Seattle Thanksgiving

This year was a big Thanksgiving for me, a bigger gathering of family than we've had in the Northwest in years (maybe ever). The coolest part was that my cousin Katie Moos (who's 23) and her friend Rachel Winch flew in to Portland from the Bay Area to drive up to Happie's house in Seattle with me. I really hadn't hung out with Katie much since we were kids (except for one lunch in July) and it was great.

Here are some pictures. I will try to explain who everyone is. I'll start by saying that Katie's grandfather, Charles Moos, was married to my grandmother, Happie, for about 20 years. Katie is my cousin the same way Jonah is. I grew up in Cambridge, MA with Moos cousins around a lot more than Byers's (who were/are in Seattle). Charles had a brother named Edward, who was Abbie's father and Lily and Jamie's grandfather. Abbie lives in Corvallis, Oregon (where she practices acupuncture on horses) and Lily and her husband Pete live in Seattle. Jamie goes to school in San Diego. See if you can follow.

My cousin Ben Byers (Peter's son) has a houseboat on Lake Union in Seattle. This is Ben, me, and Katie on it's top deck on Wednesday for some cousin bonding. Cold.

Ms. Rachel Winch (Katie's friend/roommate from Berkeley) on Ben's houseboat.

Katie in my leather jacket at Happie's.

Katie and Lily Schwering Armstrong in Happie's kitchen.

It's obvious who wins for most photogenic.

Happie and Pete Armstrong, Lily's husband.

We actually succeeded at making a great meal despite some unexpected oven issues and 17 trips to the grocery store.

Katie and Ben, with Peter, Ginna, and Lily in the background.

Me and Lily at dinner.

Happie and Peter looking at some old pictures I found.

Pete showing wedding pictures to Rachel and Katie on his laptop.

Happie telling a story.

Me, Happie, and her friend Victoria.

Pete, Lily, Tom (Abbie's boyfriend), Jamie, and Abbie near Pike Place Market on Friday.

We all had a lovely time together. The end of the story is that Katie, Rachel and I drove back down to Portland on Friday night, I showed them around Portland a bit, they got me out dancing, and just when we thought we were going to get a few hours of sleep before their 7am flight today, a car crashed into my lawn and impaled itself on the signpost on the corner. Rachel, who was sleeping on the couch, came in to my room at 3am and woke me saying, "Jess, there are cars driving on your lawn." So I got up, saw two cars on my lawn and some suspicious people, and called the police. Nobody was hurt, in fact all involved abandoned the scene before the police arrived, and there was a car stuck in my lawn for a while. They needed four cop cars and a fire truck to stand around gawking at it until the tow truck guy finally managed to get it figured out. The city promptly replaced the street signs (including a stop sign) today around noon. All that's left is a chunk missing from my lawn and some broken head light pieces. And Rachel, who got bumped from her flight home, and is meeting me for Thai food in ten minutes.