Best of 2007

Our fondest memories from 2007...



What better place to start off 2007 than in Kauai with the keikis, hanging out with our best friends and their babies, hiking to deserted beaches, riding helicopters over rugged coastline, and cooking ribs and seafood in a private beach house!

Back at home, Spencer became more and more of a little person every day, whether he was working out in his exersaucer, making friends on the couch, wowing us with his belly laugh, discovering his tongue, doing laps around the coffee table, posing as a flower child, learning to play bongo drums, trying on crazy sweaters, hanging out in central park, watching fireworks, or going for lots of hikes around the Bay Area.

Our next big trip of the year was to San Diego for President's Day Weekend. Jesse and Eileen were stranded by JetBlue, but we got lots of time with friends and family… and Spencer rolled over for the first time!

Ryan got in a few trips of his own—visiting with the other Spencer in Germany, and (much to Eunice’s chagrin), doing a day trip to Dallas to meet our newest nephew… Paxon!

Our summer started with a whirlwind 3 stage trip: First a fantastic long Memorial Day weekend with Jesse and Eileen on the Cape. Then Spencer’s first trip abroad—a 2 week trip to the incredibly kid-friendly town of Heidelberg, Germany (Spencer adjusted to the time zones better than we did!). Finally, on the way home, we stopped at our Williams 10-Year Reunion, a great chance to catch up with old friends and meet everyone’s growing families.

Spencer took his first steps at Bob and Kathy’s place in June, just before his first birthday celebration and 4th of July fireworks in the Marina. (Spencer's day care also threw him a wonderful party).

We had lots of other things to celebrate over the summer: Eunice’s first mother's day, Adam and Rachel's wine country engagement party, music in central park, Phil's birthday bike ride, Theo's 1st Birthday, Henry’s 1^st birthday… and of course Eunice's 32nd Birthday, celebrated at the clothing optional ocean-side spa in Big Sur.

Our next big summer trip was a family reunion in St. Louis and Eunice’s childhood vacation destination of Branson, MO. It was great hanging out by the lake, despite the heat wave!

A highlight of the year was Adam and Rachel's Wedding on a picture perfect day in Rachel’s hometown of Westport, MA. We were kept busy during the beachfront ceremony by our duties officiating (Eunice) and delivering a message (Ryan), but were definitely able to relax over a clambake and fireworks that night. We also spent a wonderful weekend in Sonoma for Matt and Julia’s Wedding.... Spencer is learning to have a good time at these events!

Not all of the action was on the road—over the course of the year we were very lucky to have lots of friends and family out to visit-- Dr. Hem (twice!), Grandpa Fran, Mamie and Cora, Nara, Adam, Fran, Adam, and Rachel , Susan and Jim , Karen and Erin, Josh and Kimberly, and Mimi, Steve and the kids.

Ryan was called for jury duty in the fall, and ended up taking 4 weeks off work to serve as Juror #7 on a murder trial. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it has to be said that the work/life balance of a juror isn’t so bad. We had lots of time to play in central park every day, eat our backyard apple harvest, (also every day!), enjoy Spencer's first puddles, try on adult shoes, hang out with the grandparents, and of course go trick-or-treating for the first time…with Spencer dressed as a lion.

We spent Thanksgiving in Vancouver (where it wasn’t Thanksgiving), eating monstrous amounts of food with Eunice’s family. Eunice’s mom came out for a fantastic visit in November, giving Spencer lots of time with all of his grandparents this year. He’d better enjoy the attention while he can, because our big news this fall was learning that we have another bun in the oven! Eunice is due in May, and we had lots of fun sharing our news with friends and family… starting with the New York gang at our Kibbutz LA road trip to Joshua Tree.

We got into the holiday season by finding the perfect Christmas tree to chop down in Half Moon Bay and attending the wild Ideo Children's Christmas Party thanks to Grace. Then we were ready for Christmas Eve Festivities with our community group (+ our traditional get-together at the Hills) and a 12-person crab and filet mignon dinner with family on Christmas Day. Then it was off to Tahoe with the Nichols for Spencer’s introduction to the snow, and more of the same with the Kiwi Hapa gang on Donner Lake for a Tahoe New Years. Eunice finished a great 2007 by going “all-in” on Texas Hold ‘Em… and winning!

