Newport Beach with the Brackenburys

With the Brackenburys expecting twins, we knew that their trip to Long Beach would be the only chance until the kids go off to college to catch them on the west coast.  So we found a beach house on VRBO, rented a minivan, and made a week of it (combining the trip with a visit to Eunice's grandparents in Monterey Park).

We learned that when you have 3 under 3, there's a world of difference between 3 blocks to the beach and beachfront... treking down to the beach felt like planning Normandy.  But the beach was beautiful, and the kids loved it... memories include beers on the deck, watching sunset from the cliffs, BBQing in the alleyway, a night out to a local Italian place (where we spent half the time walking the kids around the block to watch the boats), and lots of time in what was truly a fabulous house.

Slideshow here....

Po Po (1917 - 2010)

Not quite two years ago, I wrote a tribute to my grandfather, Gong Gong, when he passed away at the age of 93. I am saddened today to write another tribute, this time for my beloved grandmother, Po Po, who passed away on Sunday. I feel so incredibly fortunate that Ryan, Spencer, Tyler and I happened to be passing through Los Angeles this weekend and had a chance to eat lunch with her at her favorite dim sum restaurant two days before she died. The photo above is the last one ever taken of Po Po.

In Remembrance of Po Po (1917-2010)

Faith and strength. I’d be willing to bet that these would be the first two words that would come to mind if you asked anyone to describe my grandma Hung Chen Tao (or “Po Po” as her grandchildren called her) – it wouldn’t matter if you’d known her for just a few minutes or if you’d known her for her entire life.

To enter into Po Po’s life was to be prayed for by her. She was as old school as you could get, starting and ending every day on her knees by her bed. I always suspected that if anyone had a direct line to God it would be her, and felt blessed knowing that not a day in my life went by that my name was not lifted up in prayer by my grandmother.

It didn’t matter that Po Po had suffered significant tragedies in her own life, fleeing to Taiwan during the communist takeover of China and dealing with a failed cataract surgery that left her legally blind while raising four young children. During these difficult times, instead of becoming disillusioned with the world, she found faith and strength in God that resulted in deep compassion for others.

Her final act the night before she passed away was to write a check for a struggling seminary student – someone she had never met but had heard about that week. Po Po didn’t have a lot of money, and the check might not have seemed particularly large, but I hope that seminary student will understand the significance of the gift. I would want to convey to him what a treasure my Po Po was, a unique person of wonderful contradictions - a woman with cloudy eyes but a clear mind, a strong will but a warm heart, a social butterfly yet a prayer warrior.

With Po Po’s death, it feels like the end of an era – the passing of a giant. On one hand, this image seems odd: my grandmother was humble and never would have seen herself as a giant. On the other hand, it is incredibly appropriate, for she was very much a giant – a pillar of faith and strength – in our family and in her community.

My aunt fittingly noted that Po Po left us just as she had lived every day before. Engaged, active, faithful, generous. On Sunday morning, Palm Sunday, a day of Victory no less, she got up, prayed, and dressed to attend her church service with a special check tucked into her purse. While eating breakfast, she clutched her heart, took three breaths in my mom’s arms, and left to attend a far grander service in heaven.

* * * * *

I made a short film several years ago, documenting four generations of women in my family: Po Po, my mother, my sister, and my niece. More than anything I could write or say, this film conveys the spirit of the woman I have respected and loved for so many years and the legacy she leaves behind...

Morning in Montery Park

For the first leg of our 2-week spring vacation, we flew to Los Angeles, crashed at Eunice's mom's apartment, and then spent the morning living life-as-usual in Montery Park. This entailed playing in the park where Eunice's mom does tai chi and Chinese dance starting at 7am in the morning and hanging out with Eunice's grandma (Po Po) at her hair appointment.


Of course, there was lots of eating, eating, and more eating.


Topped off with even more eating at our favorite dim sum restaurant.

Sadly, two days after our visit, Po Po passed away. What a blessing to have just been with her, doing some of her favorite things. Eunice has written a tribute to her beloved Po Po here.

Williams Gathering

The last time the Vosburgs were in town, we pulled together a mini-Williams gathering of folks in the Bay Area. Spencer was just a few months old. Nearly four years later, it has taken another visit from the Vosburgs to pull this group together. This time, with a lot more couples, and a lot more kids. :)

 

Ryan with his Boys

Well if we had two mama's boys back in the early days, the tide has clearly shifted. These days its all Daddy, all the time.

