Trains and Croquet

Fun Family Times! A few traditions.

Whenever Lewis' are together, there must be Croquet. My dad loves it, I don't know why but he does and we've played it for as long as I can remember. Thankfully their backyard is perfect for playing and so we played. Not to boast or anything but the McKneely's represented well and WON!!! Stephen and I were a team. I was making some rolls in the kitchen and couldn't break away to be there when the game started so Stephen started off really strong and handed the mallet off with a good sized lead and I'm happy to report that I didn't screw it up and increased our lead to an easy victory. I think this slightly frustrated my father who has never grown out of his competitive streak, but there's always next year!!

The Trains at North Park. The other tradition is one of our own little family. Our good friends told us of this model train exhibit that goes on every Christmas at the North Park Mall here in Dallas. And since we knew Grant was a total TRAIN KID we decided to wait and go with them. Here are the 3 kiddos with their conductor hats on:


It was so much fun, everyone was enthralled with the trains that go through replicas of different US landmarks (Golden Gate Bridge, NYC Times square, Washington DC) not to mention some famous Dallas Landmarks too.

Then after wards we went to.....


Of course Freebirds for lunch. A Texas tradition. We had to. all in all it was a marvelous family outing.

The third thing we did, that I don't have any photos of was the Largest Synchronized Holiday Lights Display in Texas happens to be in Frisco Town Square. What was especially memorable about this was that Grant rode with us, so we've got most of the kiddos (Gracie stayed with her parents) and they thought the lights were the funniest thing they'd ever seen. They just laughed and laughed through the 5 or 6 songs that are done to lights. It was truly something to see, and we'll be back next year for sure!!