Tahoe New Years

We met up with the Canadas and Wangs in Tahoe for yet another fun vacation together - this time to bring in 2008 in style!
Click here for a full slideshow.


Alonzo's aunt and uncle, yet again, graciously let us use their fantastic cabin, located right on Donner Lake. Highlights of our time together included skiing and sledding with the kids at Sugar Bowl, hiking around Donner Lake, late-night games of poker and speed scrabble, lots of delicious home-cooked dinners, celebrating Gaby's 2nd birthday, and watching the kids play with one another around the cabin.


Looking forward to more Canada-Nichols-Wang adventures in 2008!

Tahoe with the Nichols

After Christmas, we headed up to Tahoe to spend a few days in the snow with Michael, Terese, Abby, Adam, and Rachel. Click here for a full slideshow.


This was Spencer's first time in the snow. After a tentative start, he ended up having a great time putting on his cool new snow gear, sliding down hills with Abby, and going cross country skiing (dragged in a sled by Ryan!).

Tahoe with the Nichols

After Christmas, we headed up to Tahoe to spend a few days in the snow with Michael, Terese, Abby, Adam, and Rachel. Click here for a full slideshow.


This was Spencer's first time in the snow. After a tentative start, he finally got the hang of it and had a great time putting on his cool new snow gear, going cross country skiing while being pulled in a sled by dad, and sliding down snow-covered hills with Abby.

Spencer's First Haircut

We could no longer deny that our boy was in desperate need of a haircut. We made a trip to Burlingame's “Just Kids Cuts” to make sure we could find somebody who would take good care of Spencer's precious curls. Click here for a full slideshow.

BEFORE...


AFTER...

Family Christmas

We hosted Christmas at our place this year and invited Ryan's family from all over to join us in the festivities! Click here for a full slideshow.


We started off the morning with freshly baked coffee cake, bloody mary's, and a gift exchange with Susan, Jim, Adam, and Rachel. Once Michael, Nancy, and the Barrons arrived later that afternoon, our party moved into full swing, complete with great appetizers, gift exchanges, a rowdy game of "Table Topics," a dinner that included a massive 7-pound fillet of beef and 12 fresh crabs from Fisherman's Wharf, and desserts galore. All in all, a crazy, jam-packed, fun-filled and memorable Christmas day.

Community Group Christmas Eve Festivities

On Christmas Eve, we hosted brunch and a gift exchange with our community group members.
Click here for a full slideshow.


In addition to wooden blocks, bathtub crayons, puzzles, and books galore for the kids, one of the highlights of the morning was helping them try out their brand new snow boots - just in time for our new year's trip up to Tahoe! Gifts for adults included scrabble-themed jewelry and cuff links (a nod to our epic speed scrabble tournaments), a cool sled, fun party games, wine-themed gifts, and the unveiling of a beautiful homemade scarf (in the making for over a year!)


Final photo: mommies and their babies.

Gourmet Lamb Dinner

Michael Brown and his girlfriend Amber came over to our house for dinner - and brought all of the fixings for an incredible gourmet lamb dish.


Here, Mike and Ryan determine the best way to prepare such a large slab of lamb. After slathering it with an olive tapenade, fresh rosemary, and feta, they rolled the lamb up, tied it with twine, and roasted it to perfection.


Meanwhile, Amber made a fantastic salad and baked some delicious butternut squash. Mmmm... You guys can come over any time!!!

Ideo Children's Christmas Party

Now an annual tradition, Grace invited us yet again to join her at Ideo's fun-filled children's holiday party. This year, the theme was “rainforest” complete with a tropical bird show, though the highlight for Spencer was playing in a make-shift Eurovan-turned-cubicle in the middle of the office! Click here for a full slideshow.

Christmas Tree Chopping in Half Moon Bay

The first weekend in December, we headed out on a beautiful day with Big Spencer and Little Spencer to Half Moon Bay to look for a Christmas Tree. Click here for a full slideshow.


We started things off with a yummy lunch at Chez Shea on Main Street, then took a walk on a beach in Half Moon Bay, before heading to Santa's Tree Farm where we traipsed up and down a tree-covered hill to find our very own Christmas tree, chop it down, load it on top of the trusty Xterra, and get it set up in our living room. To end the day, we had some friends over for mulled wine, dinner, and a cut-throat speed scrabble tournament. Let the holiday festivities begin!

