SATURDAY MAY 3RD
The best laid plans never work out, do they!
We had thought we`d sleep late this morning after our full day which is very unusual for us anyway, but as always I was awake around 6am, it`s a hard habit to break getting up early. Tom can sleep longer than I can so with us having the suite I can wander through and pop on the internet or read a book while sleeping beauty carries on in the land of nod.
It doesn`t matter how long our trips are, I never want to waste a moment, so it does suit me to get up anyway.
We had a coffee meet up this morning and a lunch date with our so called second son and then not a lot, so we did take our time this morning and after responding to a couple of emails, I got showered and woke Tom up for his and then headed down to breakfast where the lovely Sydney and Anna were on this morning, two lovely girls who are so effervescent whenever you see them, they always have a smile on their faces as do all the team up here and we also looked forward to meeting some of the new staff that would be new to us since last time, lots of changes here!
We enjoyed a lazy breakfast and headed back to our room that had already been visited by housekeeping, we have the same housekeeper Monday to Friday and a different lady on the weekends, so on the days I don`t know the ladies name I leave the envelope with her daily tip marked with For the lady who cleans our room, that way she knows it`s for her. We have done this for years and I know some people don`t tip housekeeping, but we like to and will continue to do so, they don`t really have much to do in our room generally as we do like to keep it tidy, but it`s a gesture.
We went down to Tuk Tuk where we were meeting Kayla for a coffee and a catch up, by now the morning breakfast line had gone and it was fairly quiet, so we sat around by the window and a few minutes later she arrived, it was nice to see her as it had been a while and she is doing wonderfully in another hotel and it was like we only saw her yesterday.
The hour or so passed quickly and we said our goodbye`s then popped quickly back up to the room and then got the car and headed to Toojays which is only a 5 minute drive, well it can be longer if you get stuck at the lights on Sand/Turkey Lake Road, you can lose hours getting caught at those lights around this area!!
I hadn`t had a reply from Colby as to whether he was actually coming, so we got a table and said we`d wait ten minutes or so before ordering, but we had only just ordered our strawberry lemonades when we saw him come in. We were looking forward to catching up with him too.
Toojays is a place we have been coming for many years, food is your typical deli style, it is very good but the service is excellent, the older couple who have it will wander around and say hello to everyone and it does feel like you`re visiting your grandparents at times, lovely place and well worth a visit.
It sits in an area that has some other restaurants and a Publix and also where Nagoya Sushi used to be, we will miss that restaurant a lot as it had the best food and we do love little family run places and that one was exceptional.
There is also the Portuguese restaurant we did plan to go to but never got around to this trip, however we have kept it in our list of places we do want to try.
It was so nice to see Colby, he no longer works for Loews either so we were happy to hear he is doing really well and is enjoying where he is now. We have known him for many years since he was around 18 and worked at the pool, then the Club Lounge before moving on finally to work in Orchids which he loved. But, people move on all the time and our number two son was doing well with his change of company.
We were all hungry, so ordered quickly, I went for the smoked salmon platter with a side of fries Tom and I would share, it was quite a light dish but their smoked salmon is lovely!
Colby, bless him hadn`t eaten this morning, truth be told I think he had just got up, but he ordered the Breakfast combo platter which had waffles, two eggs, sausage links, bacon, toast, home fries and I think there was something else in there too not pictured! Hungry boy.
Tom went for a simpler option of the Triple J sandwich which included corned beef, roast beef, turkey with swiss cheese, coleslaw and their own Russian dressing which is really good.
We sat for a couple of hours, but still had no room for dessert, their coconut cake is gorgeous but we didn`t buy any to even bring home, I did wish we had though later!
Of course even someone with a large appetite would struggle with what he had on those plates, he took some home in a box and I think his girlfriend would enjoy some of that too.
I`m forever telling him to get his darn hair cut but he completely ignores my requests 
We go back home around 3pm and went for a quick snooze, freshened up and went down to the Club Lounge.
We didn`t plan to go offsite tonight so we both had some wine and sat and chatted to a couple who had been here a few days from Boston, Bob and Elaine, they were lovely and very easy to chat to and we both had similar views on a lot of things.
