Unexpected guest

My cousin Leonard flew down to visit his dad today. He had not arranged for a room at The Shores before coming down figuring he could get one once he landed. Unfortunately, The Shores is undergoing construction (they're replacing all of the windows in the building with hurricane resistant windows) and all of the guest rooms are being used by "displaced residents" (the residents have to move out of their rooms for 2 weeks while the windows in their rooms are being replaced). He was sitting outside The Shores when we got there to pick up Aunti Vi to take her shopping. He said he would get a hotel room (there is a Holiday Inn near The Shores), but we offered our guest room which he accepted. So, we have a house guest until Friday morning when he flies back north.

It was good to be back in choir tonight. Our new minister of worship is using a different style of music than we have done in the past. It will take a some getting used to. There were 34 people out tonight which for the first rehearsal is great!

We had a really good time with Carolyn and Rog the beginning of the week. We drove over to Orlando on Monday arriving there about 2:30. We checked in (sort of - our room wasn't ready yet) and picked Rog up and went to find gas (Carolyn is here for a week long seminar and training for the Veteran's Administration). After we got gas, we headed to Disney. Rog really didn't want to pay for a day at Disney since we would only have about 2 hours before we had to be back at the hotel to pick up Carolyn so we did about the only free thing you can do at Disney - we took a monorail ride. Since parking is included with our annual passes, we parked at EPCOT and then hopped the monorail to the TTC (ticket and transportation center). We asked to sit up in the cab with the pilot since Rog had never ridden up front. Unfortunately, there was a family waiting to ride up front on the way back to EPCOT, but at least he had a chance to experience riding up front one way. He really enjoyed it - gives you a different view of the monorail.

When we got back to the hotel, we finished checking in and went to find our room. The original suite (I never asked for a suite!) they had set aside for us still wasn't ready, so the desk clerk found 2 other suites that "would do". She asked if we wanted a room with a view overlooking the pool (which was huge and had 2 waterfalls, a lazy river, and several slides) or a room with no view (there is not a bad view from any room in the hotel!). We asked what the difference was between the 2 rooms and she said the room with no view was bigger. She showed us pictures of the 2 rooms and we opted for the room with the view. We went up to the suite and walked in and about fell over. The suite was 1/2 the size of our house!!!! If that was the "smaller" room how big was the room with no view!!!! Anyway, we put our luggage in the room and headed down to meet Carolyn and Rog for dinner. We ate at Smokey Bones and then headed back to the hotel. Carolyn and Rog came up to our "room" and they had the same reaction "our room isn't this big, our room doesn't have a kitchenette, our room doesn't have a sofa, coffee table, conference center, etc." We don't know why we were given a suite, but I was going to check the bill the next day to make sure the rate was what I had reserved on the internet (it was!). We played cards ("Shove It") until about 10:00 and then Carolyn and Rog headed up to their room(we were on the 10th floor they were on the 18th).

Tuesday, we got up and met Rog for breakfast at the hotel (because our room wasn't ready when promised, we got vouchers for breakfast worth $18.00 each!). After eating we headed for Sea World and spent the day there. It was HOT!!!!! The only people who go out on a 95 degree August day in Florida are tourists! We Floridians know to stay in and go from our air-conditioned house, to our air-conditioned car to our air-conditioned restaurant/store, etc.!!! But because Rog wanted to go we did. We had a good time in spite of the heat. Several of the shows and exhibits are in air-conditioned buildings, so we were able to escape the oppressive central Florida heat. We got back to the hotel about 5:00, picked Carolyn up and headed to Giordano's for stuffed pizza. It was delicious. After eating, we headed back to the
hotel to play cards again. Since we had checked out of our room in the morning, we found a spot in the lobby where we could play. We played until about 9:00 and then said good-bye and headed back to Bradenton. We got home about 11:00.

Tomorrow, nothing much is doing. We're going to go out to dinner with Aunti Vi and Leonard. With being gone for the better part of 2 weeks, there is lots to catch up on. The yard needs tending and the house definitely needs attention!!!!

Well, I'll sign off. It's time for bed -