Here's one of our favorite photos of Ryan playing with the boys (or more appropriately, serving as pack mule). The double-decker piggy back ride is indeed a back breaker, but essential at times to prevent sibling rivalry. ;)


And here's a photo of the boys playing with Ryan. (Hmmm... future dentists in the making?)

Hiking in the Belmont Foothills

Susan (Ryan's mom) and Jim are moving to the Bay Area! We've been having fun house hunting with them and dreaming about what it will be like to have them here. Ryan took these fantastic photos of the boys on a trail just steps away from a condo for sale in the Belmont foothills. They put in an offer, which was sadly turned down, but know they'll find their perfect Bay Area home soon.

EncoreConnect and Silver Lining

We have often talked about whether or not we could/should ever work together, professionally. Well, after 13 years, our work worlds have finally collided. EncoreConnect, one the programs Eunice runs at Aspiranet has been contracted by Appirio, Ryan's cloud computing company, to provide outsourced volunteer coordination for Appirio's community engagement initiative, cleverly called "Silver Lining."

The first Silver Lining event that EncoreConnect helped plan was a food sort at Second Harvest Food Bank in San Carlos. A team of 25 Appirians sorted and boxed nearly 7,000 pounds of food (or approximately 5,500 meals) in two hours. That's a LOT of food! It's going to be fun helping Appirio do more good in the days ahead.

Nikkita and Prairie at Spencer Maughan's place

Saturday was a blast from the past for Ryan - we had a fun morning hanging out with Ryan's old high school friend, Spencer Maughan, his mother, and his sister and her two adorable daughters, Nikkita and Prairie.

Isla in San Mateo!

We finally had Nara and Tracy over for brunch at our place. It was their daughter Isla's first time in San Mateo. After a harrowing entry into the world, Isla is now doing great!!!

Chinese New Years at College Park

Spencer and all of his classmates got dressed up in traditional Chinese outfits for the Chinese New Years celebration at his school. The morning started with an assembly in the gym that included lion dances and martial arts demonstrations, followed by a parade around the school. The morning wrapped up with an amusing attempt to take a class photo. :)

Astrid and Thad

Long overdue for a get-together with our old college buddy, Astrid and her husband, Thad, we finally had them over to dinner along with their two kids, Linnea and Eli. Great conversations and fun interactions between the kids made for a great evening.

Mamie's Visit

Mamie surprised us with an impromptu visit from Taiwan while she was up in Marin taking some dance classes. We met up with her at Greens for a tasty vegetarian lunch, right on the Bay.


Always fun catching up with an old friend. To top it all off, it was a beautiful day to be outside, and we even caught an exciting sailing race taking place right outside the restaurant. Gotta love San Francisco!

Tyler and Lilah Bond

Tyler and his cousin Lilah are only one year apart. That's a pretty big difference right now, but they're sure to be good friends as they grow up... it's hilarious watching them interact.

Oakland Zoo

With Kristin in town for the weekend, we headed to Oakland to meet up with her cousin Kara and Kara's daughter, for a morning at the Oakland Zoo. Yet another zoo outing where the kids spent more time with the "fake" animals than the real thing...

Gaby's Birthday at Cirque du Soleil

For Gaby's 4th Birthday, she invited Theo and Spencer to join her (with parents) for "Ovo," Cirque du Soleil's newest show. It was quite an adventure, including a fun ride on caltrain up to San Francisco, oohing and ahhing at all the crazy "bugs" in the show (Spencer's favorite was the grasshoppers), and staying out way past their bedtime.

We suspect the train ride alone would have been party enough for the kids. :)

Spencer had a blast. Happy Birthday to a special girl, and a special friend!

Spencer Interprets his Art

Spencer loves drawing - with crayons, markers, water colors... All of his drawings illustrate elaborate stories that he makes up in his head, usually involving fires, trains, or bears.

Here's a short video of Spencer interpreting his art for the rest of the world...

Morning and Bedtime Routines

Ryan usually gets the boys through their morning routine, allowing Eunice to get a few more minutes of precious sleep. :)


The bedtime routine these days involves bath time, occasionally with jacuzzi jets as a special treat...

Then a naked run around the house in hooded towels...

