The night before Cliff left, there was (understandably) a heavy feeling in the air. We knew that we should do something special to savor that last night together as a family for awhile...but we were kind of emotionally zapped...so it was hard to choose anything.
Cliff just knew he wanted a good steak since it would be awhile before he got one again. We almost just decided to grill at home...but when I was talking to my friend Molly (Cliff's CO's wife...this is their second tour here and she knows ALL the good places!) she said, "Oh, you need to go out! It's his last night...you guys need to celebrate together!" I knew she was right, so I got some recommendations from her...and of all of them, "Sam's by the Sea" seemed the most promising. It sounded a little pricey, so it's only something we'd do on a special occasion, but this was such an occasion.
We were blown away! From the time we pulled into the parking lot and saw the sailor-suit clad employee directing us to our parking spot with his glow-wands, we knew we were in good hands.
It was so charming! I am SO into all things nautical, that if I thought it would be OK to decorate my whole house like this, I would...but people might talk. Everyone was tripping over themselves to help us with any need before we even knew we needed anything! The music, the decor, the smoking blue shrimp cocktails...it was all amazing!
We started our dinner with some mocktails. They really know the art of the upsell, I tell you! We all chose drinks with take-home containers. They were all SO cool. LOVE the sharks! Patrick's is a ceramic Saki jug. Just good, clean, fun!
Everyone chose something different. I had the macadamia-crusted mahi mahi...
Patrick had flaming swords of filet Mignon,
Troy had a wild seafood stew with tentacles and claws and stuff climbing out of it.
Cliff didn't even order steak after all, because there were so many great seafood options.
Jake order Lau-Lau...which is a variety of seafood wrapped and steamed in Ti leaves.
He was quite adventurous!
I was fighting back tears the whole night (what's new?) and not because I was dwelling on how sad I was that he was leaving, but because I had SO much love for my family, and I wanted to soak in every moment that we were together for one last night. The whole evening was magical...and I was SO grateful to Molly, not only for her suggestion, but for her insistence (or permission, really) for us to go out and celebrate.
While we were posing for this picture, this little guy cruised by to say hello...
He let Patrick know how he felt about being man-handled...and Patrick put him down real quick!
We decided that this is where we will go when we are all together as a family again...then it will REALLY be time to celebrate. I can't wait!
2 comments:
That looks like a fun place! The stew Troy ordered is pretty spectacular!!
We love this place! The take home glasses are cool! We need to finish collecting them before June! YIKES Glad you guys went there! It is Ed's favorite place!
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