The Van Fleet's: Greller's BirthdayPalooza II

Last year at this time we celebrated Michael Eller and his roommate, Greg Amweg's, birthdays at Six Flags. It was the first time we met Greg and Bradley and the first time I had met Meg. It was the start of the BirthdayPalooza tradition.

BirthdayPalooza this year was celebrated in Palm Springs at a house belonging to some friends of Bradley's. It was a great weekend, albeit a hot one!! Temps got up to about 108 degrees. Yech!

P.S. When referring to Greg and Eller we just call em “Greller”

Friday morning started with me waking up at 5AM to make 2 dozen homemade cinnamon roles.
Delicious looking, aren't they? :)

We got on the road about 8PM and Alex and I met up with the rest of the group at a Chick Fil A in Walnut, CA. I'd gladly drive an hour any day for Chick-Fil-A. Bradley jumped in our car and we took off! (left to right: Alex, Mel, Eller, Bradley, Kristine, Greg, Nicole)

We got in late Friday night, around 11:30pm and hung out by the pool for an hour or so before tucking in. Saturday, we spent the entire day poolside.

The guys quickly invented a pool game called "catch the lemon".

Eller's turn to catch the lemon.

Bradley catching the lemon

Lunch at Guacamoles. Best fish tacos, I hear. I had a veggie tostada. :)

Salsa bar

Lunch back at the condo. No point wasting pool time.

Saturday night we headed to the Fantasy Casino (I think) in Indio for a Michael Jackson tribute. As you may already know, the 29th was MJ's birthday and also the day he was being buried.

We couldn't believe how many people showed up! Awesome people watching too!

Nicole and Greg

This guy has been impersonating MJ since 1984 (longer than Nicole has been alive, as we like to remind her). We expected the vocals to be crappy but the dancing to be fantastic. The entire performance was AWFUL. This guy didn't move like MJ, didn't look like MJ and certainly did not sound like MJ.

You never know where you might find the swine flu

Winning the big jackpot. Just kidding. Didn't even spend a buck on the slots.

Saturday night, back to the pool for some cocktails and birthday cheesecake.

Our birthday present to Greg and Eller was an autographed headshot of Craig (CJ) Jackson, host of I Love Money on VH1. They were even personalized for the boys. Alex framed them!