Thanks George & Linda for the cute puppy and monster towels, and to Jennifer for the one-of-a-kind purple cow towel that Spencer has now been using for 3 years!

After corralling the boys, then it's time for pajamas, brushing teeth, 3 books, 3 songs, and then, at LAST, lights off. Ryan never seems phased when a few extra kids are thrown into the mix. Hmmm... Maybe six wouldn't be so hard to handle after all...?!!!

Best of 2009

2009 started off with a blast from the past: Back in 2004, we roadtripped down Baja for New Year's in Cabo with the Brackenburys and the Canadas, swapping high fives at sunset throughout. 4 years and 4 kids later, we wanted to reassemble the crew in Mexico again. A lot was different this time around, but the critical things stayed the same: sand, surf, fresh grilled tacos, and cold Mexican beer, all enjoyed in the company of good friends.

The rest of winter was bearable thanks to visits from Cora, Kristin and Faith, , Gillian and Maureen, time with local friends and family, including Nara, Tracy, Lee, KB, the Hills, and Therese, and of course lots of time playing with Gaby and Theo. Eunice started back to work in January, making time at home with the Boys even more precious. Spencer started to get more interested in Chinese and his skuut bicycle, and Tyler really came into his own as a toddler.

We were very happy to welcome Adam and Rachel to the peninsula-- they moved to a really cute place in San Carlos, just 10 minutes down the road from us, and we loved welcoming them to our community. We were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of their baby girl -- we hosted a pretty unique baby shower in their new place (a game of "birth canal," anyone?)

As the weather got better, we started to get out and about with our newly mobile family. We'd head out to the beach on a Sunday afternoon, go hiking at Edgewood park with Grace and Alonzo, check out the local cultural attractions, and take our out-of-town friends Jon and Allison to Sawyer Camp. We even got away for a fantastic spring Tahoe Weekend with Lee, KB, Nara, Tracy, and Charu. The kids are getting more and more into the holidays, so finding an Easter egg hunt for them to participate in was a big deal for the first time. Everyone seemed to have kids at Ryan's Five-Year Stanford B-School Reunion, as did Ryan's old William's buddiesAndrew and Brian.

Tyler wrapped up the spring season with some significant milestones: his first steps, followed closely by his 1st Birthday. He was lucky to have visits from his Nai Nai, his Po Po, and Cora.

But the most important baby of the year was Lilah Beth Nichols! Born on June 16th at 2am after 18 hour of natural childbirth (go Rachel!), she weighed in at 7 pounds 2 oz, sporting a shock of white-blond hair. Welcome to the club, Adam and Rachel-- if you only knew what you were getting yourselves into!

A year and a half after Tyler's birth, the boys are finally starting to play pretty well with each other around the house. That made father's day this year an especially important one for Ryan, his first as the father of two.

We got the summer off to a roaring start-- a special overnight trip to the hostel at Pigeon Point Lighthouse and a fantastic Memorial Day at the Canada's cabin on Donner Lake. Closer to home, we made our annual trip to theMaker Faire and got outdoors as much as possible, whether at Seal Point with Grandpa Nic, our church picnic,the Japanese Tea Garden in Central Park, goofing off outside with Theo and Gaby, or playing in the yard.

It was a big summer of music: we hit concerts in San Carlos' Burton Park with Adam and Rachel, saw the Steve Miller Band up at Mountain Winery, and went to our good friend Corey's band performance on a warm summer evening at Lakestock.

The summer also marked some birthday milestones - Eunice's 34th, celebrated with the old city church crew and again with a night in SF with the gang. We had a whole host of other July Birthday Parties at Little Kingdom Daycare, and Spencer's 3rd birthday at the Gates (yet again!). Spencer turned three just in time to enroll in the Mandarin immersion preschool program at our local public magnet school College Park. He gets to do a specialcooking project each month, which he loves! We celebrated Hudson's birthday at Marvin Gardens, Theo's birthday in our backyard, and Julia's 40th....princess style.

Then, let the summer travel begin! Highlights included our first family backpacking trip to Coast Camp, the 20 person Tao Family Reunion at Lake Travis TX (preceded by Spencer and Eunice's Trip to San Antonio), the Joyce Family Reunion in San Diego, and Labor Day in Twaine Harte with the Hills. And when we weren't visiting family and friends, they were visiting us: Po Po came out for a visit, as did the former pastor of Eunice's church in St. Louis.

