Texas - Dec 2024

Shawna had to go to Cambodia to "hold down the fort" while the EYC director was in Mexico, but Keith stayed back in Texas to be our representative at Jordan's graduation.  Keith used the weekend Shawna was away to go to Scottsdale to see Rakesh, then was able to spend the rest of the week connecting with friends.

Keith and Jordan as a graduate

On the Monday, Keith met Rebecca for their traditional walk around White Rock Lake, followed by a coffee at Starbucks.  He then did a second lap himself, clocking in 18 miles / 34K steps that day!  That night he joined Keith's parents and Margaret for Indian at Our Place.

Post-walk with Rebecca

Tuesday was supposed to be another White Rock walk, but Brandon had to cancel due to work, so Keith just walked the neighborhood.  In the afternoon he decided to revisit two of his Texas alma-maters, UNT and TCC (fka TCJC).  It was impossible to remember which dorm he stayed in at UNT, but he was able to find the building the hospitality classes were in - though he recognized absolutely nothing!  Dinner that night was with Khris at Tavern Rossa where they had the "family meal" - though for the second time in a row he forgot to get the obligatory picture!

Keith at UNT

Keith at TCC

On the Wednesday Keith went for the morning walk and then drive down to Texas A&M for Jordan's graduation - his first visit since being unceremoniously booted out in Dec '87....37 years earlier! After checking in to the Townplace Suites, he went over to the rental house that Bob and Ginny had arranged for a quick dinner with Bob/Ginny, Mark, and Jordan/Mark.  

Thursday Keith walked a couple of laps around the park adjacent to campus, which also included a very well done memorial to the bonfire disaster.  Jordan's graduation lunch was at Elia Cafe Tapas Bar, where the same cast from the night before was joined by Mark's parents, Stephen/Amelia, and Peter/Jen/Michael.  It was a nice log lunch, with Jordan presenting Ginny with the honorary sash.  

Keith back at A&M, 37 years later

Keith with Stephen and Amelia

Peter and Jen

Keith had a nap in the afternoon and then joined everyone at Reed Arena for the graduation ceremony.  As a December graduation there were only about a thousand kids graduating so it was not as "painful" to sit through all the names. Peter and Michael had to drive back to DFW that evening so they bailed early, therefore a small subset went out to Fuego for quick Mexican fast food, then Keith/Jordan/Mark went to Cedar Lane on the bar strip for a beer before bed.  

Keith and Christy

On Friday Keith drove away at 8:15am, first stopping by Collin Street Bakery outlet in Waco to get a fruitcake and a pecan pie.  Next stop with a fun lunch with Christy at Mexican Sugar.  And the Friday night was dinner with Peter - since they were not really able to spend too much time together down at College Station.  They hit FnG Eats and then What's On Tap.  

Peter and Keith

Shawna arrived home Sat night and Keith picked her up from Love Field; we then had dinner at Keith's parent's house.  On Sunday we went to dinner at Debbie and Marvin's house, joined by Mike/Jenny and two other couples.  Debbie had cooked a delicious French dinner.  

Debbie and Marvin and the dinner crew

After a great week, we headed off to Louisiana!

Cambodia - Dec 2024

Shawna had to make a trip to EYC in Phnom Penh to spend a week with the management team while the Director was in Mexico with his wife, giving birth to their first child.  Since we were there earlier in the year, Keith did not join her to save some money. She flew out from Dallas, spending one night in LA before then taking the flight to Cambodia via Seoul.  In LA, she stayed at the LAX Marriot which is a large, nice hotel near the airport. She arrived into Cambodia quite late on the Sat night and stayed until the following Friday night.  While there, she stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which is a new, high rise building downtown with very nice, modern rooms.  She was upgraded to a larger room and breakfast, which was a very tasty buffet of mixed Western and Asian dishes, was included as well.  The hotel also had a decent sized gym on the top floor along with a rooftop pool.

Room at Courtyard Marriott

She spent her time at the Youth School meeting with the management team doing a few facilitated capacity building sessions while also spending 1:1 time with each manager. She also got to sit in on a few classes - English, STEM and Leadership - which were all fun.  Lou, another board member from Australia, was also there part of the week with Mates Abroad so she was able to spend some time with her as well as Mona, the board member that is local in Cambodia.  

