Niagara Falls holds a very special place in our hearts. In 2005, it’s where we proposed to each other. In 2006, it’s where we got married. And every year since then, it’s been where we return to renew our wedding vows. That is, until this year. Now that we’re living in Florida, a trip to the former Honeymoon Capital of the World isn’t simply a 90-minute drive along the QEW any more.
So, we did some research and discovered a beautiful place, worthy for our vow renewal. We decided to go to Honeymoon Island State Park, one of the country’s best beaches. It’s certainly easy to see why:
Much like our bench in the Botanical Gardens of Niagara Falls, we found a nice, sitting place where we could enjoy the natural beauty around us while renewing our vows. With the summer heat still too much for Mindy, we made sure to take breaks to wade through the cool water between each vow discussion.
With our vows renewed, we enjoyed the beach. We love seeing animals wherever we go, and the location did not disappoint! We saw, in no particular order: a pod of dolphins swim right by the shore, but their brief surfacing was too quick for our camera; lots of pelicans fishing; pencil fish and other fishes no bigger than a dime; mollusks – one HUGE one and one in a beautiful, orange shell:
…crabby things:
…and osprey:
To end our day at the beach, and to continue a tradition Mindy started with her proposal in 2005, we walked to the middle of a bridge (it’s not the Rainbow Bridge overlooking the Niagara River just downstream from the Falls, but it was perfect nonetheless!), and with 2011 pennies from our respective countries, we made a wish and threw our coins into the water below. Here’s a picture of us just after making our wish:
For dinner on our special day, Mindy made homemade spinach fettucine noodles with an onion-alfredo sauce. Toasting our anniversary with a glass of sparkling apple cider was nothing less than perfect.
Overall, our fifth wedding anniversary was wonderful and memorable. We felt we held true to our tradition, and we wonder where in the world our future vow renewals will take place…
We hope everyone’s enjoying the final days of summer and we’ll post again soon with our adventures of Florida!
Love,
Ligeia and Mindy 🙂 🙂
Mike
Way to go!
Heart L
Beautiful! And scenery to go w. special event!
Naomi
Hello Ligiea and Mindy, Congratulations on your 5th anniversary! I can say my best advice after 22 years of marriage is you get out of the relationship what you put into it especially early on. These are the days you will reflect upon later on, Its not always going to be easy when life dishes out its challenges but you will know you have each other at the end of the day and thats what matters! Your commitment to one another is what gets you through those times. I'm glad your doing well and I wish you all the best! Your old friend and neighbor,
Naomi
Anonymous
Congratulations!
It feels like yesterday at the Willow Pond and its 5 years already.
You had such a lovely wedding!
Glad you two found a beautiful spot to celebrate the return of this special day.
With all these resolutions nothing can go wrong now!
Ligeia and Mindy, all the best wishes from Oma 🙂 and Opa 🙁