Visitors Come to Conroe!

Summer of 2018 brought a couple of nice surprises to our home in Conroe.  It had been almost a year since we moved into our home and we were finally beginning to feel settled.  The first of our surprises came as an opportunity to host Elder Leonard D. Greer, an attorney from Gilbert, Arizona, and a member of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was here to preside over our Conroe Stake Conference.  We had the honor of having him stay in our home with us for a couple of nights, June 1-3.  He was warm and personable, bringing a sense of humor, a box of Gilbert mint chocolates, and connecting us by phone to his wife who was unable to accompany him.

We also had a couple of visitors who were a little more on the wild side.  The first appeared to Elder Greer and I while eating breakfast one morning . . . I could not identify it, but Elder Greer quickly assessed that it was a red fox wandering across our backyard.  About the same time, I noticed two tiny raccoons out on our back patio. I quietly went outside to watch them and when they discovered me nearby, they seemed as interested in me as I was in them.  They did not scare away from me when I tried to shoo them off the porch.  Instead, they kind of stumbled and tumbled around like a couple of drunken sailors.  (I later learned that baby raccoons are blind.)  I watched them for a while, fascinated with the many variety of noises they made.  But these were critters I didn't want to have making a home here!  I had to get tough . . . but only after taking a short video of them.

However, when Doug and Sandra called with a proposition to come visit us in Texas, June 13-16, we were thrilled! We gave them a big dose of Texas hospitality and warmth! Actually, we provided a profuse dose of heat and humidity! But who is going to let that stop us from having some fun?  For real Texas BBQ, we took them to Corkscrew in Old Town Spring.  This place has been featured on TV and has quite a loyal following.  Doug and Sandra can now say they've had a taste of Texas!  We wandered around the quaint shops full of unique gifts, crafts, and treats and Sandra purchased beautiful matching tablecloths for she and I to enjoy.  Doug was tempted to buy a Dr. Pepper cowboy hat for a work associate. (But we really know he wanted it for himself!)

We took them on a little tour of our old stomping grounds in The Woodlands.  Obviously, I didn't think to take many photos.  But the green trolley took us around town center where we were able to showcase a few of our favorite places.

The following day we headed to downtown Houston and just drove around the city a bit.  We walked through the Galleria Mall area and found a nice restaurant where we enjoyed lunch with our rather eccentric waiter. From there it was about a 20-minute drive to the San Jacinto Monument.  The San Jacinto Monument is a 570-foot tall shaft topped by a 34-foot star. It is dedicated to the “Heroes of the Battle of San Jacinto and all others who contributed to the independence of Texas.”

From there, we drove to the Port of Houston, where we embarked on a harbor cruise.  This informational cruise explains the history and use of the largest port on the Gulf of Mexico.  The port is a 25-mile-long complex of nearly 200 private and public industrial terminals along the 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel.  It is ranked #1 in foreign waterborne import and export tonnage.

It was a quick couple of days, but we were so glad to be able to spend some time with Doug and Sandra on our Texas turf!  We love you two!

We had not seen Chelsea's family since March when Bob and I spent Easter weekend with them in Temple.  I was itching to see those grand kids, so even though Thomas was not able to come, we were delighted when Chelsea asked if she could bring the kids over for a few days, July 12-17.  We were all pretty content to hang out at home and enjoy the pool, but we did go to the mall a couple of times to help Knox and Holly "Build-a-Bear".  They were doing a big promotion and had sold out when we first tried, so we just played in the kid area of the mall.  We were given a rain-check and returned a few days later.

Yay!  Pool time with Grandpa!

I think Holly liked her new dress!

And who wouldn't like bubbles?

 Thanks for the Visit!