A warm welcome in Wellington!

Our ride from Fort Pierce to West Palm was very nice. The temperature was pleasant and we were along the ocean all the way..yay! We met Mom and Dad at a park on the Inter coastal and Joel popped Holly's bike on the rack for the ride to Wellington..he cycled. We all met up at the Kennedy's in the late afternoon and enjoyed some mango spicy shrimp and Coronas. It was so wonderful to reunite with our very good friends. It is hard to believe that Colin and Connor are almost 14! And by the way, we love Murphy, their three year old Cockapoo. Karen and Bill whipped up a wonderful meal of steak kabobs and scallops and salad with a homemade lemon pie. We really did not want to call it a night as we were having so much fun catching up. Luckily we had one more day to "play" which we did. Both Bill and Karen took the day off of work which we greatly appreciated. They took us to a great restaurant for lunch called the Key Lime House and then toured us around the terrific ocean communities. We ended our stay with pizzas and Cupcake chardonnay at their home watching the Patriots play the Dolphins..forgot who won! Missed seeing their oldest son Ryan who lives and works in NYC and Kyle who is one of Paige's best friends and attends WVU. We really miss this family who was a staple in out lives for so long, but as Bill so aptly put it..no matter how much time passes we will always be comfortable with each other and enjoy each other's company. Amen!

We left the Kennedy's on Tuesday morning after fixing two flats on Holly's bike before we even covered 3 miles. Very discouraging. Started out strong on the 70 mile ride to Miami but battled 20 or so mile an hour winds and heavy traffic which kept Mom and Dad on pins and needles as we kept calling with updates. Finally arrived in South Beach at around 4 pm to check into our oceanfront Hilton who gave us an upgrade with an oceanfront room and nice beverages! Tomorrow we meet up with Pam and Bruce and start the final leg of the trip..the Keys!