There was a man who was here on his own for part of our trip, but he was incredibly rude and was forever butting in to conversations, he was a body builder but only on his top half!! Odd guy who we avoided like the plague.....there`s always a couple of people who are politely described as "characters" they are usually very odd or occasionally worse than that!!
We`ve all met a few of those 
We never touched any food tonight, we`re not fond of the Saturday night options so we stick to the wine and chat, however this is a very popular couple of dishes and is one of their busiest evenings.
We said our goodbye`s to Bob and Elaine as they were leaving very early next morning, I wish they had been staying longer.
A couple came over to our table and said hello, they said they remembered us from last year, it took a while but I eventually did remember them. I always feel awful when I don`t quite recall meeting folks, but we do meet a lot of people at times on our trips, still, I do feel bad.
We had planned to leave earlier and go to IOA but we met one of the new Concierge Supervisors and chatted to him for longer than planned as well as some others in the lounge and I did think I was going to lose patience with the odd guy who was forever interrupting conversations, no need for him to be so rude. Tom said I needed to give him the "glare" or be very abrupt in very clear language.
So, with not going to the park anymore we ended up going to Citywalk and had a wander round here for an hour or so, grabbed a drink from one of the stands and sat overlooking the lagoon for an hour or so which was lovely, it was hot and we just enjoyed taking some time not doing anything except chatting and laughing the evening away.
After some time we decided we were hungry and fancied doing something too rather than just head home, so we headed over to Pat O` Briens where we thought we`d get some good food and enjoy the Duelling Piano`s.
It was fairly busy when we went in and we got a table against the wall which we like as you can see the whole bar area from here and it`s not too cramped which it can be in the central area, we ordered a cat 5 Margarita and a Hurricane and as I do like a good pour in a cocktail, I thought these drinks did not have enough of a kick.
The Duelling Piano`s are excellent, if you`ve never experienced this place, you have to give it a bash. The singers are always good and it`s usually songs everyone knows and of course you have to join in, it`s the law!!!
One man just stopped playing as we came in, he was replaced with this young lady and she was very, very good. The guy who was opposite her was just ok, but he redeemed himself with singing a few really good songs.
Now for the food.
We weren`t overly thrilled with the menu to begin with, we didn`t want a burger we could get anywhere so, we went with Hot Wings for Tom and I asked for the Shrimp Po Boy.
I couldn`t be this unlucky could I?
Yes, it seems I could, this meal was not even remotely edible, the fries were cold which is never a good sign, and the shrimp were completely dry, hard, bland, cold and there seemed to be a lack of any discernible sauce or flavour to the whole dish.
I admit, I never normally order deep fried shrimp in any form, but this can be a nice sandwich in certain places, however this was probably the worst sandwich ever!!
Tom`s wings were just ok, maybe a little overdone but they were edible.
When he came to clear our plates he did ask if my meal was ok, which it clearly wasn`t, I really didn`t feel like making a fuss so I said I wasn`t hungry. I know, I should have complained, but I didn`t really think it was worth it. We ordered two more drinks and I asked for my spicy margarita to be made with Casamigos, sure no problem was his reply.
The drink below was the second attempt.....the first one had no spice at all and it was not Casamigos, you can tell the difference from generic Tequila, so I sent it back asking very nicely for some spice and my favoured Tequila for this drink.
This one was lovely and even Tom`s drink had more bite this time around, so the drinks also redeemed themselves.
The drinks were nice, but the real highlight of the evening were the piano singers, we sang our little hearts out along with everyone else in the room, it was a fabulous evening and this room had some atmosphere!!
Tom and I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, we have no musical abilities whatsoever and that includes singing!! But, we love singing and will sing whenever we get the chance.
We stayed here singing till around 11.30 and most of the folks stayed the same all evening, certainly around us, nice crowd too. It had been a lovely evening, food aside, we had really enjoyed our time here but we won`t ever order food from here again.
I always at this point want to call a cab to take us back home straight away, RP is such a short walk from here, but it`s late and I guess I was more tired than I realised and that five minute walk home felt like an hour!!
Once we were home, I had a quick look out the window for a few minutes then we hopped into bed and it was one of those nights I often refer to when I was actually asleep before my head hit the pillow.
along KatieCharlotte, it is really good to see you here, hope you and yours are all doing well!!!
