I like to be in America: Oh dear Flo, I love you so.

We had a couple of days up our sleeves before the wedding with only one thing planned ('gator hunting! More about that soon) but we felt we simply couldn't come all the way to Florida without experiencing "The Beach". Honestly, I really don't know what I was thinking, well obviously I wasn't, but I went woefully under-prepared. The Fort Lauderdale beach is simply GORGEOUS.
Miles of soft, white sand, warm turquoise sea and enough swaying palm trees to make it picture-postcard perfect. There were, I suppose, thousands of happy holiday makers of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colours, but the beach was not crowded. And surprisingly, for the number of people, I didn't see one piece of litter. When I dipped my toe into the water I wanted to shed my clothes and dive right in. Those who know me well, can stop that guffawing right now, it really was that deliciously warm.

Fortunately for those unwary strangers surrounding us, I restrained myself, but I do regret not having my togs on under my street clothes. (Like I often did when I was just a little younger)

Fifteen years of redevelopment has transformed Fort Lauderdale beach from a seasonal tourist spot, best known as a mecca for college students who came to celebrate Spring Break (is that like Schoolies week, I wonder?) into "a year round, world class, family resort destination." Amongst other things, they constructed a beach wave wall -a flowing, swirling beach wall that extends two miles along the central portion of the beach. This has become a signature of Fort Lauderdale Beach. At the time, I didn't know this, but we did sit on it and it was a lovely feature of the beach.

In New Zealand we have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and being an island country, for most of us, the beach is an integral part of our lives. So although FLB was nothing like what we are used to experiencing, I think I can say with some sense of expertise, it is truly lovely. And maybe at the heart of it all,that is what made it so nice. It was different, but still enchanting.

The parking was a bit of a mission - Malcolm lucked out fairly quickly
but we had to queue for ages.

Bay watch!

Exotic bathing beauties.

The uncrowded crowds.

The looong lunch.

At some stage we stopped for lunch at a small Italian restaurant. Having finally settled on our orders, having learnt a few lessons along the way about American portion sizes and sharing the odd dish, we sat back and waited and waited and waited. When it finally came it was well worth the wait. I can't remember what everyone had, but I think most of us ordered the fresh pizza. The base was cooked with a handmade tomato sauce and then on top were slices of fresh tomato, torn basil leaves and balls of soft buffalo mozzarella, slightly squished. I know it doesn't sound much, but that fresh flavour hit lingers with me still. Yum.

We all decided to head out to Will and Julie's new digs (for the week) but somehow lost the P Gang along the way. They got distracted by the shops, I think. Still, it was a useful reconnaissance for the next day.
Will and Julie just arrived back from grocery shopping a few minutes after we arrived. They had hired an historic holiday cottage which was part of a small compound consisting of another cottage and a sleep-out, which they had also booked. There was a lovely in-ground pool and it was set in amongst lots of tall trees and palms. There were bird feeders scattered about and a poster on the wall describing all the different birds that might be seen. We only saw squirrels.

Dear little house nestled in the trees.

Ideal spot for entertaining

The cottage where Tom, Kate, Harry, Will's friend Derek
and occasionally Mark, stayed.

Mind the coconuts.

Second bathroom.

The following day was eagerly anticipated by many of us for different reasons. The kids arrived over the next 12 hours or so, and like an old queen cat, I was anxious to gather them up and count them all, holding them down with my paw and licking their faces. (Of course I didn't, but only because they wouldn't let me). Tom arrived from LA late that Saturday night, as did Kate and Harry, and Emma and Mark flew into Miami at 5:30 the next morning.
It had been a fairly full-on week, so Rose decided to take a break that day and plant herself in that huge squishy sofa to make some headway on her book. (She even did the housework so she must have forced herself out at some stage!)
Will and Julie turned on one of their famous crepe and coffee breakfasts while we caught up with the tamariki and the various friends of Will and Julie, who had also recently arrived. The P Gang arrived just before the time Tom had designated and everyone was a quiver with anticipation, or maybe it was dread, at the prospect of Will's stag do.
As it turns out, they had nothing to fear. Tom had organised the transport - a huge black, beast of a bus, complete with pole (??? not sure what that was used for)...

The Stags

Party bus

Keep away from that pole, Rich!

... and the entertainment- an American football game - Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills at the Sunlife Stadium. How cool was that?

The few photos that follow should not be looked at too closely.

Will looks disturbingly comfortable in drag.

Enough said! Not sure who even won the game, but I think a good time was had by all.

The girls involved in the Hen's party , escorted Julie off to a spa where they lounged by the pool of a rather fancy hotel while Julie was pampered. Probably a good thing for the likes of Emma, who had only flown in at 5:30 that morning.

Meanwhile, us old 'Chooks' went 'Wahoo' and headed off to e Las Olas Boulevard for some 'quality family time' and some retail therapy.

Las Olas Blvd is "an architecturally unique, authentic, and eclectic shopping and dining district. Stroll the boulevard, duck in and out of our cool breezeways,(so that's what they are called) and be delighted by what you'll discover."

Whatever, it did have some nice shops and the street was blocked off because there were stalls selling art and jewellery and such like, lining the centre. The street was tree lined and there were some great shops, but our dining experience was a hot dog-like thing bought from one of the street vendors and eaten at a shared table under one of the aforesaid trees. We looked at it as a cultural experience.

Paulette had a lucky break, one day out from the wedding, and found a gorgeous, glamorous, sexy frock to wear from Bettie Page. This shop sells 50s inspired clothes which were, well... just gorgeous, glamorous and sexy! In fact the whole Bettie Page experience was a great deal of fun and the clothes... made for REAL women. It was named after an American model who became famous in the 1950s for her pin-up photos and is part of a chain of stores spread across America.

We whiled away a happy couple of hours, diving in and out of the cool interiors of the stores as it was baking hot outside, then decamped back to Will and Julie's place to wait for the stags (and very pleasant it was too, lounging by the pool.)

They all arrived back looking some what shattered, then the young bucks took off for a night on the town, while we took the 12 pointers home and tucked them into bed.