On Tuesday afternoon the traveling horde (about half the size of the outbound group) made its way back from Cozumel to Dallas. The flight, immigration process, and drive home were all very smooth – just a slight hiccup with the minivan selection at Hertz. Everyone was quite tired and ready to relax when we hit Boulder Lake Rd.
Wednesday’s highlight was a trip to the iPIC movie theater and the luxurious lounge chairs to see Wonder Woman. I got way too comfortable and fell asleep about 30 minutes into the movie. I woke up towards the end as things got noisy and am reasonably comfortable that I still got most of the plot. The Halls loved the comfy chairs and food and drink service at your seat.
Ten pin bowling was the main activity for Thursday. I had no idea how competitive Elspeth and David were at this pastime. I think I came in third or fourth on both games but just broke 100 on each which is always my goal. Struan definitely had the most force behind his bowling ball while David seemed to rise to the challenge from Elspeth in the last couple of frames of each game.
For Mum and Dad’s last night in McKinney we treated them to dinner at Gregory’s – a local French restaurant that we’ve been visiting in various locations for several years. The new location in Adriatica (a community styled after a Croatian village and in walking distance of our home) is by far their best. Diana had the nightly special – scallops in a saffron broth with lobster and mushrooms – absolutely delicious. I had my usual sea bass on a bed of lobster risotto while Dad enjoyed the rack of lamb.
Friday started with shuttling Mum and Dad to the airport for their flights to Philadelphia and then back to Glasgow. Speaking of Philly – Struan is a huge fan of cheesesteaks. So we found the best local place – Big Tony’s Cheesesteaks and he loved his meal. Leaving lunch I thought it would be fun to show the Halls the crazy Allen high school football stadium on our way to Best Buy. The route I selected was a bit rough with a large unexpected dip that sent both McD and McHeather airborne in the way back minivan seat. After some complaints and head rubbing we were back on track again with sunglasses intact.
David loved browsing Best Buy and trying to talk us into a much larger and fancier TV for the living room. A quick stop at Total Wines to amaze the Halls with the selection and we were home again.
The evening included sushi at Wasabi in Adriatica (owned by Gregory and Lydia – so we ate in their restaurants two nights in a row) and the “Secret Agent Men” performing at Zin Zen (a local wine bar with music on the weekend). Wasabi was amazing – soft shell crab, Korean BBQ ribs, and crab Rangoon all delicious. We all enjoyed the music at Zin Zen – surf music blended with the Shadows. We missed “Apache” but did get a request in for another Hank Marvin and the Shadows tune.
A lazy afternoon by the pool on Saturday was followed by a trip to the Granada theater on Greenville Avenue to see Carolyn Wonderland perform. We started with a relaxing and somewhat healthy dinner on the patio at Sundown next door. Diana’s hair fared much better after we convinced the manager to turn off the misters (it really wasn’t that hot).
Carolyn provided her usual combination of Janis Joplinesque vocals and solid blues guitar chops. A cover of The Band’s “Don’t Do It” was as much of highlight as when we heard it first with Denny and Anne at the Kessler.
Manual labor kicked off Sunday. We needed to disassemble the beds in Diana’s office, move them back upstairs, and then move Diana’s desk back into the office. Only problem was the desk being about an inch wider than the door opening. Solved by removing the door from the hinges – much easier done with Struan and David than with Keith and Diana prior to everyone arriving. Then the Halls headed off for their trip home.
Our home already feels very spacious and quiet. We miss having family around all the time – such a nice treat for the last 2 weeks.