Probably was a meteor shower. Check this reference, seems to be the same part of the sky for a point of origin ...
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/keep-watch-for-november-orionid-meteors/
That's exactly what we were seeing (amusing that they used Orion as a backdrop o stars). . . but make it entirely local and increase the number of meteors by a factor of ten in the photo. Keep in mind my daughter and her husband, just a few miles away from us, saw nothing. . . and then the same color flashing lights alit in the palm trees. Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences of that magnitude.