20070627_grandad_bday

Last night Sara and I went out to some good friends Birthday.

They are a married couple whose birthdays are close together. They used to hang out at the Loaded Hog in Auckland, so decided that this would be a good place to celebrate their combined birthdays.

Sara and I enjoyed the evening, meeting some new people and catch up with people we know, and if you ever want a good evening out, I strongly suggest you DON'T go the the Loaded Hog. We enjoyed ourselves DESPITE the Loaded Hog.

When we arrived, we discovered that the booking our friends had made was never recorded, so the manager knew nothing about it, and then tables the where meant to be reserved were already taken. The Loaded Hog offered some free drinks to compensate for their mistake, which was a good thing to do. While one of my friends was working this out with the Manager, she was informed by the Manager, "I don't want to be here either you know!"

My wife went to the Ladies and it was a mess, so she complained to the staff, who responded by giving her a roll-of-the-eyes and the impression nothing was going to be done about the condition of the toilets.

We then sat down, but move soon after because it was to cold where we were, which was right under the air con.

After we re-located to a better position, we placed orders. Because of the nature of the evening, we didn't arrive in one group, but guests arrived during the evening. Of the 8 or so main meals that where ordered:

- 2 fish dishes where sent back because they were under cooked (EG: raw).

- 1 order wasn't recorded, and thus was missed

- 1 order ask for no tomatoes due to allergy reasons, and there were tomato's when the meal arrived

2 friends arrived, and informed the waiter they were planning to only have desert, and when they came to order their desert 30 mins or so later, they were informed that the Loaded hog didn't do deserts... which is fine they don't do them, but I would have thought the waiter would have known that 30 mins earlier when he was informed they were intending to only have desert...

In the end, after everyone had finished eating (the ones of us who got food) we re-located to another restaurant for desert (and mains for those who still hadn't eaten!)

At this point, Sara (who is 9 months pregnant) and I went home. This was 10pm in the evening!

So, as I said before, we enjoyed the evening very much because of the people we were celebrating the birthday's with, but have little intention of ever going to the Loaded Hog again, and will happily recommend that people don't go there!

What a day. It didn't rain, which was good, as we had a walk in the bush and a walk at the beach.

Of course we ate to much, and open presents.

We had a great time, and also had 2 South Korean students Min and Jay spend the day with us.

So in all there was: My wife, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, my son,Min and Jay.

We talked with my Parents via Skype, and almost contacted my Sister. She MSNed me, and I responded, then about 30 mins later, we had a power cut for 2.5 hours, and by the time we got back on line, she had signed out! :-(

We all had a great day, and here are a some pictures to have a look at