Tsai Family of the Parklands

On the very last day of the year, we took occasion to celebrate Melinda's sweet 16th with a simple dinner at the Wok Express.  Afterwards, we took a nice drive to the Washington DC Temple Visitor Center to enjoy the over 500,000 Christmas lights.  Inside the Visitor Center, we viewed the International Christmas trees and nativity creches.  After standing in a long line, we were able to watch the 8pm showing of the Fairfax Chinese Dance Troupe.  When we finished, we met some of our Chinese Branch friends upstairs, conversed for a long while, and took pictures before going home.  Then we went home to watch the Apple fall in Times Square.  It was a nice way to end the year.  Happy new year!

Family and friends, As we draw close to another year and decade, we pause to ponder our many blessings of 2010. The short but busy Spring Break trip to Taiwan gave us an exciting journey to enjoy some of the beauties of Taiwan, visit relatives and friends, and to enjoy the delicious cuisine. This year, we were honored to be able to visit the West Wing of the White House, and we braved the Eastern Shore wilderness where we witnessed the wild ponies of Assateague. Our two oldest children have both finished more than half of their meaningful missionary service. We also made quick excursions to Hershey Park and Williamsburg. Individually, here are our thoughts and summary for this year: I have kept busy this year with teaching a night class at Montgomery College each semester and helping with rides to the various school and extracurricular activities The biggest change this year for me personally was the release from serving as branch president at church for the last ten years.

Joshua was privileged to participate in the high school Choir Concert on December 13.  The very next day, he served as the pianist for the Jazz Concert.  On the same night, he played First Clarinet as part of the Band Concert.  In conclusion, they played their traditional "The Night Before Christmas"as it was narrated by Mr. Kachadorian.

This semester Joshua participated in the ASCYO Concerts on December 3, 4, and 5.  The venues were the Weinberg Center in Frederick on December 3, Asbury Methodist Village on December 4, and The Lutheran Church of St. Andrew on December 5.  Joshua played in the Wind Ensemble on Sunday, and he played the solo part for the cat in Peter and the Wolf.

This Thanksgiving, we invited over 20 people to come to our home to celebrate Thanksgiving Dinner.  Actually, we started with lunch at noon.  After the lunch, we had a small program, including the reading of the Thanksgiving story by Elders Kerby and Lo while the children dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians.  We then talked and played and had lots of fun.

For the record, here is proof that the branch has a missionary bulletin board, now decorated with news from our two missionaries, who just happened to be our children.

Over the Labor Day weekend, we had a unique opportunity, thanks to my colleague at work, to tour the West Wing of the White House.  Although the rooms seemed much smaller than on TV, we saw in person the Oval Office, the Rose Garden, and the Press Room.  We were allowed to take pictures in the Press Room.

The Wang family visited us on August 20.  We had a fun time at the ice skating rink and ping pong practice hall.  We also enjoyed a hot pot meal together.

Our family's first trip to Assateague State Park took place on August 19.  We pitched our tent at our campsite G2.  At first, the wild horses were grazing there along with a buck, but they went away eventually.  The kids went to the beach while we set up the tent.  Then we tried to heat up noodles, but the propane stove would not light.  So, with so many mosquito bites, we went into the tent and talked.  During the night, drops of dew or sea water splashed very infrequently on our faces. At 5:30am, I awoke and walked to the beach.  The scene looked so surreal, like the underground Journey to the Center of the earth, with an orange sun that one could view shining through cloudy skies onto a slightly darkened beach.  Later I came back with Megan and then Melinda.  We saw dolphins in the distance.  We cleaned camp before the 11am deadline.  Before going home, the kids rode on their traditional Go Karts and went to the arcade.  Then we walked around the Boardwalk and headed home.  Thu

An unexpected visitor, an acquaintance of Li-Fang, Chang Lo Shou Feng, from Xinzu, Taiwan, attended our branch meetings on August 15.  She came to our home after church. visit us with us.

Before the Fugal's moved west, we were lucky to have them over dinner one last time on August 10.  Adam and Sophy brought Joanna.

Josh and I returned from a full day of work at NIST one day (July 26).  At the door we were greeted and instructed not to enter in by the front door but to go to the deck.  This we did, and to our surprise a simple elegant dinner had been prepared.  Megan even prepared a nice menu which featured the main course of Penne Pasta.  The weather was perfect, and the food was delectable.  What a wonderful evening dinner under the skies!

We took advantage of the NIST Day at Hershey Park by bringing the whole family plus Grandma and Uncle Joe and Aunt Tsuifang.  The kids had a blast on the rides and in the water park.  I even dared to ride with Megan on a couple of the mean kiddie rides (see proof below).  Lunch was included in the tickets.  We climaxed the evening with a leisurely tour of the famous Hershey Museum.

Fourth of July fell on a Sunday this year.  Coincidentally, the Rodgers family came to visit for a whole week from Ohio.  Nick (a former missionary in our branch) & Brittany and their three cute kids (Madisen, Cole, and Ethan) stayed at our home for the week.  On Sunday, we all drove up to the Washington DC Temple to enjoy the Visitor Center and the beautiful temple grounds.  Then we drove to Rockville to observe the spectacular display of pyrotechnics from the outskirts of Montgomery College.

 On May 25, Li-Fang and Yvonne Spencer held their group piano recital at Woodfield Elementary School.  There were a total of 65 performances that evening.

I have been fortunate to have attended a third Youth Conference trip.  This time, the stake youth went to Kirtland, Ohio.  After congregating at the Potomac chapel beginning at 6:00am on May 29 with a short prayer meeting and breakfast, we rode on three buses all the way to Kirtland.  Our branch youth rode on the yellow bus.  At a layover in Hiram, Ohio, at a stake center, for about 3 hours, the kids engaged in games  of water balloons, Frisbee, and giant soccer.  At 4pm, we checked into the Fairfield Inn.  After dinner, we proceeded to the Kirtland Temple.  Group by group, we toured the awesome Kirtland Temple.  While we were waiting to stand in a group photo of the stake youth on the steps of the temple, Da and I saw Jack Shirts, who was coincidentally also visiting the Kirtland Temple but was about to return home.  Before the tours, Sister Julie Savage spoke to the youth about keeping journals. We participated in a testimony in the temple.  Mark Hendricks introduced the main speak

This year, the list of concerts and performances seems to have grown longer.  Joshua auditioned and/or participated in the All-State Band, the Lion's Band, the Superintendent Awards performance, and in a competition at the Kennedy Center.  Melinda and Joshua performed in the 3 ASCYO spring concerts and in the DHS Spring Concert.  Melinda performed in the ADI recital.  Melinda and Megan performed in the Gaithersburg Ballet recital.  Mom coordinated her Group Piano recital.

Robert and Lynda Heaton invited some Chinese friends to their home for dinner on April 18.  We were delighted to meet some of our Chinese friends in Virginia.