A new baby, a friend in China, another new baby and a few other things....

A new baby boy has arrived. Patrick and Kristyn had their sweet little boy yesterday afternoon. Their due date was July 22 and they missed it by one day! Katrina, Brandon and the kids drove down to visit and welcome the new little one to their ever growing family. We were all hoping for a boy so everyone is happy.





What a cute baby boy. I know they are still having a hard time keeping the big smiles off their faces as they welcome this new little one into the world.  He doesn't know it yet, but he has entered a family full of love so he will be a happy little man.

This is one of the many pictures Matt has shared so far from his trip to Asia. He is in China right now and will ultimately end up at the International Convention in Japan in several weeks.

 

This is one of the "nicer" of the public toilets they have available.  Yep - that's it.  And you had better have your own toilet paper and hand cleaner or you will be "up the creek" so the speak.  Remind me to do some very intense "squats" for about six weeks before I travel over there please. 

Evidently the food is pretty good. He has sent some wonderful pictures of the different foods he has been eating so far.

I will be sharing a few more as the time passes and he shares more with us. He always takes great pictures from his many adventures. No wonder he has friends all over the world. Everyone loves Matt.  I know we sure do.

I've been holding onto this picture of Jess with her baby girl Lyla. She is growing up so fast. Isn't Jess beautiful in this picture?  The face of a very happy Mommy.

I had to share this picture of Jon at the beach.  He and his family were having a real family vacation in one of their favorite places.  I'm really looking forward to our week down there next week.

I love this family picture of Ivy Jo and five generations. Her Gma just flew in from Australia and she is in her 90's! She sure doesn't look like it. What a pretty family. All three of the young men in the background are Ivy Jo's sons. Yep - they are all very handsome young men.

We also have a new baby boy across the "Pond".  His name is His Royal Highness George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.  I can't help but think about Princess Diana as I look at the pictures of her first grandson born to William and Kate day before yesterday.

She really was a beautiful woman.  It is so sad that she died so young and when her two sons were still so very young. It makes me so proud of William when I see how devoted he seems to be to his lovely wife.  You can tell from the pictures how excited they are about their first child but the last picture of William's face also shows that his tolerance of too much public intrusion will not be allowed in his life again. The family still hold the press responsible for her untimely death as her car was trying to get away from the paparazzi when the accident occurred. She had given up her royal title and tried to live a normal life out of the public eye but it never came to be.   wanted a private life.

This is a picture of the latest King George VI pictured with Prince Charles on his third birthday in November 1951. He Queen Elizabeth's Father and William's Great-Grandfather.  He became the king after Prince Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry a divorced woman.  There was a wonderful movie entitled -  "King George VI: The Man Behind the King's Speech" - about this interesting man. He had a slight speech impediment and had to work very hard to overcome it in order to make a very important speech over the radio. 

                                 

I looked up a picture of another of the new Prince's name-sake - this is also one of the many that were named Prince George.  Man, when you start looking back at some of the history, it can get pretty confusing.  I do recall reading about Queen Elizabeth II and about how young she was when she became the Queen.  There was a movie made some years ago called The Queen starring Helen Mirren. Helen Mirren did a wonderful job in that role and I really enjoyed it.  Since most of the earliest settlers in this country came from England, I guess it is only reasonable we would be interested in where we came from.

Kelly and I have started counting the days until our vacation begins next week!!!!!