Honeymoon

     If you ask me about our honeymoon I usually say, "well, we didn't really have one..."  In my mind, a honeymoon involves a week away from life, somewhere new and exciting where its just the two of you relaxing and out of touch with the rest of the world.  Due to not wanting to spend all of our money and not wanting to miss too much work/school we ended up getting a good deal for three nights in Phoenix at the Biltmore.  We had a wonderful time but I guess being in my home city and seeing our parents all of the three days (yes it's true) didn't qualify it as a true honeymoon (bratty and entitled, right? :/) 

    The Arizona Biltmore is a resort in the middle of Phoenix, pretty close to downtown.  It's 1920s gothic style is really neat and it has a lot of cool history.  It was so nice, we loved our time there!  There was hardly anyone there with school being back in session so it was pretty much just us.

    

    

    It was about noon on Monday, the first day of our honeymoon and we decided to head up to Paradise Valley Mall to do some shopping.  As we were driving along the 51N something snapped under the car and it obviously wasn't working right.  Zach had to cross four lanes to get over on the shoulder. We were using my grandpa's Malibu for the couple days and on Sunday the battery had died.  My poor dad took it to a shop Sunday morning before the wedding and picked it up during the reception so we could have it for the week and it was having trouble again.  I tell ya, we had the worst luck with cars that week! We couldn't believe our luck and laughed so hard.  He started calling his mom because she was the closest to where we were because she was staying up at church near where Jeff was still in the hospital  and I started calling my mom.  She was pretty surprised when she answered the phone, what husband calls his mom the first day of his honeymoon?  She was with Jeff and who else but my mom and dad!!  What luck, they were all 10 minutes away from where we were stranded.  Tina handed the phone to my dad and Zach explained what happened.  After hanging up the phone we just laughed about how funny and kinda awkward it was to need to be bailed out by our parents less than 24 hours after getting married.  Since the car was dead and it was 110 degrees outside we got out of the car and waited on the busy highway since the car was getting hotter than it felt outside.  About 15 minutes later not one but two vehicle containing mom, dad, and Tina pulled up :)  Everyone laughed and couldn't believe our bad luck!  It was decided that Tina would take Zach and I back to the hotel and my parents would wait with their van until the tow truck could come.  

    Tina first took us to the grocery store so we could get some food.  We hadn't thought about what we would eat while at the Biltmore and forgot about how expensive it was to eat out for every meal :/ Back at the hotel we swam and waited for my mom to call back about the status of the car.  If it was going to be fixed she was going to bring it to us.  It all worked out in the end thanks to our wonderful and sacrificial parents who wanted to make sure we were well taken care of :)

    On Monday night we treated ourselves to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Zach had never been there before and it's one of those places I really miss since living in IN.  He had some sort of cajun pasta dish and I think I had a sandwich.  Then we split my favorite cheesecake, Dulce de Leche.  Yum :)

    We HAD to go golfing while there, of course! :)  Zach was going to schedule a tee time and I said "make it early so we can avoid the heat!!"  I think his tee time was 7:30am and boy was I glad for that.  Even though we had to be up at 6am to be ready and get some practice in before the set time, it was perfect!  The temps were in the high 80s or low 90s and it was sunny and clear and a gorgeous day to be outside.  Zach golfed while I rode along in the cart reading the newspaper and admiring all the incredible houses on the course.  A great way to spend a morning!

 My cute golfin' husband :)

    Since it was our last full day in Phoenix and since Jeff and Tina we going to stay in Phoenix longer than us we decided to go visit them in the hospital for a bit to see how Jeff was.  He was feeling much better and the pneumonia was clearing up but I don't think we knew for sure when he would be released.  We chatted with them for a bit and then headed back to the hotel and planned to go out to dinner.

   Tuesday night our vows were put to the test (well, at least for me they were ;]).  Zach had gotten a bad ear infection or something during the previous week from lots of swimming and it had either stopped bothering him or he stopped complaining but it got much worse and was extremely painful for him Tuesday.  It was hurting and also giving him a terrible headache.  We grabbed some stuff at Walgreens so we could try and fix the problem ourselves.  We decided not to go out and just ordered pick up and began trying to treat his ear.  It was not getting any better and the stuff we were doing was causing him more pain.  I called concierge to see if there were any redimeds or clinics we could go to (as it was past 8pm).  We did not want to go to the emergency room!  They recommended an in hotel doctor service but that was upwards of $600!  I texted my mom to tell her that we might not get to meet them for breakfast before our flight home because I wanted to get to an urgent care right when it opened so he could have meds before we flew home.  She suggested we call her friend Kathy, a Nurse Practitioner, and see what she would say.  My mom called Kathy first to brief her of the situation and then I called Kathy to see if we could come over and have her take a look and probably get a prescription from her.  As Zach was talking to Kathy and explaining his symptoms I was lying on the bed and having a major pity party in my head.  

    When Zach started to really complain about his ear hurting I wish I could say I was the sweet and concerned wife who would do anything to make him feel better and maybe I seemed that way on the outside but really all I kept thinking was "I really hope this doesn't ruin our last night of our honeymoon before we go back to reality tomorrow!"  I was hoping we would finally get to enjoy this cool hot tub we found at the hotel and drink the champagne that concierge gave us (well, not gave, we paid for it).  That's normal to desire that for a newly married woman but I was holding on to my expectations pretty tightly and was finding myself getting angry at Zach.  "Why can't he just suck it up, it can't be that bad!  He's going to ruin our last night!"  As my pity party raged on, unbeknownst to Zach, I had a thought.  "Abby, you vowed 'in sickness and in health'.  This is one of those 'in sickness' times.  Stay true to your promise and love him in the way he needs it now!"  Praise God!  That truth knocked me out of my stupor and I was able to start being more sympathetic and loving towards my husband.  We drove to Bill and Kathy's and she took a look in his ear.  It was decided that he had a lot of wax buildup and the swimming and his constant scratching of his inner ear caused bacteria and infection to grow.  She put a little vinegar in his ear to restore the PH balance and gave us some for the trip home.  Nothing was prescribed (except tylenol to help the pain) and we gratefully went our way.  My dreams for our last night didn't happen and I was ok with that.  We went to sleep and got up early to check out and meet my parents for breakfast.  We ate at a little place in Tempe near ASU and said our goodbyes as they dropped us off at the airport to fly home to Fort Wayne.

   On our flights home we ended up delayed in Minneapolis for a couple hours which put us getting into Fort Wayne a lot later.  I really didn't know when we would actually get home and I was supposed to work the next day.  Thankfully Jenny, who I had subbing for me while I was gone, was gracious and willing to take one more day for me so I could sleep in and adjust before going back to teaching.  Zach's ear didn't bother him to much on the flights home and by the end of the week seemed much better thanks to the vinegar drops.

   The newly but not publicly engaged couple, (it was getting announced the coming Sunday)Andrew and Emily, picked us up at the airport and took us to our apartment where we crashed and slept on our new sectional because our bedroom furniture wasn't ready yet.  We were exhausted yet so thankful to be home and married and excited to start real life as husband and wife :)

   So that was our "honeymoon" :)  We're getting ready to take our first real vacation together out of state and with NO parents (no offense ;]) at the end of May.  We're heading to Myrtle Beach, SC and can't wait to be there!  Hopefully no car troubles or ear infections will be documented on that trip!