This is Lanchi and Tuan's annual family letter. Our family photos, as well as an archive of our family letters, can always be seen at http://www.terragalleria.com/family At the beginning of 2010, we were pleased to receive a visit of Tuan's cousin and her family from Vietnam. During that visit, a plan was hatched to send Tuan's mother to Vietnam to live with her widowed sister Phong in Saigon. We began looking for two attendants to live and care for the two elderly women, a proposition reasonable in Vietnam, unpractical in the US. We had become convinced that she would be better cared for in such an arrangement where she could receive more attention than we could give her. Since she was now weaker, Tuan and Lanchi had to take turns on their travels, with Tuan doing only two extended photo trips in winter and fall, and Lanchi taking the children on a cruise to Baja Mexico in the spring. In mid January, we drove down to Los Angeles to attend Lanchi's cousin wedding. In October, we were invited to another of Lanchi's cousin wedding in Orlando, with Vi-Van featured again as the flower girl - a role in which she has been drawing unanimous praise. Since we did not want to be apart for that family occasion, we committed Tuan's mother to a senior care facility for two weeks. It turned out that she did very well there, apparently not missing the family. Unfortunately, a week from returning home, she took a fall while getting up from her chair dislocating her elbow and fracturing her shoulder. This accident we had been dreading for a long time confirmed the necessity to have her cared for with constant supervision, but the $250/day cost would have meant a negative cash flow - and this did not include the (hypothetical, since still pending on reform) health insurance. In November, Tuan flew with his mother to Saigon for an initial trial stay of a month. After an initial set-up period, he would tour Asia so that the family in Vietnam would see how things were going in his absence. Since for the tour, he was joined by his cousin My Hien, who was eager to travel out of the country for the first time, Tuan chose a relatively easy itinerary, an overland journey from Bangkok to Singapore down the Malay Peninsula. Fortunately, relatives became convinced that Tuan's mom belonged in Saigon, where she seemed to like the more lively atmosphere, frequent visits and attention she was receiving. During this trip, the newly released Mac desktop Facetime and iPod Touch 4 were perfect for keeping in touch. To better prepare Vi-Van for her 1st grade, we sent her to a Vietnamese summer school. Next to the school, there was a fish store where she liked to look at the fish. Soon, she began to ask for her own, which Lanchi acquiesced to upon academic progress. This started with a small tank, but as Lanchi found that watching the fish was a great way to a relax, the trips to the fish store became more frequent. Now we have three aquariums, including a 40-gallon full of aquatic plants. This leisure time came to an end just when Tuan was leaving for Vietnam. Lanchi's old boss called her with a job offer. If not for the fact that Tuan was away, and therefore Lanchi would have to take care of the children and of the business by herself, the timing was perfect, since Lanchi felt like going back to work after staying home for six years. The project looked intriguing enough. Called co2mer, the new company had the ambitious goal of becoming the foremost "green" brand in the world. She did not mind the risk of working for such an early start-up since she had been on a career hiatus. She enjoyed messing with toxic chemicals again, as well as benefiting from the shortest commute she has ever had. However, only after three weeks of work, the company ran out of cash, having failed to secure the second round of funding during this economic turbulent time. With traffic declining for the first time since the start despite blogging (http://terragalleria.com/blog/), Tuan continued to try to get more visibility outside of the internet. In February, he attended the North America Nature Photography Association annual conference as a speaker, presenting a slide-show about his project to photograph the National Parks. In March, he traveled to Boston to present the same material as an artist lecture at the National Heritage Museum. This was on the occasion of his first museum exhibit, which turned out to be so well received that the Museum decided to extend it for a whole year, into Fall 2011. He then toured coastal New England for a week (his plans to photograph winter having been thwarted by an unusually warm spell of weather), enjoying a full day of hiking in the Isle-au-Haut section of Acadia National Park without seeing single soul. The trip finished with a visit to Walpole, where he was greeted with great hospitality by Dayton Duncan, and had the pleasure of meeting all the members of the Florentine Film (makers of "The National Parks: America Best Idea") team. He continued to work in the National Parks by visiting Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands National Park) in the spring with Laurent Martres, and then engaging in a number of hikes and backpacking trips during the summer to complete his coverage of Yosemite National Park for a large coffee-table - which was just published a few weeks ago by Rizzoli (see http://bit.ly/h5uZyd). In September, he returned to the Washington Cascades for a week. The SPOT Satelitte messenger alleviated some of Lanchi's worries. Just before that trip, Tuan had been introduced by a common colleague and friend to Jean-Marie Hullot of Fotopedia. This resulted in the publication of an App for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, named, what else, "National Parks" http://bit.ly/dQ2QGB. If you have one of those devices, please email us for a free download. Otherwise, there is always the good old desktop wallpaper free account for friends and family (username and password is friends2011) on http://www.terragalleria.com We wish you and all your loved ones a year 2011 (of the rabbit/cat) full of happiness, health, prosperity, and success, and hope to hear some news from you. Tuan, Lanchi, Ngoc-Thu, Vi-Van, and Minh-Dan (+1) 408-223-8419 3373 Meadowlands Lane, San Jose CA 95135, USA