Our family photos, as well as an archive of our family letters, can always be seen at http://www.terragalleria.com/family This year saw an increase in our menagerie count. Lanchi bought two chicks, and the children named them "Chicken" and "Nugget". After a few weeks in the family room under a heat lamp, they matured enough to be moved to a chicken coop in our backyard. They make great living garbage disposals and provide us with two daily fresh eggs. Vi-Van and her friend Hannah caught a thumbnail-sized frog named "Toto" that also grew quite a bit in a vivarium. Few years back, we had a tortoise named "Esio Trot" who eventually vanished from the backyard. Vi-Van was overjoyed to hear that Esio Trot is still alive. She made it to a creek two miles away, and her best friend Hannah had identified her by the velcro of the tracking device affixed to her shell. In addition to frequent playdates with her friends, Vi-Van had several classmates come home to complete school group projects, including a stop-motion video illustrating each of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Minh-Dan finished elementary school and entered middle school. We eventually grew weary of forcing the children to practice their piano, so their lessons came to an end in the summer. During the summer Minh-Dan asked to go to the swimming pool. In the fall he started bi-weekly karate lessons and quickly earned a yellow belt. We are hoping it helps channel his energy and teaches him much needed self discipline. Vi-Van kept busy with baking and crafts. Their favorite gateway consists of a sleepover at the home of Lanchi's sister Lan Thanh and her husband Brent in Livermore. As we try to limit screen time, Tuan found new authors for Minh-Dan to read. For our sole road trip of the year, during spring break, we traveled to the Santa Monica Pier, to find a "hot" Pokemon Go spot requested by Minh-Dan, and then Universal Studios so that Vi-Van - who read the books more than once - could check out the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. On the way, we met with the family of Dieter, Tuan's first Berkeley roommate and lab/travel partner of a quarter-century ago, before visiting Carizzo Plain National Monument. Most of the times a barren-looking grassland, the little-known valley came to life thanks to the abundant rains of last winter, to become the site of a "super bloom", with some of the best wildflower displays we had seen in California. In July, we flew to Hawaii. After a few days in Waikiki, we stayed at rental houses in the remote and laid back Puna section of the Big Island, an area we liked a lot. We snorkeled the best tidepools on the island at Kopoholo and soaked in volcanically heated pools along the cost. Taking advantage of a newly opened road that makes a once arduous trek from Kalapana quite accessible, Tuan hiked out with the children to witness the Kamokuna lava ocean entry in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In the autumn, Hanh Tam, Tuan's cousin from Vietnam, stayed with us for a week. Tuan took her to Yosemite where the haze from forest fires almost obscured El Capitan from Tunnel View, and the eastern Sierra. Unfortunately, her trip was marred by a sudden medical emergency. Eventually, a dialysis stabilized her. The next day her brother Hoa flew in with his wife Dung, and after a week in the hospital she was able to travel again to Maryland, where she promptly recovered her high spirits, and finish her month-long U.S. trip. Tuan had been trying to run his first marathon for more than two years, but when he suffered a muscle injury a month before a planned springtime race, he thought that he would be thwarted again. However, autumn's weather was adequate for training, and in December Tuan was eventually able to complete a local trail race at age 53. His objective was only to best Oprah's time of 4h 29 min, but he ran in 4h17 min, which places him above the median marathon finishing time. In addition to another canyoneering trip to Zion National Park with the youngsters in the extended family, Tuan traveled to Grand Teton National Park with them to see the total solar eclipse of August 21. Chris who had climbed a bit with Tuan two decades ago and had not seen him since, invited us to a prized group campsite in Grand Teton National Park for which he started planning seven years ago. Tuan and his brother in law Nhon, who this year helped teach outdoor rock-climbing to the children, partnered to climb the Direct Exum Route on the Grand Teton, one of the famed "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America", as a return to mountaineering for Tuan after a 20-year hiatus. After one day of recovery, Tuan, Lan Thanh, and Nhon hiked to Table Mountain, a backcountry location discovered by William Henry Jackson from which the Grand Teton appears in alignment with the eclipsed sun. The whole experience, which is so much more than a partial eclipse, left all of us totally in awe, and we cannot wait until 2024, when another total eclipse occurs in America. Besides those family trips, while the children enjoyed a fun week at summer Camp Wastahi, now a yearly tradition for them, Tuan traveled again with Tommy, this time to the North Woods. That to explore Voyageurs National Park they would rent a motorboat is a given, but they also found it beneficial to use one in Isle Royale National Park. For more details about Tuan's travels, including a tremendously satisfying image of Yosemite's Horsetail natural "Firefall", please check his blog, and in particular http://qtl.us/2priWxs and the links within. This year, Tuan mounted two local exhibits, one in San Jose at the Art Ark Gallery, the other in San Francisco at the California State Building, facilitated by his new Chinese friend Herby Lam. They are more work than the travel exhibits, but Tuan was pleased to engage with the local community and media, with features in the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and even recognition from the California Legislature. The local publicity propelled him to what could be the beginning of an unplanned speaking career, as requests for lectures kept coming his way. Those and a harvest of six national publishing awards contributed to demand for his new book (http://treasuredlandsbook.com). Its third printing hit the shelves in October, barely a year after first publication, and Treasured Lands outsells books by photographers such as Art Wolfe or Frans Lanting. In spite of that, the sales alone aren't enough to sustain us, which indicate how difficult it is to sell photography books. Photographers usually don't make any significant money from books, however those sales this year formed the larger part of Tuan's income, an indication of the sharp decline in the business of licensing and print sales. In spite of not paying any taxes in 2017, we were surprised to receive a tax refund - even better than the President! As a result, Lanchi felt compelled to work even harder to pick up the slack. She was busy as a bee all year and at times overwhelmed. There was already the woodworking production with several new products added to her popular line of acorn boxes, and all the week-end art fairs. In addition, she ramped up her collector's plant trade. She ordered many rare seeds and plants to grow. It was necessary to keep an eye on the online catalogs since some of the plants/seeds sell out only a few minutes after being listed. In all, she sold more than a thousand plants during that year, which demanded a lot of packing and mailing! Unlike widgets, plants have to transit as fast as possible, so just to make sure USPS picks up in a timely fashion was already stressful. We wish you and all your loved ones a lunar year 2017 (of the dog) full of happiness, health, prosperity, and success, and hope to hear some news from you. Tuan, Lanchi, Vi-Van, Minh-Dan, Peanut 3373 Meadowlands Lane, San Jose CA 95135 (+1) 408-706-0894