Mable & Eben Pope

Steve, ? & Kim

Steve, Michael & Mette

Kim in Colorado

Snowshoeing

Yoda, Caley & Kim

John, Phyllis & Ashley

Kim & some poor, poor bird...

Angie, Ethan & Aaron

Purple Flowers at Lakewold

Swordtail Fern

We're back! Hi all, Kim and John have returned to the states. You can read about our big overseas adventures here, though it still is quite rough.

Though we haven't written it up, there are a bunch of photos of our time in Boulder. We spent a delightful bit of time recovering, skiing and visiting family there. Kim organized some of her wonderful images of the trip and then focused on the job search. John kept busy recovering some lost data files, reinstalling operating systems and setting up three various computers and starting in on our finances. Clark & Libs visited for a week so we got in a bit of skiing too. We spent a few days with dear friends Steve and Cathy Leslie also.

It was time to start the process of returning to work though my family made it awfully easy to just stay in Colorado and socialize, ski and work on errands. It is hard to know that my niece Grace may be a few inches taller already by the time I see her next!

In early March we returned to the Seattle area - after 17 1/2 months for me, and 18+ months for Kim - ignoring her brief January visit for some interviews.

Our drive out from Colorado (where we flew into from Sydney just in time for the holidays) was fortunately uneventful. We did have a forced layover in Butte since several sections of I-90 were closed or open only to emergency vehicles due to a fierce winter storm. Most of the way there was only one lane partially clear of snow and at times both had packed snow. Given that we were driving a Ryder rental truck with pretty bare tires and our Subaru on a towed trailer we were quite relieved to not wind up in the ditch.

We stopped en route for several days in southeast Washington for an interview for Kim. I enjoyed neighboring Moscow where my Great Grandfather settled and my Grandfather grew up, and my father's first cousins, the Pope's, still live.

We finished the drive into Seattle, unpacked furniture and extra gear into a storage container, had a delightful dinner at Carmelita's with a few friends and flew to Wenatchee and drove north, nearly to the Canadian border for another interview. We even got in a beautiful day snowshoeing just inside Canada.

We returned to Seattle and picked up our dear cat Yoda from Caley who was a savior in keeping Yoda during our travels.
south for another interview, finally landing for six weeks in Vancouver, Washington (just 10 miles north of Portland, across the Columbia) where Kim had a 6 week locums stint. Work there was quite frenetic, so despite some fun days with brother Peter and Aunt Phyllis, we were happy to head north for Kim's next assignment, this time in Tacoma.

In the mean time John's updated his 'professional' web site (http://active-code.com) and is starting to look for contract programming opportunities. Your leads are most welcome! He's also been dealing with logistics while Kim has slaved away at work.

Dad and Kathleen swung by for a brief visit that did allow us to get together with John's nephew Ethan and his girlfriend Angie.

While working at the temporary assignments, Kim decided on a permanent job on Vashon Island between Seattle and Tacoma on the Puget Sound. We found a house to rent overlooking the Sound and are eager to complete our final move and settle in for the first time in several years! We are delighted to be able to escape Seattle's traffic and congestion.