Dallas/Lavon, Texas (November 2022)

We have been holding annual family gathering during the Thanksgiving week for the past several years. We started it in 2016 at Dallas, at Palm Springs in 2017, at Cancun, Mexico in 2018, Medellin, Colombia in 2019, and at Dallas again in 2020 and 2021. This year also, we have decided to meet up in Dallas since Amanda and Ray now have two children. The following photos are preview of their Christmas photo shooting:

My grandchildren, Eli and Gabe, are just adorable.

On the way to Dallas, we stayed at the Twin Lake campground for one night and spent additional two nights at hotels. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, called Nicky's, before the second night and it was delicious!

After we arrived at Amanda and Ray's home in Lavon, we checked in at a two-bedroom Airbnb condominium with a lakeview. It turned out not so attractive because we did not have the direct access to the lake or a hiking trail around the lake. But, it was adequate for our couple and Joyce couple to stay for several nights.

One of the new traditions we have started this year was for the men to play golf. Ray plans a few times a month and Kyle played a few times only 10 years ago. Will, Ray's friend and one of his former students, also played, It is joyous to be around him. we had a good time playing together.

Our Thanksgiving dinner came out quite nice after three ladies put their best into cooking. It was amazing to see them at work together to come up with a nice-looking and delicious-tasting Thanksgiving dinner.

This is the dish prepared out of the food table. I normally do not eat turkey as everyday meal, but I found myself liking turkey dish more every year. How interesting!

This is the group photo for our extended family, including Brandy, Ray's younger sister.

Spending time with grandchildren is more fun than almost anything else. Holding them, lifting them up, chasing them around, tickling them, and playing with them are all part of the fun as grandparents. 

We hung out together one day to Dallas downtown. We planned to go to Dallas Museum of Art, but it was closed due to renovation. We ended up going to a sculpture park. Joyce was not happy, but we had a good time before we dropped Joyce and Kyle at the airport for their flight to return home in Alameda, California.

We let Eli to play at a children's park. Eli was roaming and running around having fun.

We were so delightful and grateful that we have had this family gathering tradition for the past six years. - Jeffrey