Mimi's Post-Thanksgiving Visit

Right after Thanksgiving, Eunice's cousin Mimi and her family came out to the Bay Area for a visit. Spencer got to meet even more second cousins and had a ton of fun playing with Joshua and Justin! Click here for a full slideshow.


We stuffed ourselves at Ni-Mo's and Golden Island Cafe in San Mateo, explored the Japanese tea garden, played in the park, visited cousin Benson and Danielle's beautiful home in San Jose, and ate some of the best tofu soup ever at Tofu House in Milpitas.

Thanksgiving in Vancouver

We decided to join Eunice's mom Terry for Thanksgiving in Vancouver this year. Click here for a full slideshow and some videos.


We wanted to bring Spencer to see Grandpa Lin's grave (it's been 12 years since he passed away) and to introduce him to his second-cousins, Jonathan, Justin, and Connor. We had a great time catching up with Eunice's cousins Wayne, Jenny, Jully, Jonathan, and Dolly, watching Spencer run around with his second cousins, meeting Dolly' boyfriend Derrick, being plied with endless amounts of food by Auntie Angela (including an American-Canadian-Chinese fusion Thanksgiving dinner), being entertained by Uncle Frank's gadgets, and shopping for non-existant totem-pole Christmas ornaments on Granville Island. With built-in babysitting, we even managed to make it out to see two late-night movies!

Spencer and his Grandparents

Eunice's mother, Terry, came out for an epic visit this November - partly to spend some quality time with Spencer (including a weekend of solo babysitting in San Mateo while we headed to L.A. with friends!), and partly to fill our fridge with good home-cooked Chinese food. Mmmm!!!



While Terry was here, we had a chance to grab a BBQ rib dinner with Michael and Adam (out visiting from New York). Click here for a slideshow.

We also made it up to Marin to spend some time with Nancy, Donna, and Mimi. Click here for a slideshow of our afternoon in Marin.

AND finally, we received a wonderful early Christmas present from Fran and Melinda-- a fantastic painting by Andrea Way. It complements Fran's earlier gift of her painting of the Alhambra theater in San Francisco that currently hangs over our fireplace.... this time the painting is of a biker bar in Healdsburg!

Another Bun in the Oven!!!

Well, ultrasounds don't lie. We've got another one on the way! Baby #2 is due in May. :)

Eunice just finished her first trimester, and we've had a lot of fun telling friends and family our exciting news over the last couple of weeks. The best reaction: "You must be crazy!" Well, we sometimes feel that way. Life hasn't gotten back to any semblance of normal since Spencer arrived, that's for sure.

But our philosophy is that no one ever feels ready to have kids-- you just have to decide that you're as ready as you'll ever be. We both have siblings about 2 years apart, wanted that for our family, did the math and went for it, even though it absolutely feels crazy!

We'll find out whether we're having a boy or a girl in a couple of months.... Eunice's first trimester was much more rough this time around, which according to urban legend means we're having a girl. This is verified by Terry's predictions for how her grandchildren will be split. But all bets are off until January...

In the meantime, wish us luck!

Kibbutz LA!

Our good friend Lee came up with the idea of "Kibbutz LA" - a weekend in which a bunch of friends would gather in his hometown of LA to live, eat, and play together. Lee flew in from a business trip in Singapore. Brian and Ellen flew in from New York. We happily left Spencer at home in San Mateo with Eunice's mom and headed out for the weekend sans baby! Click here for a full slideshow of our Kibbutz LA weekend.


Highlights from the weekend included a romantic gondola ride at sunset through Long Beach's "Venice," dinner at Lee's favorite LA restaurant - Hatfield's, a jam-packed day of rock scrambling at Joshua Tree, pretending to be Lee's parents' long-lost kids as we crashed their home in Long Beach, lots of great conversations with old friends, and riding around in our trusty minivan rental while trying to figure out the automatic side doors. Thanks for being the mastermind behind a great weekend, Lee!

