I think that title is possibly one of the most boring headings I’ve put on this blog.  Apologies for that I’ll try to do better in the future. We were on vacation for 9 days and a lot happened – more than I can put in a single post – so I’ve decided to make this part 1 so I can at least start somewhere.  And that’s enough editorial gibberish…

We flew out of Denver March 21st in the morning and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale in the mid-afternoon.  After meeting up with Jessica’s dad’s family we went to dinner at a place called Rok Brgr where we ate gourmet kobe beef burgers and I had a local beer called Panic Attack.  The burgers were delicious, the service was good, and the family caught up on travel details by discussing how we would rework most of today’s modern air transportation to reduce headaches.  The usual.

We shared these

After a leisurely meal we parted ways as I wasn’t feeling 100% and needed to get some rest.  Our Peterman 4 went to a hotel that Jessica had arranged and the rest of the family went off to Miami’s South Beach where they had accommodations.

Nutella, yum!

The next day our 4 headed to a small French cafe for breakfast.  It was very French and we had to pay in Euros (not really, but the prices were high), but the food was good.  We finished off the brunch with a few dessert crepes because that’s how we do things.  Evie ate a nutella crepe and Abby had a white chocolate strawberry crepe and Jessica and I hovered over both taking bites like crepe vultures [not really, but we did sample the crepes].  Even the coffee tasted French, which is to say that I prefer a lighter roast.  The coffee wasn’t cuban, though, which was good because I don’t prefer to have my spoon stand up in the coffee.

So this washed up on the shore

We then headed to meet Jessica’s dad’s family in South Beach.  There we generally hung out at their place, went to the beach (which was overcast and windy) and collected shells, avoided jelly fish, and discussed the coming trip.  The girls were cute and played for quite a while in the water and then we eventually got cleaned up and headed to dinner at a great Italian place called Pasta Prima.  Jessica’s dad and sisters had actually been there before but couldn’t remember the name.  So when Jessica did research she found it highly recommended.  Once we walked in they all said, “Hey, we’ve been here before!”  It’s a great joint with awesome food, fast, friendly service, and apparently so many famous customers that they don’t decorate with anything but photos signed by famous people.  I got the Gnocci and if you don’t at least have one person in your party try it, you’ll be sad.  We left stuffed and happy.

We then made our way to the fanciest Target I have ever been to and proceeded to buy all the things we left at home and rounded out our trip gear.  For me that list involved a hat that embarrasses the family (but keeps my face and ears out of the sun) and for various other family members it involved other things that I paid for but could not tell you what they were 🙂

The next day was the beginning of the cruise, but you’ll have to wait to read about that.