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 In an attempt to keep our children engaged during vacations, we went to the beach rather than to the mountains. The promise of marshmallow campfire roasts convinced them to go camping. In the spring, we drove twice to the Central Coast, where together with Lanchi's sister Li and her children we collected some rare Big Sur Black Jade on our second visit to Jade Cove near the Plaskett Creek campground, before getting our mini-van repeatedly stuck in the sand on the beach near the Oceano Dunes. As the children always enjoy looking for the occasional piece of seaglass, we checked out the Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. Millions pieces of glass covered some of the coves, enough compensation for sleeping in the mini-van on cold November nights because Tuan had forgotten to check whether the poles were actually in the tent bag. During the summer vacation, we experienced a different type of camp-out when we rented a cozy treehouse in the Bay Area. Traveling with Lanchi's parents and sister Fi's family, we found the heat and humidity of the Florida summer no worse than Vietnam during the dry season. We enjoyed the beaches in the Keys and Sanibel Island. The water was deliciously warm, and the quantities of sea shells impressive even though less numerous than in winter. Because we had visited Universal Studios near Los Angeles - one of the (relatively) more relaxed theme parks in our experience, we were able to avoid a dreaded summer visit to the Orlando theme parks. Instead, Vi-Van and Minh-Dan caught their first fish with the help of uncle Liem, then we attended a baby shower for Lanchi's cousin. Vi-Van had served as a flower girl for her wedding back in 2010, when she received her first penguin from her autie. She was excited to revisit its former home. Back in San Jose later in the summer, Tuan had the pleasure to be visited twice by old friends from France, the family of eight of his Polytechnique (college) classmate even camping out briefly in the living room. In the fall, Vi-Van started fourth grade, and Minh-Dan third grade. While Minh-Dan continues to display more natural ability, he remains a problematic child. Vi-Van is more interested in penguins than ever. She was able to identify the species from the distant black and white landscape images photographed by Sebastiao Salguado in his book Genesis. She also took a small part in a school play, and is now enjoying reading in bed. Minh-Dan, after watching countless times the same videos on YouTube requested a copy of the Minecraft computer game, although he actually prefers watching the videos about the game to playing it himself. On the other hand, Vi-Van became addicted to it. They frequently quarrel over playing on the computer, and it has been a struggle to motivate them to do other things. After a lengthy period of hesitation, the Chihuahua was named Peanut. He quickly adopted Vi-Van as his master, and sleeps on her bed. He also likes Tuan who lets him sleep on his lap while he is working on the computer, and takes him on walks and runs, much to the amusement of neighbors. Peanut has warmed up to all members of our extended family, except to Lanchi's sister Ni. He barks loudly when she is still outside, walking towards the door. Since besides cousin Nhu nobody really tries to train him, Peanut hasn't been too well behaved, but fortunately his diminutive size (half of the weight of some cats) makes it easier to deal with. Since becoming dog owners, we are now official dog sitters, occasionally keeping Tazzie, the dog of Lanchi's younger sister Ti because the two of them appear to have so much fun together in spite of the size difference. Lanchi continued yard improvement projects, which included trail building, removing the jaccuzi, and capturing a small zoo worth of critters that were digging out the ground or eating fruits and plants: several squirels, volles, rabbits, and even an oppossum, which were all relocated a few miles up the road. Concerned about the revenue decline in the photography business, she stepped up her woodturning efforts, trying to make enough of her unique screw-cap Acorn boxes to build a client base. Besides continuing to sell actively on Ebay and Etsy, she also listed her wood art on Storenvy and Bigcommerce, and officially opened a business called Elvio Designs with her own website http://elviodesign.com In January 2014, Tuan returned to Asia. He visited briefly his mother - whose condition is pretty much unchanged - and other family members in Ho Chi Minh City, before co-leading a photo tour in Myanmar with Phuoc's Insiders Asia. While travel costs, as well as visitation at touristic spots have dramatically increased in the 14 years since his first visit, the captivating country hasn't changed that much and remains his favorite destination in South East Asia. Besides that trip, Tuan refocused his efforts on the US National Parks, with the goal of getting his photography book out in time for the National Park service centenial in 2016. Part of this effort, he led an unusual photo tour in the remote Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, during which everybody woke-up in the middle of the night to complete hikes up to 12 miles. For a review of his photographic year, we refer you to this blog post and links within: http://bit.ly/1lyzohD We wish you and all your loved ones a year 2014 (of the horse) full of happiness, health, prosperity, and success, and hope to hear some news from you. Tuan, Lanchi, Vi-Van, Minh-Dan 3373 Meadowlands Lane, San Jose CA 95135 (+1) 408-223-8419