Celebrating the Gift(s) of Friendship at Kona
The timing of our anniversary trip was perfect in so many ways.
The probability of decent weather- our past trips have been in summer (Hot! Hot! Hot! And rainy
) or during winter break (BRRRR!!!!
) We were looking forward to being comfortable in shorts and walking around without sweating up a storm.
Food & Wine
Fall Decorations and Halloween Party
But one of the best reasons for me was that many of my friends would be there at the same time!
Ninjamom, Nannette, Janet
Missy & Franklin
Rosa & Carlos
We decided that the best opportunity to get together would be dinner followed by going up to the Top of the World lounge to watch Wishes.
Tonight was the night!
When I made our dining reservations, one of them was Kona Café for 10 people. The two of us, the friends listed above, and our friend Lauren who lives in Florida and had met us at a couple of our past Beach Club DIS meets.
Our number kept ebbing and flowing.
Missy & Franklin were in originally, but then adjusted their plans when there were credible, but ultimately incorrect rumors that Rivers of Light might be previewing to Annual Passholders.
Rosa & Carlos were going to join us on the last night of their trip because the friends they were traveling with were going to be leaving earlier. Then they decided to stay, I think, so Rosa and Carlos were out.
Lauren was flying home from a college reunion in Pennsylvania that afternoon. We were hoping she would be able to make it to the Poly in time for our dinner.
It turns out Lauren was not the one we had to worry about getting there in time.
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After our time at the pool and getting ready, we stopped by the club lounge when it opened at 5. I wanted to take some pictures of the appetizer options.
Our plan was to take the MK bus from the Yacht Club and then either take the resort boat or the monorail to the Poly.
We had never used the resort boat, so we decided to try that. We went out on the dock and there were a few people waiting for a boat. Perhaps one had just come. We waited. And waited. No boat in sight coming to pick us up. I started getting nervous and asked Mark if we should bail and use the monorail, which has never failed us.
He left it up to me to decide.
I chose poorly!
We walked to monorail and a line had formed on the ramp to the loading platform. I have never been in crowd that large for the monorail. But once we had made the decision, we didn’t want to go back.
We waited while at least 3 monorails loaded and left.
We were able to see the resort boat arrive at the dock while we were waiting.
At 4:27 Lauren had texted me that her plane had landed early and once she collected her luggage, she would have no problem getting to the Poly by 6:30.
It was now 6:10 and Lauren texted me to say she had arrived and was waiting in the Poly lobby. I replied to her
“Waiting to board resort monorail”
It was finally our turn to board a very crowded monorail. It was uncomfortable and as I recall, our fellow passengers were not pleasant. I can't remember exactly what they were doing that was annoying, but it was the worst experience we have ever had on the monorail, probably compounded with the fact I was so nervous about being late.
6:30 “At Contemporary now. See you soon”
When we got there, I believe Nannette, Janet and ~Ninja had all arrived and met up with Lauren.
I explained to the hostess that only 6 of our 10 diners were able to make it that night. That did not turn out to be a problem.
We were seated and our waiter Tayler took our orders and took our crap. OK, ~Ninja’s crap. (Just kidding)
We joked around but went pretty easy on him. He was great, by the way. He gave each of us separate checks and applied the 20% Annual Pass discount to all of them!
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OK, can you shut up now and show some pictures of the food???
Why, yes, I can!
Mark and I split these two things:
Tuna Poke - Traditional Hawaiian Poke Salad - $13.00
Pan-seared Taal Chicken - with Roasted Root Vegetables and Coconut-Curry Sauce - $21.00
Lauren:
Pan-Asian Noodles - Yakisoba Noodles, Wok-seared with Vegetables and your choice of Chicken or Tofu in a Ginger- Garlic Sauce - $19.00
Sticky Wings - Glazed Chicken Wings with tangy Mustard Drizzle and Toasted Sesame Seeds - $10.00
~NinjaMom sold separately
Nannette:
Grilled New York Strip - served with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables and Molasses-Bacon Butter - $34.00
Janet:
Shrimp Tempura Roll - Tempura Shrimp and fresh Mango served with Liliko'i Sauce - $15.00
Of course, we needed the obligatory picture of us all together, or it didn’t happen! (Does that also mean the calories don’t count???)
But we weren’t done with our meal yet! Dessert of course.
I had ordered a custom cake for
*SURPRISE*!!!
A Nanu shower for Nannette, who was expecting her first grandchild, Sloan, in December.
We had brought a few small gifts (Rosa, who works for a toy company had given me a couple of things to give to Nannette)
I just looked up what I ordered from the Private Dining Cake Hotline-
Chocolate Cake
White Chocolate Mousse
Vanilla Buttercream
I asked them to write "Welcome Sloan, Congratulations Nanu" in Pink writing, but I guess they didn't exactly get the message. I didn't notice that until now!!!
The cake was super yummy, but there was WAY too much for just the 6 of us.
Fortunately, everyone was willing to take some with them, so Tayler brought us some boxes.
Unfortunately, the boxes didn’t close well and someone said “Too bad we don’t have any tape”
“I have tape!”
I had brought along some tape, scissors and wrapping paper along with some small gifts in case someone didn’t have one.
My friends were amused but not necessarily surprised that I had come prepared.
Nannette was not the only one who went home empty handed…
Our crafty and talented friend Janet gave me these mittens that she designed and knit.
I love them, and her thoughtful generosity!
It was starting to get late, so Lauren said her goodbyes and headed home. This would seem to be a good wrap up for the day, but we still had a spectacular night cap on tap.
Next Up: Top of the World
