Our Babymoon

In the last few years “the babymoon” has become en vogue, both as a term and as a thing to do. The babymoon is a last get-away for expectant parents, before they have to dive into the rigors of having a new baby.

The idea was especially appealling to us, as we both thought a vacation from parenting would do us good before becoming the parents of two. So we jumped on the opportunity of a mid-winter get away WITHOUT MEGAN.

Mac’s parents came up Thursday night and Megan seemed quite content with the explaination that “Mamaw and Papa will feed you, play with you, change your diaper, and put you to bed while Mommy and Daddy are gone.” In fact she raised minimal protest as we said goodbye, although I was starting to have Mommy-guilt about leaving my baby. This was the first time both Mac and I had left her together, but I knew it’d be good for all of us.

Our flight to Phoenix was uneventful and actually quite relaxing. I walked onto the plane with nothing but a Starbuck’s smoothie in my hand – no baby to lug, no diaper bag, no stroller (Mac did have a small bag that contained a book for me) . I kept feeling like I had forgotten something.

The two and a half hour flight seemed to pass in half the time the hour and forty-five minute flight to LA takes, perhaps because we got to read and nap instead of wrestling with a very active lap child for the entire time!

Once in Phoenix we took the shuttle to the rental car center to pick up our car. As we walked through the parking lot to our car, we passed rows of the generic small sized sedans that we were expecting. When we got to space H-3 we did a double take, as we realized we would be cruising Arizona in the midget-hurst that is the Chrystler HHR, letters that we decided must stand for “highly humorous rental.” But it got us to the resort without any problems, that is, if you don't count the radio turning on every time we used the blinkers.

I spent the most of the days attending a pathology conference while Mac golfed. We had some time in the afternoon to hang out and we got to catch up with two of Mac’s close college friends and their family. We got to lay around all day Sunday, napping and watching football (with no one asking us to read stories or do puzzles!).

We enjoyed some great dinners: Chaparal at the resort, Drinkwaters, and Vincent's on Camelback, which was part of Restaurant Magazine's top 50 restaurants in THE WORLD for 2003. We thought it lived up to the billing and were just bowled over by all the comp's that Vincent was giving out. Vincent selected two desserts for both me and Mac "on the house, on the house!" We couldn't think of a restaurant experience that compared.

The only snag in our trip was the flight home. because of the bad weather in Portland, we were delayed 5 hours and had a particularly long and boring stint in the Phoenix airport. Plus we didn't get to see our little Meggie before she went to bed that night! But, in the end, we made it home safely.

I have the rest of the week off, which I will be spending in Mercury detox. Yes, I went a little crazy with the seafood, but how could I resist bisque with fresh lobster and caviar, tuna tartare, crab legs, a seared ahi steak, or grilled lobster with fresh habanero pasta? Besides do you really think my unborn son will really miss those few IQ points?? And Mac is trying to get back into the habit of sensible eating after gorging ourselves for five straight days.

No, it was all that exotic or adventurous when "Mommy and Daddy were in Zona" (Arizona) but it was still a great (kidfree!) trip.