Family Reunion

As you know, we had a family reunion to go to on Sunday. It was an all day affair in Houston. Now these were cousins and kin from Mr. Precious' side of the family but they all seem to like me and told me I could come along. ;)

We all gathered in one location - The Forest Club - and then hopped on a bus to tour the sites where many of the ancestors homes had been, churches they attended and a little history to go along with it. Now you know me and my camera. If I get close to a mirror, I am going to snap snap snap! Here is Mr. Precious and me sitting right behind the driver of the bus and we were in the perfect spot for me to snap a photo of us in the rear view mirror. Am I clever or what? :)

Since this was Sunday, how perfect to snap the precious little church and it's bell tower. The tour guide allowed me to ring the bell! I told you people like me!~ :)

Just a pretty little spot...I'm sure in olden times there would have been a little band up inside the gazebo playing little olden tunes...

Our next stop after a three hour bus tour, was for a special ceremony in the historic Glenwood Cemetery.

A little close up of the base of the water fountain.

We were going to honor T. W. House, the patriarch of the family. He was the mayor of Houston around 1862. He had come to the U.S. as a stowaway on a ship, learned a trade as a baker in New Orleans, managed to move to Houston where he owned a mercantile store and sold the first ice cream in town. He later owned a large sugar plantation (you've heard of Sugarland, Texas?), had some banks, bought a ship, The Harriet Lane, and imported guns from England to help the Confederates during the Civil War. Anyway, this great man was Mr. Precious' great great grandfather.

The kin are gathering.

This is Mr. Precious' sister, my dear sister-in-law. She had put together a beautiful service to honor all the kin buried in this spot!

Mr. Precious was also a part of the ceremony and read scripture from the Bible. I love this man! Isn't he cute?

Kin with their responsive reading in hand.

Dear cousin-in-law placing a wreath on T. W.'s headstone.

How sad, after the hurricane 100 very old trees were uprooted. I took a picture so you could see the size of the beautiful old beauties.

Now we're back at The Forest Club for a very lovely dinner and program.

Mr. Precious was the Master of Ceremonies. He does this very well. Many special cousins were recognized. We had many travel to Texas from out of state. One special cousin traveled all the way from England! He had recently taken an Ancestry DNA test which connected him to this family! He spoke and it was very interesting.

One cute little cousin wrote a special song just for the reunion and accompanied herself on the uke!!The tables were beautifully dressed and each had a different floral arrangement.

Now if you know me, you know I'm easily amused! Well, I just fell in love with these little sweat sleeves for the water glasses. I'm sure this is not the name for them, but I think you get the picture.

This little sweat sleeve prevented the little water drops from falling all over your gorgeous clothes when you picked up the glass for a little sip of water. Can you love sweat sleeves? I surely can. I must get some of these little thingys.

Well, you know how it is after a long meal and drinking so many glasses of tea and water...it's Bathroom Time!! I had to take a Bathroom Snap. It wasn't hard to persuade dear sis-in-law to join me, but she just kept looking at the camera instead of looking into the mirror! I'm not going to tell her, but she may not be Daring Darling Bathroom Beauty Snapping Diva material. Oh, no, I won't tell her.

I truly hope I haven't bored you to tears today! Family history is so very important. Mr. Precious is so blessed to have lots of information on his ancestors and I love getting into his papers just about as much as he does. I'm just so thankful the in-laws like me!! ;)

Be a bunch of sweeties,

I'll leave you with a little Note Song~

Song For Our Ancestors

Did you see the lights

As they fell all around you

Did you hear the music

Serenade from the stars

Wake up, wake up

Wake up and look around you

We're lost in space

And the time is our own

Whoa, whoa Iiiiiiiiii

Did you feel the wind

As it blew all around you

Did you feel the love

That was in the air

Wake up, wake up

Wake up and look around you

We're lost in space

And the time is our own

Whoa, whoa Iiiiiiiiii

The sun comes up

And it shines all around you

You're lost in space

And the earth is your own

Whoa, whoa Whoa

~ sung by The Steve Miller Band