Colorado in July

The final leg of our summer vacation this year takes place in Colorado. Each time Erin and I return here we're amazed at the beauty of the countryside and this time was no different. Before long we had the motorcycle out of storage and were riding through the forested hills and meadow-filled valleys. Our first week back we rode up to Evergreen for a walk around the lake with lunch at the Morrison Inn.

That Friday night Erin's parents treated us to a Chris Isaak concert at the Denver Botanical Gardens. We had all the fixings for a delicious picnic out on the lawn while we listened. However we had failed to bring any rain gear which we were punished for as a massive thunderstorm rolled in during Chris's first set. It got so bad that the band was called off the stage and we were advised to seek shelter. Eventually the rain cleared and the concert carried on with Chris and most of the crowd taking it all in stride.

The following week Erin's parents left for a fishing cruise in Alaska leaving Erin and I with the house and their dog, Dante, to ourselves. While the week gave us many opportunities to see friends in the area it also gave us a chance to just relax a little after so much traveling. It was nice to get up in the morning to walk Dante and then return to read a book on the couch or watch some TV.

The latter part of the week was dominated by the wedding of our friends Leah and Pete. As a bridesmaid Erin got to take part in many of the pre-wedding festivities, but also had to deal with a dress that was the wrong size from what she ordered. It all got worked out and though the rain had threatened to make a mess of things all the events turned out wonderfully. The rehearsal/picnic in Washington park was fun and relaxed; the ceremony on the Denver University campus was beautiful; and the reception at the top of the Grand Hyatt was spectacular.

The following week was a whirlwind of friends, family, and activities. We saw my aunt, Janet, give a delightful rendition of Margaret Brown in the Molly Brown house. We joined our friend, Janice, for BBQ at her house followed by a small theatre production mixing acted scenes and improvisation. We toured the Denver Botanical Gardens with Janice. We had delicious burgers and drinks with our supper club at HBurger.

Our busiest day was Saturday after Erin's brother, Andrew, and his fiance, Sara, arrived. The four of us started the day by going to the Renaissance festival in Larkspur. It was amazing the amount of people and booths that were there. It was like a small town. We saw a jousting show, acrobatics, comedians, and all manner of costumes. It was also very hot and we were glad to get some cool drinks in the shade and enjoy watching the various people.

Later that afternoon Erin surprised me with a helicopter ride around Denver. It was exciting to see the city from above and to ride in the small helicopter. Our pilot was very knowledgeable of both the aircraft and the area we were seeing. We finished the night with some tapas at the 9th Door restaurant.


This last week we've been trying to get in a few more things before we leave. We went to the store to stock up on things we can't get in Taiwan; we've seen friends and family one last time; we've been on some hikes; and tomorrow we'll ride the motorcycle once more before putting it away in storage. It's hard to say goodbye, but as we plan to come back for our winter vacation it's easier to say, "we'll see you in a few months".

Chicago is for Food Lovers

The thing I think Erin and I enjoy the most about being back in the US, after seeing friends and family, is the food. While we've been able to find good food in Taiwan we have missed the vast diversity of quality food that is available in the US. That diversity and quality became very apparent when we visited Erin's brother, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Sara, in Chicago.


After arriving and putting our stuff down we went with Andrew to get some delicious Thai food for lunch.  We then went out to meet with our friends from California who had been touring Chicago on vacation.  We met them out on the Navy Pier as they were finishing up a short cruise on a pirate ship in the lake. That night we met up with a friend from Illinois that was in town for a few days with her baby.  We had dinner at a French restaurant called Mon Amie Gabi.  The steaks we had were delicious and we ended up sitting by "Meredith" from "The Office".

The next morning Andrew and Sara took us to a very good croissant place near their apartment. Erin and I then went downtown and eventually found "Fulton's on the River" for lunch with friends from Illinois. That afternoon we took an architectural boat tour of the city. It was very interesting to see the range of architectural styles and learn about how they were developed in the city.  Upon finishing the tour we met Andrew and Sara at the top of the John Hancock building for some drinks as the sun set.  We finished the day back at their place as they cooked us some delicious pizzas.

On Saturday we all went downtown for brunch at XOCO, a famous Mexican restaurant from chef Rick Bayless. With Mexican hot chocolates and churros we were all very happy with the food. Of course with all the food we were eating we needed to walk around so we went to Exposition park where they have a huge silver "Bean" sculpture. We then set off for Erin's, Andrew's, and Sara's Alma Mater, Northwestern University. There we got giant cookies from "Al's Deli" and walked around the campus while the three reminisced on their school days. We then went for dinner at Pita Inn for some good Middle Eastern food. Later that night we went out to the Kingston Mines Blues club. It was a great, relaxed atmosphere for hearing some really good blues musicians and a wonderful end to our stay in Chicago.


