June in Houston with the Lees and Stinsons

Kent and I had hoped to be in Houston before Parker was born, but he came early, so instead we arrived when he was six days old. 

We spent lots of time with the older kids so that Adri could have more time with Parker.

     

On the day after we arrived we went with the three older kids to their nature activity in a park.

I took lots of cute pictures, but had to choose just a few.

Cute little Carson was happy to have an excuse to play in the dirt and rocks!

The first Sunday we were in town was Father's day, so here's a picture of Russ with his three oldest cutie pies.

Lissa knew we would be in town so had bought tickets for her family and for us to attend the Hugh Jackman concert in downtown Houston.

 She had booked some VERY good seats, just three rows back from the stage!

He put on an excellent stage show, with lots of singing, dancing...

and several set and costume changes.  He sang songs from "The Greatest Showman" and "Les Miserables", since he starred in both of those musicals.

 At one point he came down into the audience, and was standing just five feet away from where we were sitting. It was an entertaining evening, and Lissa and I especially enjoyed it.

    

Meanwhile, back to our every day life---Kent had brought some paints with him and Sophia and Grace helped him to paint the insides of the Barbie house he'd made for Adri 25 years ago.

They thought it was great fun. Previously it had had some 90's style wallpaper on the walls.

Ta da! The finished product, looking much more up to date.

Carson looking very sweet and reverent before he receives a blessing from his daddy.

Of course Kent played his usual role of letting the kids had horsey rides

and letting them climb on him. While I read to them, baked with them and gave Sophia piano lessons.

Adri spending quality time with her boys.

While we were there cousin Kiera had a singing concert, so we took Sophia and Grace to it. 

Kiera did two solo songs and also some as part of an ensemble.

We were glad to be in town for Grace's 5th birthday party.

Savannah and Kiera were guests at her party.

Grace wore her unicorns and rainbows dress, and of course, red lipstick for her party! She's quite the fancy girl.

Grace wanted cake pops instead of a traditional birthday cake. 

We were glad to be in Texas to help out and enjoy all of these events with our dear grandchildren!

Welcome to the Family, Grandchild #15!

Adorable little Parker Lee was born early in the morning on the day of my piano recital! Kent and I were due to arrive in Houston on June 14th, but I guess Parker couldn't wait that long.

The sweet Lee family, now a family of six! (I'm quite sure I never looked as good after I'd given birth as Adri does in this picture.)

Sleeping in the German pram that his mommy slept in as a baby!

Tired Mommy and Parker snoozing together.

Parker has lots of dark hair, (but blonde-haired Grace also started out with dark hair) chubby cheeks and a cleft chin.

He is loved and adored by his older siblings.

Welcome to our eternal family, Parker! We love you.

Visiting Historic Mounds on our Way to Texas

The Stinsons flew back to Houston on the 10th of June. I gave piano lessons on June 11th and 12th, and on the evening of the 12th Kent and I headed out to drive to Texas. We spent the first night in Roanoke, Virginia, which is about five hours from Stafford. 

We decided to take the route so we would drive through Arkansas, a state we haven't been to yet. We had just crossed into Tennessee when a red warning light came on the dashboard. Sure enough, the car died just after we'd passed a rest area. We pulled off to the shoulder and called AAA.

The van was towed to a car repair place in the town of Greeneville, where we were very blessed that the repair shop was able to fit us in and had the correct alternator to replace the one that had given out in our van. All in all we were about four hours behind schedule, but we still made it to our hotel outside of Memphis late that night.

Kent had been reading some books about the ancient Americans, and saw that there were some archeological sites along our route from Virginia to Texas. The first one we visited was Parkin Archeological State Park in Arkansas, outside of Memphis, TN.

There were some interesting artifacts that had been found.

And there were some mounds at the park, too. Mounds were built by ancient Americans and are found all over the eastern United States. Researchers believe this city was inhabited from 1000 to 1550 AD.

The interesting thing about this settlement is that it was described by Spanish explorers when they came upon it in 1541, so more is known about it than many other locations. 

The second ancient American site we visited was Toltec Mounds State Park, outside of Little Rock, Arkansas.

It's claim to fame is that it's the largest and most complex mound site in the state of Arkansas.

It's an active archeological site, with trails to walk along to see the mounds. It was interesting to learn more about the mounds and the ancient Americans.

Leaving Arkansas as we drove into Texas--we were getting excited to meet Parker Lee, our new grandson born on June 8th!!