Tsai Family of the Parklands

2024 was Ben's first full year of retirement from full-time federal government service. However, he decided to continue teaching engineering classes part-time at the local Montgomery College and fulfilled a dream this fall in teaching a math class. He picked up pickle ball, worked on family history, and started other projects. This year Li-Fang served as a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency at church and coordinated almost weekly activities for the women. Among these were rehearsals for line dance, social dance, and Latin dance. She is still having fun teaching private piano to more than a dozen students and art and sewing at VisArts. In the summer, we visited our children in Utah and returned to Taiwan. We are grateful for life and its many beautiful blessings.   Merry Christmas from the Lin's! Life is good; kids are growing… In January, Trey is going to Primary and Blake will be going to Young Men's! Grace is still everyone’s frie...

This Christmas we decided to fly Breeze Airlines from Dulles Airport to Provo, UT.  And it was a breeze.  We were able to see Grace performance her dance.  Afterwards, she and her siblings had a photo op with Santa. We also were able to attend Sofia's Christmas concert at school.  Can you see Sofia? Our long-awaited family group photo at the Utah State Capitol turned out beautifully despite the cold.  Thanks, Veronica, for taking the photos. We are grateful for the time we had to spend time with our family during Christmas and New Years Eve.

On December 15, 2024, we sang a Christmas concert in Frederick, MD.  Our dear friends, Charles & Sara and Mingshu & Shucheng came to listen and to support us.

In August 2024, we flew from Utah to Taiwan to take care of family business and to visit friends, including Li-Fang's cousin Naiyue in the Tainan Shangrila Hotel, Li-Fang's art teacher and classmate from Hsinying, our friend, Yang Lei, who took us to see the site of the future Kaohsiung Temple, our Tainan friends at hotpot (!), Peter Lin and his wife at the Taipei Temple, and Philip and Maggie and his 100-year old mother. Here we are at the Chiang Kaishek Memorial. And what would a trip be to Taiwan without strolling through a night market in Taoyuan?

In July 2024, we traveled to Utah for our family reunion in St. George.  It was our first time we were able to attend Sofia's birthday in person since they left Maryland. We tried to hold our very first Grandparents' Camp.  We held it at the chapel.  We taught classes and even held an Olympics with the kids. The camp only lasted a day, after which I came down with COVID.  After getting better, we did go to the Desert Color resort near St. George for our family reunion.  We were able to relax.  The kids enjoyed the pools.  We met with our Branch friends, Zach and Maggie.    We watched Frozen at Tuacahn outdoor amphitheater.

Right after our Virginia trip, we came home, picked up Joshua, and drove straight to New York City.  Another bucket list item was to see a Broadway show.  We saw Wicked with Joshua.  We also ate lunch at the Famous Katz's diner and ate their pastrami on rye sandwich!

In August 2024, we visited the Bob and Jill Malczyk, friends from Schenectady, NY, long ago.  They took us to visit the campuses of Southern Virginia University (SVU) and Virginia Military Institute (VMI).  We were able to meet with part of their large family.

For the 2024 Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon, we traveled all the way to DC.  Jonathan had surprised Li-Fang on her birthday.  Together with Joshua and Jonathan, we went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the cultural shows and crafts.  Lester, Li-Fang's nephew, met us there. We  also walked around the Asian Art Museum and walked to Reren Lamen restaurant for dinner. Yum yum!