Reunion 2016

We had a Thompsen/ Thompson reunion in 2006 and again this year, 2016.  After the reunion this year, some of us went to the Oregon Coast, myself included.  I fell into the surf and lost all of my reunion pictures!

Fortunately, a lot of other people were taking pictures too.  I guess, in addition to the ages in the people in 10 years, technology has changed.  Everyone has phones with cameras now and it is easy to take a lot of pictures!

These are the first cousins in 2006

 

First cousins in 2016 - there are fewer present, and one who has died since last reunion

I fell in the Pacific Ocean!

Mount Hood Oregon

I wrote this on July 15th.  For some reason I didn't post it then- so here it is now:

Today we went to Mt Hood.  A beautiful mountain in Oregon.  I have known of it all of my life, and have probably been there as an infant, but this is the first time I appreciated it up close and personal.

Mount Hood in July.  There were Olympic snowboarders up there

My nephew Tom and my sister Carol at Mt Hood.  Mt Jefferson in the distance

Seattle!

I am in Seattle!  What am I doing here?  I flew here with my sister and her son, daughter in law and their two daughters.  My brother's daughter, Molly, is here too.

We all met up at the hotel and went sightseeing, mostly back seat touring,  Some walking too.

We stopped to meet the Freemont Troll, and we went to the amazing Seattle public library, an amazing piece of architecture and an amazing library as well.

The Troll under the bridge

Seattle Public Library

We are here for two days, then on to a family reunion in McMinnville, Oregon.  Also a chance to touch base with my three kids who live here.

All in all a great trip.  Lots to do, people to re-connect with.   Nostalgia as we reminisce about our fathers (my dad was one of 5 sons).    

Meanwhile, here's the view from the hallway in our hotel:

Seattle Space Needle

June 24, 1972

From Facebook. I feel this way every day

Places I have lived

Portland, Oregon  I was born in Portland in 1954

Athens Greece We lived in Athens from 1955-57.  I am told that Greek was my first language. I don't really remember:

Okinawa  Not sure of the dates, but I think we went to Okinawa in 1957?  I don't seem to have any pictures, but I think that this picture is of us arriving on the USS Breckenridge.  
I think that's my mom in the red dress and my brother to her left.

 

Alexandria, Virginia
My mom loved her piano.  I remember it was at the foot of the stairs.

Kabul, Afghanistan  1959-1961.  I remember learning about Alaska and Hawaii becoming states when we were there.  The horse and buggy picture was taken in front of our house.

Me in my Afghan dress that my mother had made.  I was around 7 years old

My brother, Dale standing on the back steps of our house

Afghan public transportation

Washington, D.C.  In 1961 we returned from Afghanistan and lived in a hotel on 16th St NW in Washington.

Meridian Hill Park

This is my mom at Meridian Hill Park, right across the street from our hotel

Wheaton, Maryland  1961-1969  When we lived in Wheaton, I started attending the Barrie School.  I graduated from Barrie in 1972

Here's where we lived.

This was the main building on the Fern Place NW, DC Barrie School campus

Me sitting on the patio- around 15 years old

College Park, Maryland  Nick and I got married June 24, 1972.

We were so young!

We lived in College Park in our first house.  Nick finished law school and joined the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer

Bangkok, Thailand  We lived in Bangkok from 1976-78.   Our first baby, daughter Courtney, was born there.

College Park, MD
Back to College Park while Nick studied Polish in anticipation of our move to Poznan, Poland

Poznan, Poland
  We lived in Poznan from 1979-81.    I don't seem to have any pictures of Poznan in my computer at the moment.  However, during our tour, Morgan was born I returned to Virginia for his birth, and Courtney, Morgan and I returned to Poland when Morgan was 8 weeks old.

Chiang Mai, Thailand.  We lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 1981-83.   I started my first La Leche
 League Group there.

Reston, Virginia   We flew home on leave from Chiang Mai to work on buying a new house.   This is the house we bought and moved into in 1983 and where we still live

Tromso, Norway  We lived in the beautiful city of Tromsø from 1984-86.   Our third child, Darcy, was born just three weeks after we got to Tromsø

Darcy's first US passport picture

Reston, VA  Back to Reston from 1986-89.

Austin, our fourth baby, was born in the first year we were home.

Taipei, Taiwan We lived in Taiwan for a year while Nick studied Chinese in preparation for a tour in China.

I'll have to get back to putting pictures of Taipei here.

Guangzhou,  China  We stopped in Beijing and did some sightseeing before heading to Guangzhou.

We went to the Great Wall of China.  I was pregnant with Chance in this picture

  While we were in Guangzhou, we welcomed our fifth and last baby, Chance

Reston, VA from 1991to 1995, we were back in Reston.  The pictures loaded out of sequence.

1992

1993

1994

1991

Perth, Western Australia.  Perth is a beautiful city where we were lucky enough to live for three years.  We were there from 1995-98

Reston.  And now we are back home in Reston.  We have been here since 1998- the longest time we have lived in one place!