Christine's dad Jim lives near Austin, a few hours' drive from us (in Texas we measure distance in hours). To beat the holiday traffic we drove out into hill country on Tuesday night, arriving late, putting Pete straight to bed, and then jumping into Jim's hot tub.
We enjoyed his resort-style retirement for all of Wednesday, wandering along his lakefront, going out to his clubhouse for lunch, playing bocce ball at his house. In the evening he took me to his local karaoke night. They had both kinds of music - country and western - but there was no way I could compete with a bunch of Texas retirees rocking the hits. I cradled my G&T quietly in the corner.
On Thanksgiving morning we drove over to Vince's parents. The Mucker Snr. house was even fuller than the Mucker Jr. one. I'm not sure I was introduced to everyone, but after a few drinks it didn't matter. We ate a gigantic turkey dinner and watched a lot of American football; this is actually the dictionary definition of Thanksgiving. Later I was able to trick everyone into watching the cricket from Brisbane, although much translation was required ("the pitcher bowls six balls, and then the batters have to run between the bases, and you get six for a home run...")
We drove back to Jim's this morning, having discovered that the legendary In'n'Out burger has restaurants as far east as Waco! Waco and not Houston?! An animal-style cheeseburger with fries and a neopolitan shake was just what I needed after waffles for breakfast.
Now we're back at Jim's for a final night before the return to Houston tomorrow. Everyone agreed that we were a big improvement over Vince and Christine so, like Thanksgiving, it looks like we could be an annual tradition.
Jim has a seven-person hot tub. Or a one person hot-tub, according to Hannah.
At Lago Vista lakeside.
And then lunch. It's a tough life.
Out the back of Jim's property. This is real Texas.
A little afternoon refreshment.
And then bocce ball! Which is boules.
Ah, time for some proper sport. It's not tradition to watch The Ashes at Thanksgiving, I was shocked to discover.
The Muckers got in a few drinks for our arrival.
"So if we can come to see you in Houston then we won't need to go to cold, rainy Virginia anymore to see...what was my youngest son's name again?"
Precision turkey cooking.
Hannah was very engaged by the football.
Pre-lunch G&T.
The usual chaos of the family dinner.
Why is Pete laughing?
Because his new friend John Paul is doing this.
A quick snack on the way home.
Walking off the calories.
Hill country sunset.
Aaaaannnddd just one more dip in the hot tub before we leave.
