Celebration in the Keys

When I asked Eric what he'd like to do for his 40th birthday,  he said, "Ride a Harley in the Keys."  My thought... yeah right.  He's lucky Matt is his friend.  Matt got wind of Eric's dream and he called me with the down low and had a plan.  We would all fly in on a Thursday, spend Friday exploring Miami and then ride Harley's from Miami to the Keys on Saturday, flying home Sunday afternoon.  Worked for me.  Sometimes my mind has a hard time planning things like this.  Not the big boys:)  Emails were sent, calls were made, reservations confirmed.  Eric's 40th would be spent with the Cox's, Beckstead's and Bateman's in the Florida Keys, January 9-14.

Eric had heard rave reviews about Joe's Stonecrab Restaurant in South Beach Miami so that was our first stop.  Quite expensive but we were celebrating and exploring new things so we dug in.

Matt ordered a burger because he's not much for fish or seafood.  I am kind of on the same page as him.

Eric's yummy $60+ plate of food.  Was it worth it?  Not sure.  Ask him.

Matt & Nedra were also celebrating 5 years of marriage this very day.  They are still honeymooners.

We walked to the beach and anticipated just a leisure stroll and relaxing in the sand.

Eric had other plans.  He took off his shirt and went running into the ocean like he was on some TV show.  We all stood there and laughed at him because (1) he was happy and (2) because he's funny to watch do all of the above.

After his dip in the pool, he proceeded to roll in the sand. #hesbringingsexyback

Brad took off his shirt and joined in the fun.

Matt was already annoyed at my picture taking.  However, Eric's insistent pleas to join him the water, got to Matt and he jumped (probably more like walked gingerly because it was a bit cold) in too.  He gave us all a little show of his own.

Soaking it up.

Eric ate his Wheaties as a child (and everyone else's for that matter) and is almost as tall as this building at 40 years old.  His mom would be proud.

We stayed at a time share resort in Ft. Lauderdale that housed all of us comfortably.  We had fun hanging out chatting and eating, of course.

Prior to the trip Eric and Matt emailed everyone telling us to bring our best 70s outfits.  They didn't tell us what we were doing though.  Just bring the 70s (a nod to being born in 1973) clothes.  Eric took this very serious.  He went into Joann's and picked out this material and convinced the girl at the cutting counter to make him a shirt.  She couldn't say no.  Then, he had to have these polyester white bell bottom pants.  I had to track the mail lady down the day we were flying out because he was desperate for them to complete his outfit. The pants came all the way from Blockbuster Costumes in upstate New York and made it through a blizzard to get here.  Eric seriously loves the pants and says they are his new temple pants.  He was looking very dapper.

Savers was the only place I looked (aside from a few phone calls to friends to see if they had any 70s attire).  This dress met the requirements and was only $7.  We did 1973 well.

Nedra custom made Matt some bell bottoms but they didn't really show up in the photos.  They picked up the scarf and Nedra's outfit at Goodwill in Denver.   They look good, not like weirdos from the 70s (referring to the couple above them).

Brad took this to a whole new level.  He had on denim (one size fits all) bell bottoms, that awesome shirt, faux hair on his chest and women's platform boots.  Pam scored her outfit from Savers as did Brad.  Brad had lots to say about those boots, most of it that they were very uncomfortable and how do women wear those things.  When he lifted up his pant leg to reveal those beauties, we all about passed out.  They fit like a glove.

Brad and Pam always wanted to sit in the back and cuddle.  They are one hot couple!

On our way to dinner we saw the temple.  Had to document that.

You should have seen the looks we got at this Cuban restaurant in Miami.  We were a total freak show. 

After dinner, the rest of the surprise was to go salsa dancing.  To my knowledge, none of us know how to salsa dance.  Nevertheless, but we found a little place to cut a rug and show what we were made of.  We lasted about 30 minutes.  I'll just say this, Eric did most of the dancing and entertaining.  Nedra said that's the first time she's seen Matt dance so we will chalk it up to a successful evening.

The whole purpose in coming to the Keys - the ride!

First things first though, lunch.  The guys rode to this little place where we ladies met up with them.  It was a quaint restaurant on the water with great food.

We couldn't let them ride off without a few pictures.  Matt is totally obliging all the pictures by now and has realized it's not going to stop.

Eric insisted on this pose.  It looks natural, right?  That's how I would ride the motorcycle:)

Pam and Brad are a little more practical, with this pose anyway.

Eric made sure to get a tan on those guns.

On every motorcycle trip these guys have taken, there's always a picture of Matt relieving himself on the roadside.  We couldn't break precedence.

Too bad I left my leather vest, chaps and do rag at home.  We could've looked a little more in sink.

After a hard day of riding (that's a biker term), we checked into the Hilton Doubletree and retreated to the pool and hot tub.  I'm not sure why, but Eric had this need to pick Brad up all the time.  Secretly, I think Brad likes it.

A fuzzy picture of the resort.  I didn't say my pictures were good.  I just said I took lots of pictures.

A selfie to show I'm of this generation too.

The only reason I included this picture was to give it "the worst picture" award.  I am sure you would concur.

The guys rented the Harley's from Chester's Harley Davidson in Ft. Lauderdale.  Gotta love the name Chester. At this point (Sunday), Matt and Nedra had to go back to Denver.  We were sad to see them go but we were able to continue on the vacation without them.  Eric decided  a couple days in Florida were not enough so we stayed until Tuesday morning.  Brad and Pam extended as well.  [We planned things this way before we left.  We made sure Emily (our niece who was watching the kids) could stay on longer.]

We enjoyed a lazy Sunday watching football, hot tubing (is that still a term?), and watching the movie Saving Mr. Banks.  Wonderful movie about Eric's favorite - Mary Poppins.

Monday we headed to the beach.  But before we could get there, we were stuck in traffic.  Brad had to use the bathroom really bad.  Can you guess what the bag on my head is for?

 For the first time in his life he had to pee in a bottle.  He wasn't going to make it.  Pam covered herself and the rest of the world with the map in her hand and I covered with the bag, in case things got out of hand.  I sure hope Brad doesn't kill me for posting this.  It's all part of the adventure buddy. And besides, who hasn't done this before?  Okay, maybe my friend Nikki and her family.

We made it to the beach and soaked up the lovely Miami sun.  I even played in the ocean a bit.  The weather in Florida is great - a little humid around 80 degrees.  I think it's my new Mexico.

Eric was pointing out a few more gray hairs -  a right of passage.

We ended the evening with a cruise down Millionaire Mile in Ft. Lauderdale on the "Jungle Queen" boat.  We dined at a little island and were entertained by Brad and a magician.

What's with  my white face? Eric looks amazing.

The island had a little animal life on it.  This is as close as we came to an alligator.

That's Brad the entertainer.  He had everyone laughing and clapping.  He stole the show.

Eric had these shirts made for everyone.  They document all the Fat Back rides over the years.

2009 - Sturgis, 2010 - Malibu to Monterey, 2013 - Bubba's Vegas 40th Bash, and 2014 - Eric's 40th in the Keys.  We are blessed to have wonderful friends who enjoy adventure and fun.  We had a blast and look forward to the next ride... or whatever life gives us.  It's always a ride!

A big thanks to Emily, Daniel and Christian for taking such great care of our kids!  The kids want you back!