Apr 4, 2007 Our family has grown again with the addition of baby Owen.

May 28, 2006 Now that Calvin is two years old, it's time to take him back to Taiwan to meet his Chinese relatives! We also took this opportunity to visit the places that we didn't see back in 2000, and spend some one-on-one time without the baby. Calvin got to meet all but one of his grand-aunts in Taiwan and had a blast with his grandparents. He picked up several Chinese words while we were there. Unfortunately I forgot the camera on all the occasions when we went out to dinner with the relatives. This is also the first trip log since Calvin was born!

Jan 17, 2006 We picked San Diego as the place for our first vacation as a family. Sure we've travelled to New Zealand and New York together, but this is the first trip where the destination was new to all of us, and the sole purpose of the trip was to have fun! We spent Christmas morning at home opening presents, then hopped on a plane to San Diego in the afternoon. We dedicated a day to the San Diego Zoo, and a day to Legoland. The rest of the time we drove and walked around places like the Gaslamp District, the Coronado, the Cabrillo National Monument for a bird's eye view of the area, the beaches around Carlsbad, La Jolla and Old Town Centre. We drove to the Mexico border and were tempted to cross over, but decided to save that for another time when we could really explore.

Aug 25, 2005 This is so funny it deserves a spot on my website! (3.3MB)

Jan 24, 2005 It's been over a year since I updated this page with our latest news. Ever since Calvin's arrival we haven't had a chance to travel or do anything out of the ordinary. I have been updating Calvin's photo page on a monthly basis, and records his development on the Update Log. It may be several years before we can resume our camping trips and long travels! So in the mean time, watch this site for new photos of our little turnado!

Mar 8, 2004 The much anticipated event of the year has finally arrived!

Sep 8, 2003 Our little family of two is expecting a third member soon! We are five months pregnant and expecting a baby boy early next year. The little guy is taking full advantage of the fact that I can't kick him back!

Oct 8, 2002 We went on a much-anticipated trip to the Big Island of Hawaii in August, which we've decided would also be officially our honeymoon. It's kinda funny that we picked the Big Island for our first Hawaii experience. I've done alot of research on Oahu for a trip that got cancelled last year, then even more research on Maui for a possible wedding there (before we decided to have it near home instead). I never even considered the Big Island until one of Russ's friend went there and raved about it afterwards. Usually I do alot of research and planning before a vacation trip, but for this one I pretty much did nothing, much to Russ's surprise.

Jul 2, 2002 We got married. *Gasp*

Mar 24, 2002 It took some time but I've finally finished putting together the journal of our trip to New Zealand this January. We both looked forward so much to the trip. I still can't believe that I've been all the way to the South Pacific! While we're there we went caving, rock-climbing, abseiling, hiking and visited thermally-active areas (boiling mudpools, geysers etc.). The most important part of the trip was that I got to meet most of his family for the first time and his sister's wedding certainly provided an excellent opportunity for that!

Sept 30, 2001 Russ and I took a mini-vacation last week to the Death Valley National Park and Las Vegas. We spent two nights camping in the park and two nights at the Luxor hotel in Vegas. It was a badly needed break from work and everything around us. The tragedy on September 11th really took a toll on me and I welcomed getting away for a few days.

Aug 25, 2001 It took eighty-four weeks, but Russ finally popped the question! It was a complete surprise that was thought out long and hard and alot time was spend in preparing for it. He put together a short animated movie using some graphics software, recorded my favorite song into it and taped it to the beginning of a movie. I thought we were sitting down to watch "Bicentennial Man" that he rented from the video store! I only realized that something was not quite right when I saw my name appear on the screen. I couldn't ask for a more surprising and wonderful moment!

Russ went through alot of trouble getting a ring for the occasion. Knowing that I was very picky about this kind of things and despise diamonds with a passion, he had to spend alot of time online researching and on the phone talking to different experts. At the same time he had to come up with excuses for why he was disappearing in the middle of the night and why I couldn't see the strange FedEx packages that were coming to the door. What we have at the end is a beautiful Etoile titanium ring with a natural white(colorless) sapphire stone. The sapphire was a very high quality stone with E color, VVSII clarity and very good cut. He knew that the quality was the one most important element for me when it comes to getting a stone. We've also agreed a while ago that we both wanted titanium bands; it all goes back to the movie "The Abyss". Titaniums are much more durable than gold, silver, or platinum. This one is Aircraft Grade(6Al/4V) - that's three times stronger than steel but much lighter. He had to order the stone and ring separately. The stone was purchased from a shop in LA and shipped to a workshop in Canada to have the band custom made.

         

The one question on most people's minds is WHEN are we actually going to take the vow? Well, I think at this stage we're happy just to be engaged and want to take one step at a time. The likelihood is that it'll be sometime middle of next year. The problem is that weddings can be a real handful to plan and I happen not to be really interested in the job. Needless to say, the groom-to-be would rather just hibernate until the wedding day. Another issue that we have to consider is WHERE to have the wedding? All my relatives are in Taiwan, all his relatives and half of his friends are in New Zealand with the other half in the US, and all my friends are in the US. No matter where we have it, some people we care for are not going to be able to make it. The idea has been thrown around that we'll have the ceremony either in the US or New Zealand, then have a banquet in the other two countries for those who couldn't make it to the ceremony. Just thinking about the planning required to make that happen makes my head spin...

Happy!

Jul 4, 2001 This past May, Russ and I made the move from New England to the San Francisco Bay Area. Russ got lazy this time so I alone kept a journal of the 10-day drive from coast to coast. We went through 14 states and had the opportunity to see some very interesting scenary. The Drive Across America Trip Log is now completed. Please note that it's over 2MB in size and can take a while to load if you have a slow Internet connection!

Apr 16, 2001 Last October Russ and I went on a 2-week vacation in Taiwan and Vancouver, Canada. I was born in Taiwan and still have my parents and tons of relatives living there. Alot has changed since I was last there in 1990. Russ and I documented the trip separately. Obviously my version is more accurate. ^ o ^

To My Taiwan Trip Log

To Russell's Taiwan Trip Log

* Both links contain large number of pictures and may take a while to load.