Bob donated the very cool things he brought, including one of the books about Grandpa Tadashi's Mount Whitney climb. The young volunteer was so impressed with the book. He had my mom write notes about it (because it is Japanese) so they would know its story. They will contact Bob if they are able to translate it. It would be cool to see it in the Interpretive Learning Center (ILC) one day.
I met the greatest person, Iesha. She is one of the organizers. She is a volunteer. She has made several trips to Cody in preparation. She has falling in love with the area and the people. The whole community has embraced the Heart Mountain project. It is really wonderful.
Tonight we attended the Pilgrimage dinner. in Powell at the Fairgrounds. Over 800 people attended, approximately 140 internees. So many great stories.
Mineta introduced Mr. Brokaw. I recorded his remarks, they were amazing. I took mom over at the end of the dinner, to meet Mr. Brokaw. He was very gracious, but I didn't get a good picture.
After the dinner, they were taking pictures of the internees, organized by the blocks that they lived in. Mom was in block 14. While we were waiting, we found an old family friend, Mrs. Ito, who is the mother of Judge Lance (Simpson trial) Ito. Lance's grandmother and my grandmother were good friends so the families did a lot together. She told me that they families went to the San Francisco World's Fair together in 1939 and when it was time for relocation, their family put the fathers put their insurance office address rather than their residential addresses so they would go to the same camp. Mom has some little girl memories of this woman, some not favorable, but seeing them together tonight, that all washed away and good memories and that they are here and now, was the important thing. Warmed my heart.
Merry Christmas 2009! Christmas was a great experience this year. For us, it has been a tough year but also a great year. Owen hasn't worked full time since November 2008. Over the months we have worked together to make lots of changes in our family spending. Everyone has worked together and I am proud of all of us. The boys have learned about the expenses of the home and have been so responsible for their own expenses and have helped with the household when necessary.
Mom got an iron that she really needed and really wanted. Nice and heavy duty and does vertical steaming so I don't even need to get the board out :) Thanks Barrett.
Barrett went window shopping to prepare a list of ideas for my mom, he came back and wrote his list: LOST Season 5 with 40 dollars attached to the list to pay for whatever the amount would be over the limit. It was funny. Mom found it on sale and he got most of his money back. He was happy.
Once all of the gifts were exchanged, Barrett took out a note from the "Stow Away Elf" explaining that he stowed away and brought special gifts for all of us. It read: 
