Iron Man and I just returned from a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida – just the two of us! This was the first time both of us have been away from the children in a trip that didn’t involve coming home with homeschool curriculum or a new baby. Last time we even pondered the thought of going away without our children was seven years ago in honor of our ten-year anniversary. Turns out I became pregnant that year and little Strawberry was born just two days before that anniversary.
So it was time! This romantic three-day getaway was in celebration of three big upcoming events:
- Our 17th wedding anniversary
- Iron Man’s 40th birthday
- My 40th birthday
Now for the details…
We rented a black Mustang! I can’t remember the last time I’d ridden in a two-door car, but it was fantastic. Drooling over this awesome car left us briefly considering the thought of trading in our Mercury Sable.
Sigh. We loved that car.
We stayed at the beautiful Marriott Harbor Beach Resort, and an unexpected bonus, the stay was free using Iron Man’s Marriott points. One of the few benefits of having a husband who travels a lot for work. Wait, scratch that. It’s the ONLY benefit, but it certainly is a nice one!
We quickly found the best spot in the entire place: the two-seater swing. It basically looked like a baby’s cradle swing, for adults, for two. We returned daily to this wonderfully relaxing spot.
Day 2 we went parasailing. We did this once before, 16 years ago to be exact. Apparently, age and rough waters can have a dramatic effect on the experience. The first time I did this at the age of 23, I loved it, and was looking forward to doing it again. This time… well… the seas were angry and my stomach isn’t what it used to be.
For the first 20 minutes of the boat ride, things were looking good. See? Don’t we look happy? A little windy, but we’re tough!
Then the waves began to crash and rock the boat. Here we are five minutes later. Hair wet from the splashing ocean, and my stomach was starting to churn.
Iron Man and I were the second out of five sets of people to parasail that day. By the time we had our turn, I was feeling a little green, but tried to keep cheerful. I had the slim hope that the breeze would lighten my nausea.
Alas, my hopes were unfulfilled. The ride in the air only aggravated my dizziness, and by the time we returned, I had very little color left in my face. The driver had me sit in the front and instructed me to pick a building and look at it. I asked if he had a bag in case I needed it. He told me no, but to just aim outside the boat. No more photos were taken of us that day, my friends, but I can tell you that in what was probably the most humiliating moment of my life, ten witnesses were present as I did indeed aim outside the boat.
Enough said about that.
We replenished my lost calories (ahem) at the Blue Moon, a romantic spot with delicious seafood. We tried ceviche for the first time. Iron Man expected to like it and was not disappointed. I expected to hate it, and was surprisingly pleased with it. We would both order it again in a heartbeat if given the opportunity. Creme brulee with a very slight coconut rum taste for dessert. I’ve never met a creme brulee I didn’t like, and this one ranks one of the tops for me.
Day 3 we stayed near the hotel most of the day. We swam in the beautiful hotel pool for a while, laid under the cabana at the beach, and then rented a wave runner for a half hour. No pictures of this adventure, but we both enjoyed it immensely and briefly wondered what wave runners are going for these days.
Later in the day we took the Mustang to the River Walk, AKA the Venice of America. Lovely.
We couldn’t find anyone to take our photo together at this romantic spot, so we took a snapshot of our shadows together.
Then we did the “hold the camera out as far as your arm will stretch and see what you get” thing. Not bad, eh?
We finished off the evening at J. Alexander’s, our hands-down favorite restaurant due to the amazing artichokes appetizer, great seafood, dark and romantic ambience, and jazz music in the background. We could have stayed there talking all night.
Fort Lauderdale for two was amazing. We missed the children terribly, and three days was probably the extent of time we could be away from them. But three days was also the perfect amount of time to re-kindle the fire, wine and dine each other, and focus on our marriage. Who knows when we’ll do something like this again, but I hope we won’t wait fifteen more years! :-)
My husband took me away for 3 days for my birthday a couple of weekends ago, it was lovely! The first time our toddler had been alone without us, and she quite loved the special time with grandad too. I remember as a child having holidays at grandma and grandads house so mum and dad could go away, maybe once a year. We’re lucky that with so much family around, it’s not too hard to find someone happy to take her, though we won’t allow her to stay with certain family overnight until she’s older. Obviously tiny ones have to tag along, but generally they are not too much trouble.
We intend to try and make special weekends away, just him and I and possibly the newest baby on a regular, perhaps yearly, basis. I don’t think we have ever paid full price for a hotel, with all the different off-peak schemes around. Right now we have some vouchers allowing us to stay free provided we buy breakfast and dinner in the hotel, so we hope to take them up WITH toddler in tow sometime around janurary.
I think it’s great that you’re making time to focus on each other and your marriage.
Thanks! I’m glad you had a great birthday weekend with your husband. You are right, it’s wonderful to make time to focus on your marriage. :-)
Michelle, I am so happy that you both had an amazing time together. It looks like you had a lot of fun…well except your getting sick. :( I am really happy that god worked it out for you two to take this well needed time for each other.
Oh…and I love how in your pictures with the mustang how there is a family sized van in the background :) ha ha. It must have been lots of fun driving that sports car around!
Looking forward to seeing you and catchin up!
Thanks, Leslie! I hadn’t really thought about the van in the background, but that really is funny now that you mention it! :-)
I am so glad you posted about your trip. I was so excited to see pictures. I hoped that you had an amazing time together and obviously you did. Funny about the van in the background. How many people saw you and would never guess that you are the parents of eight? :-) SOOO happy for you.
Hi Julie, we really did have an amazing time! :-)
Congrats!
For Christmas the year before last, my parents gave us two nights at a bed and breakfast. Mark and I had never been away from the overnight children except for trips to the hospital to have another baby. It was nice except that Mark suffered with a stomach bug the whole time.
We’re also celebrating those three milestones this year, but with baby coming next month will not be planning a getaway. However, reading about your trip has inspired me to make an effort to do something sans kids as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
I think your next trip should be a family vacation to southeast Tennessee, I know this great family who lives there and would love to put you up!
Hi Kimberly, thank you for the sweet invitation! I hope we can get our families together at some point.
Congratulations on your three milestones too! :-)
Happy Anniversary. Sounds liek a great time. We just celebrated our 17th also. We were able to sneak away for a night. I figured one night was better than nothing. Like the car also.
What a great way to celebrate three special events.
Thank you, Susan! Congratulations on your 17th anniversary too! :-)
I love the pictures, you two look so sweet! I’ve been pining to go on a weekend alone with just my hubby for awhile but it seems that I always have a young nursling so it’s hard to get away at night. We have a wedding coming up in a few months in Nashville, TN and I’ve been thinking it would be nice to leave the older kiddos with grandma and just take the baby but it’s still just not quite the same as just the two of us. Sorry to hear you got sick, we had a weekend trip to celebrate our 5th anniversary and I got the stomach flu the first evening, no fun!! Glad you recovered from your seasickness and enjoyed the rest of your time.
Hi Amy, my husband and I have always said that it’s an official “date” if you only bring one child, especially if the child doesn’t talk yet! :-) However, it really was a different and extra romantic experience being truly just the two of us.