Happy Birthday Luke! (Florida Edition)

Its hard to figure out how to celebrate a kid's birthday when you are already on vacation. We decided (after seeing one yesterday) to take the kids on one of those family bikes (called a surrey). However, when looking them up we were surprised to find they werent really at a lot of the beaches in the area! They were at the beach yesterday, but we wanted to try something new today. So we found one at a smaller beach on an island off Miami called Key Biscayne. 

We were pretty surprised when we pulled up to find that the grounds were pretty wrecked. Unmaintaind and closed buildings, trashed bathrooms, caution tape. We hesitated going at all. BUT, we had no other plan. So ... we pursued.

We rented the bike and drove it around. It was HARD work. Also, the area we could ride through was pretty small, so we ended up just circling around for a while. The rental was for an hour but we were exhausted after probably thirty minutes. We turned in the bike early ;)

We then hung at the beach for a while, which actually was a really lovely beach. The benefit of this area was that it was on a bay. The water was calm, shallow and warm. Basically the opposite of the cold and rough water on the open ocean yesterday.

After hanging for a bit we headed out for a birthday treat at the Sugar Factory in South Beach. 

Two of the shakes included a cupcake with candles. Brooke wanted to order one of them, but Luke insisted that hers could NOT have a candle on it. She obliged. The waiter brought Lukes shake over with the candle lit, and the waiter and another staff member sang to him. He was thrilled.

Turned out to be a pretty decent birthday after all.

Family Dinner

After our alligator adventure (while Ruth was working back at the house) we all headed out to dinner at a taco place in downtown Lauderdale-by-the-sea. We walked there and back, and got to enjoy a little time together. It was a bit of a sad dinner, because Jean and Ruth have to head back home tomorrow. We definitely did not get to spend enough time together.

Hunting Alligators

Today we went on a little excursion to Everglades Holiday Park, taking an airboat out into the everglades in hunt of alligators and others that call the wetlands home.

Waiting for our turn on the boat

The tour was about an hour, probably about 30 minutes more than Luke could handle and 15 more than the other two found interesting. Most of the trip was slow as we looked around, often circling around to see spotted wildlife. For a few short seconds the boat really hauled ... something I thought was pretty fun. Brooke, however, was far from impressed. 

We did spot a few alligators of different sizes. It was pretty cool! All the kids were impressed with the first spotting, but by the last (maybe 4 or 5) they couldnt care less. Been there, done that.

 

Luke, however, was isanely impressed with a peacock that was hanging out on the grounds. So, at least some element of wildlife caught his attention.

Florida, Here We Come

The boys and I were supposed to go to Florida (Miami) on Friday to hang with Jean and Ruth, but after Luke came home on Tuesday with a positive covid test and I started feeling bad the next day  ... we pushed our flights to Monday. Monday was the date Jeff and Brooke were originally scheduled to leave, after she completed her weekend tourney in Hammond, IN.

It was close and I wasnt sure it was gonna happen, but here we are ... on a plane.

We landed pretty late in the day, but still managed to squeeze in dinner and some gelato on our first night. We are just happy to be 1) out of Chicago and 2) together and 3) able to spend a short time with Jean and Ruth.