Closer to home, we finally finished the conversion of our garage to a playroom, and participated in the launch of the new campus of our church!

The Bay Area's Indian Summer is always the best time to hit the beach, and we made the most of the opportunity this year: trips to Dune Beach, Roosevelt Beach, and Half Moon Bay with Todd & Jenny, as well as an outing to Chrissy Field with KB and Lee.

October brought Adam & Therese's Birthdays in the Marina, Pumpkin Picking in Half Moon Bay, a crazyHalloween in Adam's 'hood, and the usual daycare Halloween festivities.

Then it was Dreamforce season, Ryan's busiest (and most exciting!) time of year at work. We needed a long weekend up in Russian River to recover.

One of our conclusions for 2009 is that divide and conquer is sometimes the way to go. Whether it's the boysplaying with each other (or with their friends) while the adults socialize, or us splitting up the kids and doing something fun with them separately... sometimes anything is easier than having the 4 of us all together. Case in point? Before the holidays, Eunice and Spencer spent a week in St. Louis with the Lins, letting Ryan and Tylerhave some serious bonding time back home. Good times all around.

Queue holiday madness: getting the tree at Santa's tree farm, decorating the Marina house, hosting our church home group Christmas party, celebrating Susan's 60th birthday, and enjoying the holidays with Michael and Therese, and Nancy and the Barrons. We needed some R&R after all the craziness and were very happy to escape to a fantastic beach house near Stinson with the Nichols clan. We closed out the year at the Canadaswith Lee & KB playing our now traditional midnight game of poker.... ready for a new decade to begin!

New Years Eve at the Canadas

We kicked off 2005 with the Canadas in Baja; 2006 with the Canadas in Los Angeles; 2007 with the Canadas in Hawaii; 2008 and 2009 with the Canadas in Tahoe... Can you guess how we rang in 2010?

Yes indeed, with the Canadas! We celebrated at their place this time, with Lee and KB making the trek down from the city for a fantastic feast of slow-cooked short ribs followed by a rousing game of poker. It had to be rousing - unaccustomed to the break in the action caused by getting four little kids to bed, Lee and KB were quickly losing steam by 9pm. Some mental exercises (poker chip long division) whipped Lee back into shape, and he was winning money in no time. Although it was Ryan that came out the big winner this time around-- Eunice continued her trademark maneuver of going all-in just before midnight regardless of what her cards said.

Our boys looked so comfortable in the guest room when we finally wrapped up at 2am that we decided to crash there as well. But of course, oblivious to the fact that their parents had only been sleeping for 4 hours, they were up and at 'em at 6am.... several hours before Theo usually stirs (lucky Grace and Alonzo!). We knew we had to get the boys out of there fast before they woke everyone up.

But what does one do with two toddlers still in their pajamas at the crack of dawn on new year's day? Breakfast at Denny's, of course! We were quite a sight: 2 kids in their fleece pajamas, 2 bleary-eyed parents in the same clothes as the night before, and 4 healthy appetites. What could be more perfect to start off a new decade than a Grand Slam?


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Stinson Beach Getaway

Ryan's dad Michael found the perfect place for us to recover from holiday craziness: a fantastic house in Sea Drift, right on the water at Stinson Beach (Ryan had actually been there once before for a b-school party), complete with a path from the back door to a bench overlooking the water.

We had some beautiful days and some rainy days, but the boys loved the beach so much that they were perfectly happy to get bundled up and run around in the sand, rain or shine.

Highlights included Tyler getting better and better at navigating the rocks down to the beach, Spencer practicing his jumps off the sand dunes, discovering a cool driftwood fort, the boys playing amazingly well together (including hours of entertainment dragging coolers around the house), some fantastic fires, an amazing sunset, fantastic meals (including the "best Salmon ever", according to Therese!), and, of course, a hearty game of Yahtzee. Even the intrusion of a bunch of work calls from Ryan couldn't ruin the relaxation.

Our last day was perfect: omelets at the house, a nice walk along the beach to the lagoon, where the seals were hunting fish, outdoor lunch at the Sand Dollar Cafe, and a beautiful drive back to the city (punctuated by only occasional whining from the boys)... just in time to swing by and see Nara and Tracy's brand new baby, Isla!

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