December 7, 2003
Seasons
greetings everyone,
Well another year has past and it is time to let all
our friends and relatives know what we’ve been up to. Here are some of the memorable highlights.
In February Bryan started
working at a small start-up company called Plaxo in Mountain
View. He commutes
about 40 minutes (each way) to work in Mountain
View. Jean commutes
to work in Oakland in a
vanpool. She loves her vanpool. Mr. Orange stays at home and guards the
house. At least we like to think he’s
earning his keep.
The early part of the year was pretty domestic. We had some minor work that needed to be done
under the house. We replaced an
inadequate sump and sump-pump under the house and spent a lot of weekends at
the hardware store. Unfortunately, we
aren’t very handy and there isn’t much to show for all the money spent at OSH (a nearby
hardware store).
In late May we took a three week trip to Japan with Bryan’s
parents and Aunty Fei-Mei and Uncle Tsong-Wen.. The first part of the trip was spent touring Kyoto, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Hakone, and Nikko.
The last part of the trip was spent in Yamagata at a 7 year
funeral ceremony for Bryan’s
grandfather. There was also a sort of
family reunion and family concert where we met many of the Takasakas
(Bryan’s mom’s
cousins). Aunts Kiyomi
and Keiko set up a private sightseeing trip for us and we had a great time with
them. This picture shows Kinkakuji, in Kyoto.
In July things got busy. We spent the 4th of July in Sacramento lighting
fireworks and playing board games with our friends John and Teresa.
The following weekend was spent at another Lee family
reunion in Peoria, IL. The weekend was filled with lots of food and
fun (bocce ball and ring toss games).
Jean was much less overwhelmed this time and spent more time getting to
know the relatives.
The weekend after Peoria was spent in
Seattle where we
went to an informal wedding reception for one of Bryan’s college
friends Skaff and Jaime. It was just like a corporate picnic complete
with a barbecue buffet, petting zoo, blow-up obstacle courses, mini golf, and
volleyball nets. Jean met many of Bryan’s college
buddies and we both had gobs of fun.
Later that night, Bryan played the
ritual basketball game with his college buddies while Jean hung out with her
family and friends in Bellevue.
At the end of August we flew to Baltimore for another
friend’s wedding and stayed with Bryan’s
parents. The first day we visited the
National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Museum of Industry. The second day we spent all day at a
wonderful working museum called the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware (http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/museum.html). We highly recommend it to everyone. The third morning was spent at Ladew Topiary Gardens (http://www.ladewgardens.com/), just
north of Baltimore in the
morning. That afternoon was spent
attending our friends Ting and P.D.’s wedding. It was a Hindu wedding and was most
interesting to watch. The dinner was
entirely vegetarian but very very yummy.
In early October we went to Jean’s friends’ wedding in
Monterey. The ceremony was on the beach and was quite
scenic. There was lunch and
dancing. The next day we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium (http://www.mbayaq.org/). We enjoyed their impressive jellyfish
exhibit.
The next weekend we flew up to Bellevue, WA to see
Jean’s parents and our new nephew Yoshi. He was born in late July and still didn’t have
much of a personality. We are going up
to visit again at the end of December to see how much he has grown.
Thanksgiving was spent in Woodland (near Davis) at our
friend Lucia’s sister’s house. We had a
good time there eating turkey and playing games like Cranium and Balderdash. Bryan did really
well at both games. Good liars do well
at Balderdash. : )
This December we went to our friend Carol’s annual
Gingerbread house decorating party and had a good time. Mr. Orange appreciated our work. Later this month we are scheduled to spend
Christmas with Jean’s parents in Gig Harbor WA.
So that was our year.
We hope yours was just as fun and exciting. As usual friends and family are welcome to
stay with us if you find yourself visiting the San
Francisco area.
Just give us a little warning so we can clean up and make the place
presentable.
We enjoy hearing about what you are up to so keep in
touch. If you are moving or changing
phone numbers, please let us know, or if you happen to use Plaxo,
the product Bryan is working on, you can update us automatically.
Best Wishes,
Jean Higaki and Bryan Lee
1106 Glenwood Drive
Millbrae, CA 94030
(650) 952-4461 Home
jhigaki@msn.com
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