Our Romantic Getaway

The hubby has been away. Alot. Like, so much that now the boys don't ask when he's coming home. It's sad, I know, but it's almost over. April is just busy. We expected it, and now we're almost done! Between business trips and putting new floors in, I have been on my own with the kids for the better part of this month. I missed him! He felt like we hadn't really talked in a long time. And we needed some serious time to sit and pray together concerning some big decisions coming up. So we checked our calendars, lined up three different babysitters, and off we went! We had not spent a single night alone since before I was pregnant with Silas, our first born. He was conceived in July of '05 (just what you were dying to know, right?), so it's been almost 5 years! We stayed at the Joseph Ambler Inn, which is about an hour from where we live. I had reserved what they call the Queen Deluxe. This gives the option of either a fireplace or a jacuzzi tub in your room. Upon checking in, the Husband paid extra and upgraded us to having both in our room. What a guy! :) We got settled in our room and then headed down for dinner. Before I tell you how amazing dinner was, let me start off by saying that I am NOT a steak girl. I was born 'n raised on deer meat and had no intentions of having it any other way. I don't even like the taste of steaks. They are thick, and chewy, and all of those juices dripping off.....ew! But when we got to the restaurant that night, steak was one of the only things that I wasn't afraid to try. Four straight years of nothing but hot dogs, pizza, and spaghetti will do that to a girl. :) So I bit the bullet, said my apologies to bambi, and ordered a 8 oz. Filet Mignon. Our salads arrived. Delicious, except for the thin slivers of anchovies they put on his. Again: ew! The bread was amazing. Still warm and fresh and oh-so-gourmet. We were even served this fancy little dish of orangy-stuff to put on it. I pushed it to the other end of our table, thinking to myself that if it wasn't butter or jelly, there was no way I was going to risk ruining my warm, soft, fluffy bread. He tried it and loved it. So with skepticism thick in the air, I put just enough on the very tip of my perfectly warm, fluffy bread so as not to produce a gag reflex from me, the one who was trying to go out on a limb and order steak. To my surprise, it was delicious! I don't even remember what it was. It wasn't fruity, even though it was orange. And did I mention it had chunks? Oh yes. If you saw a little dish of orange chunky spread on your table you'd think it came from the last party of 2's gag reflex as well! So glad I tried it. :) And then the steak came. Oh boy I was sooo not looking forward to this. I just kept thinking "well, I'll just eat some and then fill up on dessert". This truly is my life moto. :) I grabbed my fork and knife, got my forearms ready for that sawing motion, and went to work. Funny this is, if you'll believe me, my fork alone cut right through it! Surprise of all surprises! "There must be something wrong with this steak", I thought. So I took a leap of faith and gently placed that first piece in my mouth. Fireworks went off, folks. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I do believe I let a small, miniscule moan out. It was the most delicious steak I've ever had. Should be too, for that price. That night's dinner was the most expensive meal we've ever eaten. Don't get me wrong, I've had my fair share of dinners at the country club. But all of those expenses went on daddy's card, not ours! :) This year will mark our 6 year wedding anniversary, and we never even ate that good on our honeymoon! So, needless to say, dinner was a winner. We finished up at the restaurant and made our way back to our room. I was freezing. I wanted nothing more but to crawl in that big beautiful jacuzzi tub that he so generously paid extra for. But there was one problem. He doesn't take baths. This was supposed to be a no-tv-no-cell-phone-no-computer trip, which meant if I took a bath, he'd be resigned to sitting there waiting for me to get done. He's pretty selfless, but I knew that was too much to ask. I've begged and begged for him to take a bath with me for 5 years, but to no avail. He's always said that the tub is too small....it's a waste of time.....the water gets cold too fast....yada yada yada. But the poor guy was stuck. I was getting in that jacuzzi, and he was coming in with me! He started the water, and we turned on the fireplace. He even filled it all the way up (the tub, that is. not the fireplace) because we weren't responsible for paying the water bill. :) It was way too hot at first, so we both just stood there awkwardly wincing from the pain. Lovely visual, eh? By the time we got settled in, we noticed a cute little remote control pad mounted on the wall. Ahhhh, bubbles! How wonderful! I sat back and prepared myself for what was sure to be a lovely experience. He started pushing buttons and the thing exploded. Not literally, but imagine this: The water is just about up to my neck. 4 inches from the top of the tub. These jets are producing softball size bubbles, which are now splashing up, out, and over the sides, onto the floor. I start to panic. I am imagining the adorable 75 year old couple staying in the room beneath us, suddenly getting flooded out by our over-flowing, expensively upgraded jacuzzi. He is slightly amused by all of my concern and slowly but surely starts turning around to reach the control panel again. It was so loud I think our waitress in the restaurant could hear us. I start saying in a loud, overly-concerned voice "this is not fun! this is not fun! this is not fun!!!" Finally the bubbles cease. All is quiet. I give him the look of "don't you dare push another button". I start grabbing towels to lay on the wet, tiled floor when it all starts back up again! What he thought was the "stop" button ended up to be the "pause" button and these jacuzzi eruptions kept starting back up every 2-3 minutes. How could a cold, wet woman relax in these conditions!? Between the noise of the jets and me slightly yelling "this is not fun! this is not fun!", I never in a million years thought anyone else could actually hear us. The noise finally subsided when we heard the woman in the room directly above us whisper three short words. I have no idea what it was that she actually said, but the fact that I could hear her whispering meant that she was obviously able to hear everything that went on in our little jacuzzi escapade. I was mortified. I was positive she would know, the next morning at breakfast, that we were indeed the couple in the dramatically noisy room below. And what does a couple who have been married for 5 years talk about while in a jacuzzi. Budgets! Seemingly ridiculous, but it was necessary. And fun, if you can believe that. Our time away was wonderful. We missed the kids, and came to realize that we really do enjoy living with them. But it gave us some quiet time, which was very needed. I think it had been years since we spent that much time praying together. The kids survived without, none of the babysitters pulled out their hair in frustration, and we grew closer to God as a couple. Hopefully it can be repeated before the next 5 years come and go. :)