more updates after that, then it will be back to our regular Disney programming.

Going Home​

Day 8 - Saturday May 7th

We got up before sunrise again, but this time it was because we had to go back home.

We finished packing, then made our way to the lobby with our luggage (we were on the same floor as the lobby, no need to call bell service). The breakfast buffet only opened at 7am, so we waited a bit in the lobby, then waited some more downstairs. They had two employes "sleeping" on a bed near the buffet doors with lots of luggage around and a sign that said "overbooked" It was cute.

What we really should have done is gone back to the beach to see a last sunrise, a few of Ron's friends and cousins.

And with that, they bid farewell to our little piece of paradise.

The bus to the airport was suppose to pick us up around 7:30am so we soon were all waiting outside.

Pretty soon the bus arrived and we got in. It picked up people at the same two resorts that it had dropped off people when we arrived.

Our resort was one of the last one of the peninsula, so we took in the sights of all the different resorts, the marina, the golf, and the little city of Varadero (it was dark when we had first got then the week before so we hadn't seen anything). As soon as we got out of the peninsula and onto more boring roads fatigue caught up to Ron and he started nodding off. Not for long though, as from there we only had about 20 minutes to the airport.

Checking in and security were uneventful. On the other side we chatted a bit with our guests and bought a few souvenirs. (A magnet made of sand and seashells, a mini bottle full of sand, and a fake cigar key chain).

We also avoided some drama. See, since we booked as a group the airline just gave us a bunch of seats together, and then proceeded to place people based on when they booked, regardless of parties. Which meant that some couples were separated (for example, the wife would get the seat 22F and the husband 23A). Some friends or family members had also booked at different times, which means they were far from each other. We knew everyone's seating before hand, so we had changed several people's seat. It had worked well on the way to Cuba, or so we thought. Turns out one couple was not happy with that. We had placed them with the guy's parents and his brother and brother's wife, but turns out that those family member had left the couple with both aisle seats and they were not pleased. So when we told them their new seats they refused to change. Luckily, the seats they already had was the one I had given to us, so we just exchanged with them. Crisis averted. It really should not have been that big of a deal in the first place, but I think we were all tired and ready to be home.

So anyway, we finally made it onto the plane.

Good bye Cuba!

This photo is not very clear, but you can see the entire peninsula. Our resort was all the way to the end (left) of the peninsula.

I spent the time watching a movie and dosing off (the movie was interesting, but slow moving and I was tired. I think it was King's Speech). I tried looking at the little map to see if we would pass over Disney again, but it had us leave Florida around Miami so I just put on my movie and forgot about it. I checked the map again a while later to see where we were, and saw that the path had been changed and we had indeed passed over Orlando! It was too late though, as we were now over Georgia. Oh well, at least we saw Disney on the way there, and we will be seeing it again soon.

After a little over 3 hours we made it back to Montreal.
Here's part of downtown.

Montreal (top), South Shore (bottom), and sandwiched in the middle is Parc Jean-Drapeau. In the summer you can go on that bridge (they close it to cars) to go see the international firework competition. I've been twice this summer. It's great!

On that island is our local amusement park, La Ronde (right of the bridge). Here's a close-up of it (this is for you Yuki!). Left of the bridge you can see something that resembles Spaceship Earth, It used to be the American Pavilion during the 1967 World Fair.

Olympic Stadium (Montreal Olympics, 1976)

I love how "fake" and toy like buildings and cars look from a plane.

We got through custom, got our luggage, then said our goodbyes to our guests. It was nice to see my family hug Ron's family goodbye.

That's it. Our week in paradise was over and it was back to reality for us. And was a gloomy reality : rain and cold, my mom in the hospital, and a leaking toilet. Yuck.

Hope you enjoyed reliving our wedding week with me! I sure did. In fact, I can't stop here. I'll be posting one more update with pictures that either didn't fit anywhere, or I got too late to put in the report. I will also be posting the pictures from the photoshoot with my mom.


Up Next : More pictures of the entire week

 

[ronnmel]

At this time in four weeks we will be in Disney!!!

 

[inkedupmomma]

cool plane pics! I still will never fly though Idk why, but our flight was a lot shorter than I thought it would be!

WOOT for 4 weeks! I'm under the 2 month mark now myself... although just barely lOL

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Mel, I really, really enjoyed your wedding report. I am sad it is over! But I am excited to see the other pictures (especially the ones with your mother)! Your trip is getting so close! I am so excited for you!

 

[ronnmel]

cool plane pics! I still will never fly though Idk why, but our flight was a lot shorter than I thought it would be!

WOOT for 4 weeks! I'm under the 2 month mark now myself... although just barely lOL

It's hard for me to understand the fear of flying so I can't really help you there, but I do wish there was some kind of therapy for that so you could get to enjoy the beautiful beaches of the Carribean.

Yay! for under two months. Since most of that time is summer, it should just fly by.

Mel, I really, really enjoyed your wedding report. I am sad it is over! But I am excited to see the other pictures (especially the ones with your mother)! Your trip is getting so close! I am so excited for you!

Thank you. I'm sad it's over too, since writing it helped with the Cuba blues. At least Disney is getting closer and closer, and I have TR like yours to read to help pass the time.