EYC Management Team

For meals, she had breakfast at the hotel each day as well as a few other meals there.  Outside of the hotel, she went to the following places:

Master Sukisoup - she took the management team here for lunch one day.  They specialize in these large pots of broth that you throw in a bunch of vegetables and meat/seafood - kind of like a shabu shabu dish.  Needless to say, she only ate the broth.

One More Restaurant - she took the volunteers here for lunch one day.  Not knowing, she ended up ordering a dish with chicken that had a lot of bones so needless to say she only ate the rice!

Namaste India Restaurant - she took three alumni here for dinner one evening - and Mona, the local board member joined as well. She had chicken vindaloo - quite tasty. 

My morning commute via tuk tux

Scottsdale - Dec 2024

Shawna needed to go to Cambodia for a week to "hold down the fort" while the director was in Mexico with his new baby.  So Keith decided to fly to Scottsdale to see Rakesh for a long weekend.

Keith and Rakesh

It was an easy flight from Love Field to Phoenix, arriving in the late afternoon.  A quick taxi ride to Rakesh's new apartment took Keith too....the Cheesecake Factory?  A text exchange with Rakesh uncovered an inaccurate address - fortunately the taxi was still there to take Keith to the correct place, the Bergen Apartments.  Having been given access to the apartment via the Latch app, Keith got settled and then went for a walk.  Rakesh arrived back at the apartment so they could have dinner at Buck & Rider where a couple of beers and crab cakes were the dinner of choice.

Keith and Tammy at lunch

On Friday Rakesh had to work, so Keith went for a 3.5 hour walk along the canal (east), past Old Town Scottsdale.  He got back just in time for a noon lunch at Flower Child with Tammy, a former Aimco colleague.  Then, to help offset the inevitable calories from the rest of the weekend, Keith walked 30 minutes west along the canal to the Biltmore, then returned in time for a shower before the evening activities.  Sandeep, a friend of Rakesh's (and the dad of Ria's friend Sonja) came over for a couple bottles of wine before we walked across the alley to the new Global Ambassador hotel, developed by the owner of Fox Restaurant Group.  The hotel is stunning, with quite the "scene" - it seemed every Scottsdale mom was preening at in the lobby bar!  Dinner was at Le Ave in the lobby of the hotel where we shared a couple of salads and a tomahawk steak.  

Keith, Sandeep, and Rakesh at The Global Ambassador

On Saturday morning, Kelly came over to join us for a walk.  We took a Waymo autonomous taxi for 9 miles and then walked back to the apartment.  It was Keith and Kelly's first Waymo experience - just incredible.  Rakesh cooked smash burgers for lunch, we all had a nap, and then headed to dinner at Roka Akur where we shared some Japanese dishes.  The evening was concluded with a cocktail on the rooftop of the Global Ambassador - stunning views of Camelback.

Keith, Kelly, and Rakesh before our first Waymo ride

Sunday was a relaxing morning.  We watched the last part of the F1 race and then watched the Tottenham v Chelsea game - sadly Tottenham (Rakesh and Ria's team) lost 4-3.  Keith showered and went to the airport as Rakesh had a work call and then a flight that afternoon.  Great weekend catching up.  

New Mexico - Nov 2024

Since Graham is not able to leave NOSA during the holidays, Shawna had the recommendation that the family go to see him over Thanksgiving and help out.  We were supposed to go for the entire week but Keith had some doctor appointments so we flew out on Tuesday and came back Sunday.  Jean and Dick had driven up on Friday and stayed until the following Monday and Margaret and Boone flew in on Sunday and stayed until Wednesday.

View on our walk along the river

We had dinner out as a family to celebrate early Thanksgiving on Tuesday night - Graham had picked that we go to El Nido which is not fully in Sante Fe so a bit closer to get to.  We shared a salad and pork chop - food was pretty good.  We also had dinner at NOSA on Friday night with Jean and Dick and Sharon (Graham's business partner), her husband and two friends.  The food of course was amazing - in particular the carrot soup!

Dodds Family (forgot to get a pic with Margaret and Boone!)

The rest of the time we helped out at the restaurant, making some time to do our favorite walk along the river in the afternoons.  The busiest day was Thanksgiving day where Graham sold out both seatings - 90 people in total.  Jean and Dick also got a lot done while there and Margaret chipped in as well. It was all hands on deck by the family!

Ready for our shift

It was great to be back and happy to see some of the changes that were made since we were last there!