Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Grey Poupon?

This past weekend I was out of town in Iowa at a friends Bed and Breakfast that they own.

It is a gorgeous Victorian house that has its original hardwood floors, banister, stain glassed windows. Gorgeous! Our friend is restoring it and doing a faboulous job. We went up on Friday afternoon, Amy had just gotten back from Girl Scout Camp, so I drove most of the way.

We got there and basically just chilled in our room, watched some TV, I played on the computer.

On Saturday we had breakfast, took some photos of the house, took a walk around the neighborhood then drove around down to do some shopping, and then were back within a half hour. The entire town shuts down for lunch (except the restaurants) and on Saturdays. So we went to a drive-in for some lunch, then went bowling.

Now, I haven’t bowled in 15 years. My first game I bowled a 60 and Amy bowled a 117. She got a spare and a double. I had just got a spare. Our second game, I bowled a 90 and Amy a 94. So I had a 50% improvement in my game. I bowled a strike and a Spare, Amy got a spare and a double again. We were the only people in the whole place, it was kinda nice.

We then headed back for some relaxation. I worked on a flyer for the B&B and Amy read/napped.

We then headed to a local Golf Country Club to their restaurant/lounge for dinner. We got their and weren’t sure where to go, so we walked in and realized we needed to go upstairs (they had a renion going on downstairs).

We weren’t sure if we were to seat ourselves (no sign) so we just found a table by the huge windows overlooking the greens and sat down. About 15 minutes later someone FINALLY took our order.

We ordered some appetizers, which were really good and some drinks. I order a steak dinner and Amy ordered a Riganoti, with chicken in Alfredo Sauce. About 30 minutes later our appetizers arrive, we eat those, then about 15 minutes later our food.

Amy was still finishing up her appetizer, so didn’t really look at her dish. When she went to eat her dinner, she realized that there was no chicken on it.

By this time I was already half way done with my meal. So Amy had to wait until about 15 minutes until the waitress finally came back to check on us (Amy’s plate sitting full on the edge of the table, obviously wasn’t a give away).

She asked if everything was okay and Amy said, “No, I had asked for chicken with this, and their isn’t any.”

The waitress said, “Oh, okay, Sorry about that” and took her plate.

She walked to the kitchen (which is on the other side of the large room, and has two doors on opposite ends of the wall (we were perpindicular to one of them). The waitress goes in the kitchen and the cook must have asked her what was wrong and, get this, the waitress says, “She never told me she wanted chicken, and now she wants chicken on it.”

Our heads snapped toward that door, because we could hear her! The cook must have said something, because then she said, “Well, I didn’t hear her ask for chicken, I am sorry about that”.

At this point I was pissed and Amy wasn’t happy about being called a liar. Our dish promptly came back out and we didn’t say anything. (Amy later told me, she wanted to make sure she got her food, bags and credit card back before she said anything. You never know what a disgruntled server could do.)

So we finished our meal. About 15 minutes after we were done, she finally comes back to check on us (Notice the long wait times?) we ask her for a to-go box. She brings one then leaves. She knows we are done, she could have brought our bill at the same time, so another 15 minute wait.

I told Amy to not tip her the 15%, which would have been about $6. So Amy tipped her .46 cents and writes on the FRONT of the receipt: “Don’t complain about your customers when they can hear you”. She then placed the receipt face down and we promptly walked out.

We then headed back to the B&B, took photos of the outside of the house and played with fireflies and watched a movie (I played with photos) and then went to bed!

Okay, I’ll expand on the fireflies. While I was taking photos of the outside of the house, my flash would attract fireflies and there was about 100 or more on the front lawn. I would then fire off my flash (on purpose) and the whole yard would light up, it was like the fireflies were doing the “wave” at a baseball game. It was great!

Woke up on Sunday, had a light breakfast and then I took a nap, while Amy finished a book she found there, we then packed up and headed home. My mom had roast waiting for us.

It was a great relaxing weekend and a great way for Amy and I to celebrate our 8 years of marriage!

It's a Jungle Out There

Last week my family went to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

I got off work early, because it was a slow night, and nabbed some Zzzz's before we headed out at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. I did end up napping in the car as well.

We got there around noon, but grabbed lunch at a Culvers to kill sometime. We couldn't check in until 4 p.m., and our neighbors (whose idea it was to all go together) didn't leave until an hour behind us. So we all got to the resort at about 1-ish.

First, this place is massive. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk from once side to the other.

Our room was ready, but our neighbors condo, was not. So we unloaded and then met them at the indoor water park (again, another massive area).

We played in the water for a few hours, then we all headed back to our room. to rest, relax and get ready for dinner. Amy and I headed down to the lobby area to do some shopping, check email (no wireless in the rooms) and get some sweets.

We then headed back and gathered the kids and took them over to the condo to our neighbors for dinner.

After that we headed back, settled in and watch "Night at the Museum" on the pay-per-view. Kids loved it. Then we went to bed.

Thursday we woke up, had some breakfast in the room (we brought stuff). Then went downstairs and let the kids do some pottery painting. Basically, you buy the unpainted piece, paint it and then they glaze it, etc. So the kids each did a coaster and Amy did a big pasta bowl.

We then went to the condo for lunch, then Riley and I headed back to our room for his nap and my school work, while the rest went to a full day of swimming! I met up with them when Riley woke up, we then took a break for dinner, then headed back for more swimming. Around 10:30 we went back to the room, order the new James Bond Movie, and Amy and I and the girls went down to a bar/restaurant with our neighbors for drinks and appetizers. Then went back to our room to bed.

Friday morning, we had breakfast at the "Great Karoo", then packed up our room, headed down to the Game room (like a chuck-e-cheese), then picked up our pottery, the girls got a hair wrap braid done, and then we went home.

Before we headed home, we stopped and had dinner.

That was our trip. I will post pictures on here shortly!