Tacomawa: Fall + Billings MT

Tacoma WA

This fall we visited the installation site of Bertha, the giant drill tunneling under Seattle. Our friends Matt and Melissa found the cool tour for us.

You may think Bertha is just a funny name for a big item, but actually the name was chosen by local children from a list of famous women in the area. Bertha Landes was Seattle's first (and only) women mayor. In 1926. See more about the drill at WSDOT, or follow Bertha on Twitter!

Ginger's high school friend Kendra lived in Tacoma during November as part of her podiatry internship. She'll graduate from medical school in Chicago this spring. Right, Stephen is keeping the house warm.

On campus, Ginger got students involved in an outreach to meet others on campus and ask, "What are you thankful for?" Below, two visitors, baby Phoebe, Grace, Kerry, Ira, Eric and Ginger.

Billings MT
We drove to Billings for Thanksgiving, dividing the 14 hour trip into two days. The two mountain passes were mostly clear, with a small snowstorm coming home.

We celebrated Ginger's 28th birthday the night we arrived. Amos and Kristian drove from Billings. (Photo by Amos) Amos has been working on a mini-helicopter for photography and video.

Stephen embraces Montana cowboy looks during a post-thanksgiving stroll. Gramma Pearl, Nancy and aunt Mary enjoy cooking in Mary's renovated kitchen.

Stephanie's boyfriend Ryan joined the family for the Thanksgiving, and had fun catching up with Mandy and Nick.

Below, Bill and Nona had breakfast with Ginger and her parents. They are back in Billings for the winter, driving school buses and saving money for the next summer's mission in Slovakia. Bill is going to be in a documentary about the spiritual revolution happening with the Roma people! Right, Clementine had fun in the backyard. Nancy built a complex structure of mostly lawn chairs to block the un-gated side yard.

Nancy assembled a "Cousins Party" the day after thanksgiving as an assorted family reunion. Pearl's independent living home has a large gathering area perfect for such events.

From left, Tim and wife Stacey, Terry, Pearl and Nancy, Aunt Lois, Stephanie, Ryan, Mary, Jim. Front row- Mandy, Nick, Stephen, Ginger.

Our last morning, our high school Sunday school teacher Anna came over for breakfast. Then we spent the night in Missoula with Uncle John and Aunt Gloria, here modeling aprons made by their daughter Jasmine, a costume and props decorator in Hollywood. Jasmine and her longtime boyfriend Tom just got engaged! We missed seeing them, but did get to spend the evening with Sierra and her husband Bryan.

We had lunch with Nancy's cousin Dave and his wife Cadie in Spokane, WA. Their son Eric is in middle school, and showed us several of his cool projects.

Stephen counted that we visited 35 people in 5 days!