Tsai Family of the Parklands

We flew from San Franciso to South Korea, and then to Taiwan. At the Incheon Airport, we had a layover of about five hours. So we took our time to eat pho and to make origami silk squares at the cultural center. When we arrived at the Taoyuan Airport, the Chou's were waiting for us and ready to drive us to their home. On Day 2 of the Taiwan Island Trip, we ate a breakfast of meat cakes and fish soup with Vincent and Jean Chou. Then their whole family of 8 tooks in their minivan for a drive-by tour of Tsinghua University and TSMC. Then we toured the National Palace Museum, including an audio tour. Next, we enjoyed lunch at the museum restaurant. They drove us to the Taipei Temple Patron Housing. On Day 3, we attended the Taipei Temple. Jean and Vincent Chou joined us at the Temple. We also met President Carl Liang and Brother Fu'an Tsai. Afterwards, we were surprised to see the Pascual family outside the temple waiting for us. After lunch, they took us to Bali, whic...

For the first time ever, we finally made it to San Jose to visit my brother Tim and his family. We planned to spend 4 days in the San Francisco/San Jose area. On the first day (June 16, 2023 Friday), we rode the Caltrain to the end at 4th Street and King and then the city bus up to Chinatown, where we walked around and bought appetizers and desserts. We stopped by the famous Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. The Coit Tower was on top of a hill. To get to the tower, we climbed many steps. The Lombard Street zigzag street is the world’s longest zigzag street. Of course, we had to stop at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory to enjoy the expensive but fancy chocolate fudge sundae. The highlight of the visit on Friday was walking on the Golden Gate Bridge. We did not make it all the way across. On Day 2, Tim and his family took us to the Henry Cowell State Park. We walked around the 1-mile path to witness the redwood trees. Truly majestic. At noon, they drove us to the b...

Around the noon hour, we went to the Potomac Chapel at 11am for an informal gathering for Betty Chiang, who was in town this week. Her husband, George Chiang, was the third branch president of the Montgomery Chinese Branch. They served in our branch for four years before retiring and moving closer to family in California. Several of the older members who knew Betty and George gathered at the Potomac Chapel during the noon hours to welcome Betty and to catch up on old times. After chatting, members voluntarily shared memories of Betty and George. At the end Betty shared her memories and feelings about the Branch. We took group photos. We were grateful for this opportunity to meet with Betty and each other and talk about the Branch memories.

On the morning of June 3, we were honored to attend Meimei Lu and Sam Mansfield’s live sealing in the Washington DC Temple. Brother Gene Schaerr performed the sealing. It was a moment to rejoice to them marry in the temple under temple covenants. In the evening, we went to the Foulger-Pratt Farm for the ring ceremony for Meimei and Sam. As we sat in the hot sun, Brother Schaerr conducted the program. After toasts by Meimei’s sister and Sam’s brother and Meimei’s father and Sam’s father, there were musical performances by the Lu family, then by Sam and Meimei, and then by the Mansfield family. Then they exchanged rings. Everyone went into the barn for food and dancing.

On Memorial Day, we decided to take a trip to the DC Fisherman's Wharf. Parking at the Shady Grove Metro Station, we rode the subway to L’Enfant Plaza metro station and walked to the DC Wharf. We ate at the bistro du jour. After the rain in the afternoon, we boarded the water cruise and went on a tour to old town Alexandria. Walked around an art exhibit hall and rode the trolley to the King Street metro station. We arrive back at the Met Shady Grove Metro Station just in time for dinner at the B2J Restaurant.

On May 23, we were honored to attend cornerstone laying ceremony for the house that Megan designed in high school during her architecture class at Thomas Edison High School. She gave an honorary 4-minute talk as the designer. Afterwards, they gave us Panera Bread sandwiches.

On April 8, we drove down to Richmond with Joshua. We first visited the Richmond National Battlefield Park. It was the museum for the Chimborazo hospital, which served the Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The guy there was very knowledgeable and friendly and showed us a video. He even recommended that we see the original Virginia state capital designed by Thomas Jefferson after he got the idea from France to build a Roman type architecture with columns. So we did go visit the Virginia State Capitol. We started on a tour at noon, but we soon figured out that we did not have time for a full tour and be able to get lunch. So we ducked out and finished the walk into ourselves and left. After lunch, we attended the open house at the new Richmond Temple at 2 PM for the open house. We went through the open house relatively quickly and easily. The temple is a very small sized temple, but we did notice that the design of the architecture and the furniture was very impressive and s...

Dear family and friends, 2022 was an amazing year. As we recovered from the pandemic, so many great and terrible things are happening in the world. In our family, our daughter returned from her missionary service, an exciting family reunion was held during the summer, and a great matriarch passed away.  We hope you enjoy reading our story this year. Earlier this year, Li-Fang and I had the wonderful opportunity of organizing the 30th year anniversary celebration of the Montgomery Chinese Branch in May.  With the assistance of the planning committee, we had so much fun with a reunion logo contest, creating reunion tee shirts, and publishing a 30-year history of the Branch.  Also, for the past two years, we had the opportunity to serve on two subcommittees for the Washington DC Temple Open House in April and May.  In July we enjoyed a family reunion and visited Arches National Park.  I felt so accomplished that I was able to survive the climb up to t...