Koi Pond with Kristin

Eunice's college roommate, Kristin, was in town for a pediatric conference and was able to tack a few days of vacation on to her trip. We took lots of walks, hung out in Central Park, and caught up on each others lives over many cups of tea. Ryan watched Spencer two nights in a row so that Kristin and Eunice could get in plenty of "girl time." Faith joined us for Kristin's last night - we had a great time walking the Crystal Springs trail at dusk and then going out for a delicious dinner at Lunneta Bistro.


Here, Kristin and Spencer check out the Koi Pond in the newly renovated Japanese Tea Garden in Central Park.


Thanks for coming out to visit us, Dr. Hem - and for indicating that Spencer MIGHT exhibit some early signs of genius. :)

Trick-or-Treating with Spencer

This year, we decided Spencer was old enough to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. All the kids at daycare got dressed up and heading out together. Click here for a full slide show of our Halloween festivities.


We had quite an entourage, including Spencer the Lion, Evan the Turtle, Rochelle the Princess, Gaby the Pirate, Superman Roman, and seven adults!


At the first few houses, when offered candy, Spencer either shook his head "no" or took the candy but promptly handed it back. About five houses in, he finally got the hang of it and was going back for seconds. :)


We continued the Halloween festivities later that night at Grace and Alonzo's house where we ate a delicious chili dinner, handed out candy to neighborhood kids, and watched the kids romp around. Yet another fantastic Halloween!

Spencer steps into some BIG shoes

Lately, Spencer has started putting on shoes...other people's shoes. The bigger the better.


His favorite pair of shoes are actually Mom's ridiculous fuzzy slippers from Patagonia. He steps into them (sometimes forwards, sometimes backwards) and pads around the house looking down at his feet in amazement. Click here for a video of Spencer running around in Eunice's slippers...


Sometimes, when we're not looking, he shows up wearing shoes that our guests kindly took off by our front door. Here, Spencer shows off Pedro's nice leather shoes.

More Apple Eating

Tuesday means Grandpa Nic is down from San Francisco, and its time to enjoy the fall bounty of our backyard apple tree. Legs crossed, leaning back in the lounger, gnawing on a juicy apple... what could be better for these 2 peas in a pod?



Spencer practices his high fives with Grandpa Nic:


Enjoying that apple, big guy? This is the easiest way we've found to keep Spencer occupied for a good half an hour-- take one chomp to get things started, and he'll work his way through an entire apple (including the core if you're not watching!).

The Life of a Juror-- Playing with Spencer in Central Park

Ryan has spent the last couple of weeks serving his civic duty as a juror on a murder trial. Heavy stuff (more on this topic once the trial is over!), but civic duty does have its upsides: the lifestyle of a juror isn't so bad-- home in time to spend lots of early evenings in Central Park with Spencer!



Click here for some shots of us on the slide and in the playground...


Here we are running up the great ramp up to the top of the slides. Spencer stands at the bottom of the slides, says "up!", and runs up the ramp to the top!


Spencer would be smiling even bigger if he could see the goofy expression on his dad's face as they head down the slide!

Visit from Josh and Kimberly

Josh and Kimberly came out for a weekend visit from Boston, and we had a fantastic, fun-filled Bay Area weekend with them. Click here for the slideshow...


We went hiking in Purisima Creek and enjoyed beautiful views of Half Moon Bay-- the only problem was when Spencer decided that he had to be carried by mom on the steepest part of the climb! We enjoyed a glass of wine and the sunset from the Marina before handing the little guy off to Grandpa Nic and Terez as we headed off for dinner on Chestnut Street. We ate at Mamacitas.... which had amazing upscale Mexican + dynamite margaritas!

Spencer's First Puddles

Fall has arrived, which means the start of the rains. We got a real gusher last week-- the first real rainstorm since Spencer has been walking around, and it was coming down hard. We put him in his new raincoat and let him loose on the front porch.



Click here for the photos and a video... He was definitely a little hesitant at first, but soon was running around like a champ in the puddles. Of course, while we were playing in the rain the drain in front of our garage became clogged with the fall foliage and flooded again... but these pictures are a lot more cute then the pictures of Ryan cleaning the gutters and drains with his bare hands, or making a soggy run to Home Depot for a sump pump!

