I Must've Done Something Good: Part IV - The Honeymoon

Alright, hiatus over. Back to the good stuff.

We left off here: Part III.

This handsome fellow and I had just said, “I do!” to morning-coffee-drinking, dirty-laundry-doing, random-slow-dancing, bed-hogging, you-are-stuck-with-me-FOR-EV-A marital bliss, and we were ready to party.

Our reception did not disappoint. Have I told you how fun our friends are? 

(Also, ladies, please take note how ridiculously awesome and professionally good-looking Luke's best man and my new brother-in-law Jake is, way over there on the left. You're welcome, Jake.) 

The morning after the wedding, Luke quite literally had to drag me out of bed. I had a grip on my pillow that would suggest I had a million dollars hidden inside of the pillow case. Though this sadly was not true, I was tired. So, so, so tired. 14 months of planning our big day, mixed in with a dash of 1^st year teacher struggles, plus the idea of packing up to move 10 days later was finally catching up to me and made me want to bury my head in my fabulous hotel pillows and never come out, a-la-scared-turtle.

Alas, I did, but not after making Luke promise that I would get daily naps for the next few… oh… months. He’s kept pretty good on that promise.  

We spent the morning with our families at Panera opening our cards, and then were off on our fabulous honeymoon awaiting us! We headed north into Wisconsin, toward our final destination of Door County, Wisconsin. After a somewhat scary encounter of getting lost in Milwaukee, in which we encountered a hit-an-run accident in a not so great part of town, we decided to go a little farther and stop for the night. We had our first married date at Panda Express (because we are fancy like that) and bought an $8 bottle of wine for our stop at Super 8 for the night. Ahh… the dream honeymoon getaway.

On Sunday we actually made it up to Door County. Luke and I were loving all of the car time, because it is usually the only place that neither of us are distracted by computers, chores, T.V., etc. We had some really great talks and went through an entire game of Honeymoon Table Topics (if you are a talker and you like conversation starters, I highly recommend investing in some of these bad boys).

When we knew we were getting close, Luke insisted that we needed to pull over to take a picture right as we got into Door County. This is how that conversation went:

Luke: “I bet there’s a huge sign with a pull off so tourists can stop and take pictures!”
Emily: “ I bet it’s a small county sign that we’ll nearly miss driving past.”

Mmm… who was right?

Once we got there, we checked into our absolutely fabulous hotel, Stone Harbor Inn . We cannot say enough good things about staying here. 

  

 After we checked in, all of our days seem to run together, which was exactly what we wanted. We had no schedule, no appointments, no where to be at any particular time. And so, we got to do a little adventuring of our own. 

(The two of us exhibiting our new status as married adults by riding on the luggage cart.)

Waking up to my new husband serving me breakfast in bed. 

(I tell ya what, I am a lucky lady!) 

Biking 10 miles around the lake. 

(One of us was more excited than the other.) 

Kayaking on the bay side in the early morning fog.

(Scary cave we "walked" our kayaks through because it was so low! It was awesome!)

Some of you may ask, "Golly gee, Emily, why do you look drenched in some of these pictures?"
Ahh, thanks for asking, loyal reader. My hubby decided about an hour into our tour that he needed to enter into more of a state of "exhilaration" to get all the bang for his buck. Enter in white caps near to shore.  Enter in Luke paddling us over near them. Enter in kayak tipping in said white caps. Enter in tour guide laughing hysterically as I point at Luke saying, "Lucas! You did that on purpose!!!"

Enter in getting the kayak right-side-up and ourselves situated just as another wave tipped us over again. Our tour guide asked us if that was grounds for divorce.

(He looks quite pleased with himself. I look quite cold.) 

 All in good fun. It made for a great story. 

More of us exemplifying adulthood. 

Pondering the meaning of life, marriage, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Not needing to ponder anything at all. 

Eating. Lots of eating. 

Fancy date nights in fairy-tale-esque places. 

Playing "Find St. Francis." 

(Seriously, St. Francis adopted us. He followed us everywhere. We should not have been surprised seeing as we met here.) 

An afternoon spa surprise, planned ahead of time by by this guy, who made this girl very, very happy. 

(Kayak incident forgiven.) 

Studying the local art. 

But best of all... getting to wake up next to this face.

(And the gelato, of course.)

We never wanted the few days to end, as we finally got to sit back, relax, and soak in all of the blessings God has given to us this past year. We talked about the wedding a little bit at the beginning, but in truth, we spent most of our time just laughing about silly things and enjoying not having to "discuss" or "plan" or "decide". We just were, and we did it together. 

I am quite sure that there is no one else in the world that I would rather be annoyed by, tickled by, prayed for, laughed at, or laughed with for the rest of my life. 

Even if that means tipping over in a kayak once in a while to keep things interesting. 

Next up, the last in this series of posts! I Must've Done Something Good: Part V - Army Life, Army Wife!