Our Wedding

Big Little Kids

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

This year we went on adventure! I’m not entirely sure what sparked it but we decided to be big kids spend the day at the races. Yep that’s right, the finger lakes gaming and race track. The only money we spent in the slot machines is the $20 they give you for signing up for their membership club, we only came out on top there because we spent $0. The races were another story. We went in with ~$100 just something to play with, came out with $87 after being there all day and betting on every race. We went in knowing practically nothing and although the most we were ever at was about $112 by the end of the day we had a lot better understanding of how things worked.

After the racetrack we headed off to a little kid race track (go karts) at the Pole Position raceway. It was a lot of fun! the cars go way faster than we realized. It actually made Rachel feel a bit wishy washy but Randy liked it so much he bought a membership (contributed to partially by the race we paid for already) so future races would be cheaper.

Lunch and a Movie

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes an extravagant vacation abroad is just what you need. Other times just a simple lunch and a movie will do just great. In the hussle and bussle that is our normal daily lives it’s important to slow down every once and a while just to spend some time together. This year for our anniversary that’s all we did. We spent the day together enjoying each other’s company.

Skaneateles for 6 years

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IMG_0687We’ve spent a lot of time in the finger lakes but for the most part it’s always been day trips. For our 6th anniversary we spent the weekend in Skaneateles. It was mostly just a relaxing weekend in a bed and breakfast. We spent the evenings in the local night scene, went for a lot of walks, sunsets, some shopping and a boat tour around the lake. Overall it was just a nice and relaxing weekend with each other.

Niagara Falls Anniversary

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Not everyone can say they live within two hours of a natural wonder of the world. Fewer still get the chance to visit it on a regular basis. We’ve spent a lot of time at Niagara Falls over the years but there’s a lot we haven’t done there. For our 4th anniversary we went back to spend the day. We went on a journey behind the falls experienced maid of the mist and rode the giant ferris wheel on Clifton Hill for the first time despite having been there probably a hundred times before.

Taughannock Falls

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Taughannock Falls is one of those local places that is amazing and many people aren’t even aware of. Rachel wasn’t until I took her for the first time years ago but now it’s one of our favorite spots. That’s why we spent the day there by ourselves for our 2nd anniversary.

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Spontaneous Disney

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Rachel and I do pretty much everything last minute. This includes planning a trip to Europe only three weeks before, to scheduling our wedding a year and a half away and only beginning the planning during the last five months. I’m not sure whether this is good or bad but it’s worked for us so far so why stop now?

Last weekend we had made plans to go somewhere for our 1 year anniversary, but until Friday at 5pm we had no clue where we were going. Using the last minute deals on travelocity (at the same time searching cheaptickets, expedia, orbitz and several others) we found a great deal for two nights and airfare to Orlando Florida. We still have tickets to Disney remaining from our last trip so it seemed like a great idea.

We had an awesome time! The last time we were at Disney World we bought a very neat wooden photo album. The only problem is the last time we went we didn’t take anywhere near enough photos to fill it. This trip definitely fixed that situation and we’ll have a new album to share soon.


one of the gardens and ponds at Epcot Center.

High(er) Resolution Wedding Slide Show

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I just stumbled upon stage6 and decided I’d finally upload a better quality version of the wedding slide show like I promised months ago. The experience has been good thus far except the site forces you to convert to divx before doing an upload. Since I didn’t have anything to do that with it took me a bit longer than I had hoped but worth it in the end.

[stage6]http://stage6.divx.com/user/randyaa/video/1776882/Randy-and-Rachel’s-Wedding-6/9/2007[/stage6]

Marry Me

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

According to the New York Times there’s a new trend going on in the world of proposals. People are paying lots of cash to have photographers disguise themselves in order for them to capture the moment. Normally this is a very private and very special occasion however people are beginning to publish everything about their life on the Internet and what’s the sense of leaving out the most romantic part of your life? To that end I’ve decided to share our story for everyone to read.

Our engagement story is both romantic and spontaneous. Maybe that’s the same thing? I had the ring in my possession for months in advance just waiting for the right time to ask. In October of 2005 we found out that our good friend Charles was living in London and he offered us a place to stay. We looked into flights and since it was past high-travel season the flights were dirt cheap. We were able to fly direct to London from jersey for under $300 a piece. After talking with Charles we found out that London would be celebrating Guy Fawkes day in 3 weeks and we made our plans to start our vacation that weekend.

At that time I had still not decided whether to use this opportunity to reveal my intentions or not. In fact until 5 minutes before walking out the door for the airport I still hadn’t made up my mind. At the time I knew of no truly romantic places in London. However, as many of you know, just before leaving the house I did decide to take the ring with me.

Once there, and after talking with Charles I decided that the top of the London Eye would be the perfect place. It took some effort, but I convinced Rachel to wait until the last day of our trip to ride it. This was so we could end our trip with the best part of all (providing she said yes).

Marry me RachelWhen we were finally at the top I asked a gentleman who was in the capsule with us to take our picture, much to Rachel’s dismay. She couldn’t understand why I would want a picture of us at the top when we wouldn’t even be able to tell and she asked:

Why don’t we get some shots of the beautiful scenery?

Then, while she was posing for the picture, I bent down on my knee and she began to ask “he’s taking our picture, why are you tying your sho….ohhhhhH!”

Will you marry me?

and we all know her answer.

In the beginning the only plan I had was to ask a stranger to take our picture at a romantic place and pop the question while he did. I think it turned out beautifully and the spontaneity just added to the romantic feel of the moment. What does this mean? That I’m 2 years ahead of The New York Times.