Spencer Shares an Apple

One of our favorite things about Spencer is how much he likes to share. No matter how much he's enjoying something, he almost always offers you a bite and will usually laugh with delight if you take him up on the offer.

 Here, Spencer shares an apple off the tree in our back yard with dad.

Matt and Julia's Wedding

Our second wedding weekend in a row! This time up in Napa, to celebrate with our Williams friend Julia at a fabulous ceremony and reception at Barndiva in Healdsburg, followed the next day by a wonderful afternoon at Iron Horse Vineyard for bubbly and tamales.

 Our favorite memories include plotting our route up to Napa to avoid the fleet week festivities, finding a wonderful last minute hotel room, setting up our video camera for our "official duties," seeing Barndiva transformed into a perfect wedding site, seeing our Williams friend Adam Serfass transformed into the perfect wedding officiant (next to Eunice, or course!), We unexpectedly had Spencer with us, but the whole weekend was very kid friendly... we can't wait to see the photos taken by the wedding photographer of Spencer and his girlfriend at Barndiva's gate! Congratulations, Matt and Julia, and thanks for a wonderful time!

Click here for a slideshow

Adam and Rachel's Wedding

Adam and Rachel were married in Rachel's hometown of Westport, Massachusettes on September 29, 2007. What a fantastic weekend! Eunice was honored to officiate their ceremony and Ryan was asked to speak, so we were a little nervous... but the whole weekend went off perfectly.
Our favorite memories include: Navigating the backroads of Westport at 2am, making ourselves at home at the fantastic summer home of Rachel's neighbors, seeing Rachel's childhood home, introducing Spencer to his cousin Maureen, playing frisbee with the Hills in the meadows, seeing Spencer launch himself into the arms of the young ladies picked to be our babysitters, enjoying sunset and a fantastic rehearsal dinner at Castle Rock Inn, hearing a whole series of very special toasts by Adam and Rachel's friends, riding on a firetruck to the ceremony with Adam and Rachel, walking down to the beach on a picture perfect day, hearing mom read "if I should fall behind, wait for me," seeing such a perfect couple tie the knot in such a personal way, learning how to pull off a clam's turtleneck from Gillian at our first clambake, seeing the local fireworks show right after dinner, and dancing the night away to fantastic Reggae...

Click here for a slideshow of photos taken by friends and family... click here for the official wedding photos. And finally, click below for a video that Ryan made to show at the rehearsal dinner: lots of cute photos, not-so-cute photos, and never-before-seen footage of Adam rapping to Vanilla Ice. A must see!

More fun with Spencer...

If you haven't been able to tell already, we go to the park ALOT with Spencer. Now that he's walking around, he just has so much fun exploring!


This time, we decided to explore a new playground in Golden Gate Park. This place included bouncy "concrete" floors, tons of animal and rock structures to play on, the biggest jungle gym we've ever seen, and a toboggan slide for kids. Spencer stuck with the animal and rock structures this time around, but next time, we're tackling the slide!


Spencer has also discovered a new-found love for cars, in particular Grandpa Nic's snazzy Porsche! But we've decided to keep him focused on more toddler-appropriate aspirations for now...which means it's back to San Mateo's Central Park for a fun afternoon with Nani. :)

Click here for a slideshow...

Theo's 1st Birthday

Theo's 1st birthday was quite memorable, in large part due to Grace and Alonzo's epic party preparations!

 Here are shots of Theo and Spencer watching Gaby take a bath.... an experience every little boy should have when they turn 1 (look at Gaby modestly trying to shield the view from the boys). And then there was the chaos of the kids in Grace and Alonzo's kitchen... all while Grace, Nikki, and Eunice poured their blood, sweat and tears (literally: Nikki got a second degree burn on her finger while using a glue gun) into creating a set of traditional Korean birthday decorations out of paper towel rolls, beans and candy... the men tried to help by getting the kids out of the house for a walk through Edgewood.

 And here we are on the big day. We don't have any pictures of the amazing food, the picture-perfect decorations, Theo's fantastic Korean outfit, the ceremony where Theo picked his future profession, Alonzo's dad's heartfelt speech, or even the moment where Spencer made a bolt for the open door and was halfway down the sidewalk before we caught him... What we do have is this blurry picture of 2 pretty special boys. Happy first birthday, Theo!

