We got up early and headed out to Irakleio to go to the open air market. We got really lost, that is one confusing city. We never found the market and it took us 45 mins to find out way out and get on the road to Knosos. Knosos is the palace of King Minos which was built over 4,000 years ago. We explored Knosos and then head to a winery a few miles up the road. We couldn’t do a tasting but we are bringing back a few bottles. The winery was very high up and had amazing views. To get back to the hotel from the winery we had to go back through Irakleio, needless to say we spent another 45mins lost in the city trying to get back on the road to the hotel. None of the streets are named and they go from being a 2 lane road to a very narrow alley and back again. Plus the drivers are insane weaving in and out of traffic. The highlight of the day was where we stopped for a late lunch on the road back to the hotel. Below is a short video of our experience.

For dinner we headed back to Rethymnon to walk in Old Town, found a excellent sidewalk restaurant and had wine and Gyros.
Tomorrow we are going to conquer Samaria Gorge!

The wedding is just around the corner at 10 days! We are getting pretty excited, especially to see everyone! We are incredibly lucky to have such wonderful friends and family take time out of their lives to help us celebrate our special day. After a year and a half of planning it’s hard to believe that the wedding is just next weekend. Our entire family has been hard at work finishing the final details that will hopefully create a memorable weekend for everyone. We hope everyone attending the ceremony and reception have a marvelous time.

A lot of people have been asking us where we will be heading after the wedding for our honeymoon. Thanks to Anthony’s parents gift of a week at a time-share resort we were able to choose any location we wanted. After searching the globe for a location that wasn’t in hurricane territory, was relaxing but had plenty of activities nearby we decided on the island of Crete! We are super excited about this trip. Neither of us have been to Greece and this will actually be Anthony’s first trip outside of the US. We will be leaving on the red-eye Sunday evening and after 3 flights we will arrive in Crete at 5 pm on Monday. We are looking forward to visiting all the historical sites, wineries and basking in the sun on the Mediterranean. We will also be spending one day/night in Athens on our return trip where we will get to visit the Acropolis, which has been on my must see list since childhood. For all those inquiring minds here are a few facts about Crete!

Crete is Greece’s largest and southernmost island

Crete is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean.

The people of Crete refer to themselves as Cretan, not Greek.

Crete is believed to be the birthplace of Zeus.

Crete has been ruled by the Romans, Arabs, Venetians, Turks and was even occupied by the Germans during WWII.

Crete is home to Samaria Gorge, the longest gorge in Europe.

There are more than 3000 caves in Crete.

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Seems our lives are surounded by happy couples and wedding talk these days. Between my sisters recent marraige, our own wedding plans and now my youngest sisters. Thats right folks my sister Kelly has now decided to jump in the fold as she has recently become engaged. Congratulations Kelly and Alex! I look forward to being a part of your special day.

As I have mentioned before my oldest sister Kara and Andy her long time boyfriend were recently married in a small ceremony in Chapel Hill, NC. Well last weekend the whole LaFleur-Willard clan got together to celebrate these two wonderful people and their marraige. We had a great time staying in Chapel Hill at the Rigmor House playing kickball, horseshoes, singing around the bonfire and eating!  Check out   http://andykara.smugmug.com/ for all the photos.

We have finally sent all the save the dates out. It is a big relief to have those in the mail. We had an appointment at the post office for 8am Saturday to get our passports so we made it our goal to place the save the dates in the mail then. On top of getting our Save the Dates in the mail we also got our passports ordered. Which we will definetly need for our honeymoon to Greece! This will be Anthonys first trip outside the U.S. and we are very VERY excited about it! We have our hotel booked but we still have to work out the flights and other details. No matter what it’s sure to be an awesome trip.

 It was a very early and productive Saturday morning for us and to reward ourselves we got coffee and bagel sandwiches from Market Street Bagels! They are, in my opinion at least, the BEST bagels in town. All made fresh and they have tons of different flavors. I had the jalopeno chedder bagel, spicy and very yummy! 

A special Thank you to Anthony’s Mom and cousin Jeanette – We couldn’t have gotten the Save-the-Dates all done in time if it wasn’t for your help,  Thank You – Thank You!!

My dress has arrived!!! I will obviously not be sharing photos of this but I am very excited that my dress has arrived safe and sound. I am doubly excited that I will only need minor alterations mainly in the length -there’s a shocker! Þ

Now that my dress is taken care of all I need to do is find a veil, bridesmaid dresses, and tuxes. yikes!

My sister Kara and her boyfriend Andy were married on Friday! I am so excited and happy for them! Andy has long been considered part of the family but it’s still nice that it’s official. They had a small civil ceremony with only 4 attendants. It was a major surprise to both familys that they had secretly wed on Friday morning. Check out her blog for all the details -> Kara & Andy Got Married

Kara and Andy on the steps of the old courthouse