For Cher: "Pirate boat.. Bull Ride.. and a Vagina Guitar."

So for all you fellas out there Joe set the birthday bar pretty high.. but if you ask him he'll say something to the effect of  (ear muffs Jim and Rhonda) "if all women do what Cher does for me, then all men would do this" - apparently all women need to up their games (HA).  Now in all fairness both of them said this is the first time Joe has done anything for any of Cher's birthdays - so he had to do something major for her cough-40th- cough.

The two week celebration of Cher started with an Italian themed surprise party due to their newest orders to Naples Italy starting next summer. We distracted Cher with a nice little day of bike riding and sunset key time before heading to her house where their Key West family had decorated in red, white and green as well as brought Italian food and drinks. The night was very fun and Rick and I had the opportunity to meet some really nice and interesting people. At one point I was told that I was in the wrong profession and should consider real estate... maybe one day :) Below is a few images from our day...

Sunset Key : We had delicious appetizers, wonderful conversation and the view can not be beat in Key West! 

Pretty birthday girl 

Sunset Key Dock 

Sunset Key water ferry 

Sunset Key Dock 

Now I would not have said Joe set the bar high just based on a surprise party - he also went out of his way to contact Cher's best friends from around the country to fly into Key West for a weekend celebration. The festivities started Friday night with a semi duval crawl. We met up at Willy T's to plan our assault. After a drink we headed to Virgilio's where the girls climbed "the wall" for a picture op. We then headed toward Cowboy Bill's for some bull riding. As we approached this bar I thought that Joe was just going to make Cher ride the bull- that was not the case. He generously paid for all of the girls to ride/embarrass themselves on the mechanical bull. I have never ridden a mechanical bull before, mainly because I am to competitive and I didn't want to fall off wearing a dress. Since the mechanical bull is so tall, there is a man who helps you get up. He then gives out pointers on proper bull riding and helps you to understand what needs to be done in order to stay on the bull. TOnce finished with the serious tips he says "Have fun and ride it like you are riding something else..." WHAT? hahaha - I obviously laughed and then turned to the "operator" and said please go easy on me. If you are reading this and have never ridden a mechanical bull it is not easy. You have to lean back when the bull's butt goes into the air and then keep from over correcting when it goes back down. While that is all going on you have to compensate for turning in a circle. Just writing about it I am nervous all over again. When my ride started up I wish I would have heard the song that was playing because as fate would have it the song was - AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night Long" go Tigers..

Joe 

Cher

This was me telling the "operator" to go easy...

After the invigorating bull ride we headed to the new Coyote Ugly bar where people may or may not have gotten on the bar "when in Rome". After the Coyote experience we went to Sloppy Joes for live music and dancing.

(Sidebar) - This past summer I had the wonderful experience of going to North Dakota for a dear friends wedding. As with most weddings at the end of the night there tends to be awesome 80s music and so much air guitar and leg kick (Steve Perkins) dance moves it makes the night epic. At this particular wedding I was introduced to the fact that women have been performing the air guitar dance move completely wrong. We really should have been doing the "vagina guitar" the whole time. It is basically an air guitar but lower.. thank you North Dakota for that wisdom it has now been passed along to the Key West locals as well as it is introduced to the Navy so it will soon be everywhere.

The next day Rick and I road our bikes to Old Town Bakery for croissants (yum!!) and then proceeded to lay around (you all know why). This is the part of the story where Joe takes the birthday celebration to the next level. Joe had rented a boat for snorkeling, kayaking, and sunset cruising for the late afternoon. We all got into pirate costumes and headed to our pirate boat.

Racy Lacy McCracken and her crew on the way to the ship 

Evan, our captain,gave us a safety lecture while we waited out a rain storm. The boat was a large sail boat equipped with snorkel gear, kayaks, beer, wine and snacks.

Once the storm was finished (20 min) we headed out to our snorkel site. On the way out Joe split us into pirate teams - Navy vs Iowa- and we competed in raising the sail - team Iowa won..

Team Iowa - Randy and Kami

Team Navy - Dave and Wendy

After raising the sail we listened to music had some rum and enjoyed the ocean. We got to see a giant sea turtle, they are faster then I thought, and we also did our best to intimidate another danger charters boat with a bunch of yelling and sword yielding. I am sure they were scared of us (ha).

We definitely looked intimidating

Racy Lacey McCracken on the lookout 

 The danger charter was anchored in shallow water and we swam over sea grass toward the our snorkeling destination, which was a lobster boat wreck. I really love snorkeling. I think it is relaxing and just a very cool experience to be in the water and to see all the marine life.  As we approached the area of the wreck the sea grass gave way to sand and the depth increased from 4 ft to 12-14ft. I had been fighting with my mask fogging over and decided I should stand up to fix it before getting into deeper water. As I started to stand up to fix my mask something large and black caught my eye- I squatted back down just in time to see a large sand plum and a glimpse of a huge stingray trying to bury itself in the sand no more than 3 feet in front of me. Rick and I have had some pretty amazing experiences with sting rays including feeding them at sting ray city on our honeymoon in Cayman and also feeding them with Rick's parents in the bahamas three summers ago. So I casually mention there is a sting ray in front of me if anyone wanted to see it.. a few seconds later the sting ray must have decided it didn't like the spot because it swam away and toward Joe and Cher.. all I hear is Cher screaming through her mask "holy SH&T that is a huge sting ray"- I guess I should have been more descriptive when I mentioned the sting ray so they weren't taken by surprise. Approaching a wreck in the water is kinda creepy - especially when a 10 ft nurse shark is laying underneath the bow of the boat. I have never seen a nurse shark and it was so cool! Our snorkel guide kinda chased her around and she did some circling of the wreck before leaving. Below is the snorkeling images:

Once we were all snorkeled out we headed back toward the charter boat and we all jumped into kayaks for a kayak tour of an island we were near to. In all there were 6 kayaks and it made for some awesome images. Paddling through the island and mangroves was pretty, and at one point we had to stop using our paddles and pull on the mangrove branches to get through to the other side. As mentioned earlier we had to wait out a rain storm prior to leaving the dock and as we cleared the island we could see another storm headed our way and within a few minutes it was sprinkling. The images in my head of the danger charter boat in the distance and being engulfed by a down poor as we paddled toward it is something I hope to never forget. It was such an amazing experience that the rain only made it that much better. The storm was not just a down poor but it also came with some strong winds - I am glad we were all back on the boat when the wind hit because the anchor let loose and our amazing boat captain and co-captain had to move quickly to re-anchor our boat. As the rain dissipated we headed on a slow journey back toward the island of Key West. We spent the remaining time on the boat dancing and laughing and having a wonderful time.

The island straight ahead is where we snorkeled and also where we had our kayaking adventure. 

I am obviously working very hard.

Through the mangrove jungle 

Beginning of rain storm 

The three kayaks you see were racing 

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Thank you again to Joe for such an amazing celebration of Cher! It is an experience that Rick and I are very thankful we got to have and also one we will not ever forget. We love you both very very much! Happy Birthday Cher- you are extremely important to me and you are someone I truly admire and cherish.

As always please come visit - We miss you all.
XOXO
Rick and McKenzie