Hanging out with Karen and Erin

In September, Aunties Karen and Erin came to San Mateo to meet Spencer for the very first time! We had a chance to grab a few meals together, go for some walks around town, and of course, play in Central Park!


Much to Spencer's delight, Karen and Erin had endless reserves of energy for going down slides, pushing him on swings, and chasing him through tunnels!


A calm moment in the park...


We had a chance to grab dinner with Cousins Benson and Danielle while the Changs were in town. What a fun evening - and a fantastic visit with Karen and Erin. Thanks for coming to visit!

Click here for more shots from the weekend, including a fun video of Spencer playing peek-a-boo with Erin in the park...

San Diego with Jesse and Eileen

We were able to take our long planned trip to San Diego with Jesse and Eileen over the holiday weekend... and also celebrated our first weekend away from Spencer since he was born, thanks to the generous babysitting of Susan and Jim!

 Our favorite memories include: Hiking Torrey Pines, eating at a restaurant that only serves food from 33 degrees latitude, eating at the Guild with the "artists, artisans, and architects of San Diego," cooling down in the fountain at Balboa Park, joining the holiday weekend partiers on Pacific Beach with "forties" of Tecate, enjoying warm ocean water and perfect PB sunsets, screaming on the wooden roller coaster in Mission Beach, drinks at the Del, night-time activity at the Zoo, the valiant search for tikki on Shelter Island, watching Jesse get work done in all sorts of unlikely locations, meting Melinda for the first time, and having Spencer spend some time with great-grandma Pinky.

An unforgettable trip-- click here for the full slideshow.

Branson Family Reunion

Each year, Eunice's family gets together for a reunion. This year, we all met up at the Lake of the Ozarks near Branson in southwest Missouri for a week of quality time. We flew out from the Bay Area and picked Terry up in St. Louis. Jennifer, David, and their three kids drove up to meet us from Dallas.


It sure was fun to have all four cousins together for a week! This was the first time Spencer and Paxon had met. Less than a year apart, they're destined to be great friends. From left to right: Ryan (holding Melody), Eunice (holding Spencer), Terry, Jennifer (holding Paxon), David (holding Valerie).


We rented a fantastic 3-bedroom, 3-bath condo right on the lake near Kimberling City. To escape the 105 degree heat, we spent a lot of time in the water (playing in the pool, learning to water ski, being pulled around in an inner tube by a speed boat, exploring the lake in a pontoon, or taking the kids out canoing) and a lot of time indoors (challenging each other to rounds of ping pong in the rec center, cooking yummy meals, and playing games back at the condo).


We did manage to venture beyond our condo and lake, including exploring Branson Landing and taking a tour of the "Talking Caves" where this family photo was taken. The Tangs went to a quintessential Branson show to see the Heygoods perform, and Ryan and Eunice took advantage of superb babysitting services (thanks grandma!) for a night out on the town for their 6-year anniversary. Throw in a family celebration of Terry's 62nd birthday, and we'd say it was a packed, fun-filled reunion. Can't wait for the next family get-together!

Click here for full slideshow and videos.

Trip to St. Louis

Three years after our last visit to St. Louis, we returned for a family reunion with Eunice's mom and Eunice' sister's family. Before heading to our reunion destination (Lake of the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri!), we spent a few days catching up with family and friends around St. Louis.


Our first stop was a day trip up to Springfield, the halfway point between St. Louis and Peoria, Illinois, where Eunice's cousin George and his family live. We met up at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. From left to right: Ryan, Spencer, Jairus, Lindai, Kiana, George, and Eunice.



After lunch, we headed to the Lincoln Museum where the kids posed for a photo with the Lincoln family. Spencer's look says it all: who are these people and what planet did I land on?


Kiana plays dress-up with Lincoln.


Back in St. Louis, Terry treated a group of long-time family friends from church to a dimsum lunch. This was everyone's first time meeting Spencer, who was in fine form running around the restaurant saying "hi" to all the guests. Mrs. Kwon (back right) is the owner of the restaurant. her son, York (standing next to Ryan) is a professional musician with an orchestra in Spain, but was back in town for the summer. York and Eunice went to the same school, were in the same Chinese class, and played the violin together when they were kids. <\span>