Our family photos, as well as an archive of our family letters, can always be seen at http://www.terragalleria.com/family We bookended the year with two family trips to warm Southern California. In January, we visited Knott's Berry Farm, a theme park that turned out pleasantly relaxed compared to others, although the roller coasters were a bit too intimidating for Lanchi to try. We followed this fast and furious attraction with a few days in the desert. The highlights of the trip were the Salvation Mountain, a man-made hill single-handedly built over 28 years by Leonard Knight as a tribute to God and His message of love that ranks as one of the greatest folk art in America, and the no less quirky Slab City, an off-the-grid area filled with artwork created out of discarded materials, both located not far from the Salton Sea. In December, we made it to a very crowded Disneyland, and Lanchi at least surmounted her fears to ride a roller coaster - with her eyes closed the whole time. As a counterpart, we checked out few cultural sites in Los Angeles: the Griffith Observatory, Huntington Gardens, Getty Museum, and historic downtown. It was a bit disappointing that there was no snow at the top of the Palm Springs aerial tramway during our January trip, but later in the winter we found some at Badger Pass in Yosemite on a family trip that also included Nhon, Anna, Lan Thanh, and Brent. The ski area was closed and the kids could not take a snowboard lesson, but unexpectedly, they appeared to like cross country skiing more. Besides re-arranging our home by moving the office to a different room, we finally completed a multi-year project to build a mini play house down the backyard's steep slope. An designed and built most of it. Lanchi and Tuan did the finishing work, and Vi-Van furnished it. After several quarters of straight As, Vi-Van received an iPhone and a Fujix instant film camera. The former results in her being glued to the screen a bit more than we'd like (we still control the kid's screen time with a device called "circle"), while the latter resulted in the need for a steady supply of film. Speaking of glue, she also bought unreasonable amounts of it to make play slime of various textures and colors. Despite claiming to be shy, Vi-Van made several new friends and enjoys bringing them home. Their most frequent activity is baking, but they also work on school assignments, for example, a stop-motion video with clay figurines illustrating the first ten Amendments. They crafted elaborate costumes for the Silicon Valley Comic-Con and Halloween. She also likes venturing out afar on her bicycle and appreciates the art exhibits to which Tuan occasionally drags the family, as well as trips to the mall with friends. The later is Minh-Dan favorite activity, together with watching movies or YouTube videos, listening to musics and reading thick volumes of books. He is still not putting enough effort into his study as we'd like. In the fall, he continued at his school in eighth grade, while Vi-Van entered a charter public high school with an innovative program where the students learn at their own pace and their classwork consists mostly of projects. Her friend Hannah also attended the same school, the two girls carpool and do not seem to get tired of each other. For the summer, in addition to returning to Wastahi camp in July, which is a lot of fun for them - although Vi-Van participated as a Junior Counselor to try to improve her people skills - both went to a more rigorous leadership training camp called White Stag in June. In the spirit of scouting, the kids have to camp in tents, hike and learn skills. Following that week was a family camping trip near Kings Canyon. The kids had fun paddleboarding on Hume Lake. At the beginning of the year, maybe because he was fed too much human food, Peanut was diagnosed with a digestive ailment. He recovered later. However, we are not sure if it is because of his illness or old age, but unlike a few years ago when he had run frequent half-marathon with Tuan, this year Peanut did not want to run anymore, and Tuan had to amend his bio. Our two egg laying chickens did not fare as well, either. Nugget was eaten by some kind of the abundant wildlife that frequent our yard. Nhon brought two chicks to replace her, but they suffered the same fate. In addition, our frog Toto passed away after a an interminable comatose period, and Lanchi's aquarium, once vibrant with multicolored fish and lush plants, is now an underwater desert patroled by Nhon's surreptitiously dropped voracious fish and a single big survivor of his insertion. With the photography business in quick decline, Tuan contracted with a attorney to recover fees from copyright infringers. His cash-strapped publisher was also very late in paying substantial royalties. To prevent this, and other issues in the future, Tuan became a publisher himself, establishing Terra Galleria Press to release the second expanded edition (a fourth printing) of Treasured Lands. Because of the learning curve in design software, the work kept him busy in the last few months. In the while, the book sold out in December, with used copies now offered above the retail price. Although Lanchi reduced a bit her show schedule, she still struggles with making enough products to sell, especially since her plant business expanded. See some of the plants in question on her instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/lithopsoides/ Her brother An was recruited to help with woodturning and Tuan with e-commerce listings. After a thirty years gap, Tuan met with his friend BPDT, while Lanchi reconnected in a more sustained way with her college friends through several family dinner parties. In September, she traveled with her sisters Lan Thanh and her husband Brent, Lan Dai and her son Luc, and her brother An to Vietnam for two weeks, the first long trip when Tuan was at home with the kids since they were born. They had a fun time with her aunt's family in the Delta, and relaxing stay at coastal cities. In June, while they were at White Stag Camp, Lanchi and Tuan also went on their first childless trip to Northern California, but photography related issues again resurfaced (see Lanchi's account here: https://qtl.us/2BpP5sX). Tuan continued his travels, visiting 11 national parks and 24 other federally protected areas to which he is now devoting more attention. See a summary of his year of travel at https://qtl.us/2RcWj8Z We wish you and all your loved ones a lunar year 2019 (of the pig) 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