From 2012-8-4 till 8-11, I and Ben's family (Hanh, Hunter, Carly, and 5-month-old Cassidy) from Sacramento flew to DC Dulles International Airport (IND) and visited my brother Chris' home in McLean, VA. Chris' daughter Kailin's family (husband John, sons JT and Liam) and son Kaiwei all came from NYC. We had a sort of reunion. However, my son Felix's family (Renee, Ashley, Dillon, and Jet) and my wife Yui-Li could not join. I can only show their photos from an earlier occasion here.
I stayed at Chris home and Ben's family got a room at the nearby hotel. They came to Uncle Chris' house everyday for lunch and dinner. Chris' wife Miako-san prepared meals everyday. We were so impressed by her well-planned and labor-intensive meals for lunch and supper!!! Everyday they had different kinds of dishes with contrasting tastes!!!
(Attempts were made to arrange the photos in the chronlogical order that were taken. However it turned out to be quite difficult. You may see the date and time on the photos, and the narratives underneath, and you can feel the happy time we had in DC.)
This was the adult group photo taken before John and Kaiwei joined.
Photo of the children gathered this time. Hope there will a time when Ashley, Dillon and Jet can all get together. Maybe on a cruise?
The dinner of the first day. The time on the photos were Dallas time, one hour behind that of DC.
Miako-san's dishes were just delicious!!!
Hanh, Cassidy and Carly.
Catching all present in the evening of 8/5. The one posing as Tarzan is Kailin's 5 y.o. son, Liam.
Kailin's husband John and her brother Kaiwei had not arrived yet. They drove from NYC.
Carly is into gymnastics. Her 3 years older cousin, Sienne, is also a gymnast and won the all-around championship at a competition in Sacramento area in late August!!
Never get tired looking at Cassidy.
Hummingbirds come to the feeder outside their kitchen window. Chris is an excellent photographer!
Chris testified to us all proudly: his wife Mia is a good wife, good mother, good mother-in-law, good grandmother, good daughter, and good daughter-in-law. And certainly, a cultured, good chef!
On August 6, all of us, except Miako-san who stayed home to prepare dinner, and John and Kaiwei who had not arrived, went to the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space. The space ship Challenger is behind us. There will be more photos taken there later.
Kaiwei and John arrived from NYC. That evening, we went to a restaurant in the Eden Center for supper.
August 8th is the father's day in Taiwan. My grandson Hunter prepared this hand-made card for me.
This was the lunch. Buns with meat, vegie, or red beans inside.
Very tender beef and other dishes for supper on August 7th.
Kaiwei graduated from Furniture Department of a well-known Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This art-loving young man started furniture designing and building. By now he is well established as a high-end furniture designer/builder. His web-site, KWH Furniture, can be found by google search and shows a variety of artistic products, all made of wood. They are mostly for upper scale customers or big companies. All of them cost thousands of $ and some are over tens of thousands! Still single!
At a supermarket, we had a chance meeting with Chris' friend, Heddy (above) and Jackie (below).
This is not dorian.
Vietnamese coffee and sandwich there impressed me.
After lunch, we took at stroll in George Town. A main shopping mall was under renovation. It was rather hot to walk around outside that day.
A canal used for transportation.
Kailin's husband John is a pediatrician at Columbia Univ., doing research on childhood obesity.
Vietnamese delicacy, Pho. Ben's wife Hanh made this on two occasions while we were there. Basically it is a noodle soup with vegie and meat.
The yard is well maintained. This back yard somehow reminds me of our house in Shin-Shen S. Road in Taipei when we were children. Father was very diligent in maintaining the lawn, the pond with fishes, a lemon tree that produced hundreds of lemons every year, and azalea (rhododendrum) that made half the yard brighten up in red, pink, mixed, and white every Spring. Though we had few color photos of the yard then, the picturesque images of the azalea flowers packing the small hill and around the pond will remain forever in my memory.
The plane that can take of vertically by switching the direction of the jet engine.
The festest plane.
Four astronauts!
Shamrock, 酢漿草, a symbol of Ireland at the kitchen window.
Jasmine at the kitchen window.
On 8/10, Ben's family went to visit the Museum of Natural History. I was to join them, but the back pain that did not improve with Aleve in time made me go to the fish market with Chris and Kaiwei later in the morning.
The world's most famous "Hope Diamond", 45.52 carat (9.1 gm). Also called "Le bleu de France" or "Le Bijou du Roi". Said to curse the owner. It originated in India, went through France, Britain and stopped finally at Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Because of the trace amount of boron in the crystal, it appears blue to the naked eyes, but show red fluorescence under the UV light.
This was taken on 8/8 at the restaurant.
5 months old Cassidy is so cute!!! She does not cry or whine. A model baby.
[ continued to : DC visit from 2012-8-4 till 8-11 (part 2 of 2) ]
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