Julio's Birthday

We awoke to clouds and light rain, weather we hadn't seen since Washington D.C. This can only mean one thing; Julia was coming to visit again. Mr. Morrison, chopperito and I drove down from North Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International airport to meet her. The WestJet flight was much more enjoyable than the previous Air Canada one, simply by the fact that it arrived at the time the boarding pass said it would and had a very entertaining flight crew. The 4 of us returned to Seamorr mid-afternoon and everyone went to the beach. There were high winds created a strong surf, which was perfect for body surfing the massive waves. I'm still tearing up from the amount of salt in my eyes :'( That night we had an "early birthday" steak dinner for Julia, with homemade cupcakes (I actually cooked something... university preparation, I guess?). The following day we completed "The Traffic Jam" *see traffic jam post for details* and arrived in Fort Lauderdale. After eating dinner at The Quarterdeck, we returned to the boat and played cards. The next day the clouds completely cleared, revealing sunny skies and warmth, stereotypical south Florida weather. We started by going to the beach and suntanning amongst the palm trees, when it got too hot we moved to the hotel/yachting centre's pool. With enough time to get a decent tan, it was time to introduce Julio into the birthday  tradition of throwing her in. The water was very warm and definitely nicer than Ottawa... "can you imagine being there right now?"

For dinner we went out to a Brazilian steakhouse, it's a totally cool system of a gourmet buffet where you don't leave your table. The servers bring various meats around to your table and serve you according to you red/green coloured signal card (green meaning "i'm hungry, please feed me" and red meaning "i'm full"). It wasn't a totally accurate representation of the "real Brazil" but it was enough of a small taste of home.

Monday morning brought cinnamon buns and chocolate fondu, complete with fresh local fruit. Overnight the weather turned nasty with 30kt winds and a blanket of rain, continuing into the morning, no beach today. One forecast says we'll see sunshine without wind again on December 3rd... I guess it's just good mother nature cooperated for Julia's 18th birthday.