Sunday morning we were up early as Andrew and Sara thankfully drove us to the airport. The company had been wonderful and the food had been so delicious. After arriving in Denver later that day we learned that Andrew had proposed to Sara.  We expect that they'll be getting married in Chicago so we're looking forward to going back out there for the wedding (and some more of that great food of course).

New York Anniversary

After spending time with all of our friends and family with babies Erin and I spent some time on our own in New York City for our second anniversary.  We started off the day with drinks at the boathouse in Central Park. It was a nice day out and we enjoyed seeing the diversity of people. After lunch in the park we walked back to our hotel to prepare for the evening. That night we went out to a wonderful tapas (Alta) restaurant followed by a small jazz bar that we had been to last time we were in town (The Bar Next Door). The bar proved to be just as cozy and romantic as it was before and a nice finish to our first night of anniversary.

Not content to have only one day to celebrate our anniversary we continued the celebration for our entire stay in New York. On the following day we made our way to the Highline Park. We had recently read about this new park on the southwest side of Manhattan that had used to be a set of elevated train tracks. Instead of having them torn down after disuse the community formed a group to transform the tracks into a park. The result was stunning as we walked among shrubs and bushes while looking out on the streets of New York. After lunch we decided to forgo the usual museums and instead visited the Sex Museum. While the museum had some interesting exhibits on sex in cinema, in comics, and in the wild we were torn between their candidness and our sense of sexual norms.


That evening we went out to see the play, "A Bengal Tiger in Baghdad Zoo" starring Robin Williams. It was an interesting existential play with Robin Williams playing a foul-mouthed tiger amidst the war in Iraq. While the actors were all very good, Erin and I felt the story lacked definition at the end. We finished the evening at a delicious Cuban restaurant (Victor's Cafe 52). Though they didn't have much of the seafood on their menu due to a large party that night, the food we had was delicious.


For our final day in New York Erin and I went back to Central Park to read and relax. It was nice to just sit and watch the many different people walk and ride. Again we had lunch in the park, but in comically New York fashion we were seated very close to two ladies discussing intimate details that Erin and I could have done without hearing. After a stroll back through crowded Times Square we were packing up and heading out to Newark for our flight the next day. Among the many people, the delicious-but-high-priced food, and wealth of events Erin and I concluded that we love visiting NYC, but I don't think we would want to live there. It certainly is a wonderful anniversary location.

The Babyland Tour Continues

As I mentioned in my previous post, Erin and I have been visiting babies and their families this summer.  It has been fun and exciting to see all of them, but also a little tiring as our schedule has meant that we haven't stayed in the same place for more than three days.


After Atlanta we flew to Baltimore for another difficult travel day.  Since we're flying American Airlines for this whole vacation we had to fly from Atlanta to Chicago and then Chicago to Baltimore on Monday (6/20).  The only problem was that once we got to Chicago we saw that our flight to Baltimore was cancelled and there wouldn't be any more until the next day. After some scrambling we were able to get an agent to book us on a United flight leaving out later. We made it okay into Baltimore, but our bags didn't, so we had to wait until Tuesday for United to deliver them to us.


Once in Baltimore our days took on some conformity as we helped Amy and Kevin with their 3-week old, Nora.  We would get up around 6:30 AM in the apartment that Erin's parents had booked for the month for visiting family to stay in.  Out by 8 AM we would get chai tea lattes from a favorite coffee shop for Amy and Erin.  We would spend the rest of the day at Amy's and Kevin's while Erin helped take care of our niece and I would cook the meals.  It was nice to be able to relax for the rest of the day without worrying about having to get someplace.  During that time we enjoyed taking her for walks around the neighborhood in her stroller.  I also enjoy cooking so I'm glad we could help out in that way. 


Erin and I could see how it is a full-time job taking care of a newborn baby.  They need to be fed every three hours and it often takes an hour to feed.  The schedule varies a little at night, but it doesn't leave more than a few hours for sleep.  In the past Erin had thought how nice it must be to get maternity leave as a vacation from work, but now we could see just how vital that leave is.  Of course, it gets easier as the baby gets older and we're looking forward to the time when Nora is able to start talking and sleeping through the night. 


On Friday it was time to go as Erin and I took a bus from Baltimore up the coast.  Had we planned better we would have taken the bus to Newark, but instead we took the same route we had done last year getting on the bus to New York and then taking a train back down to New Jersey.  After being delayed, the bus ride was long and hot.  We eventually made it to Stephanie's and Shawn's place in New Jersey late in the day as they cooked up some delicious grilled clams and scallops.

If we had thought taking care of one baby was a lot of work we saw with Stephanie and Shawn how taking care of twins means twice the work at the same time.  Last year Erin was mentioning how twins would be good since you could have two kids and get all of the work out of the way at one time.  The problem is that you have to do twice the work (twice the feedings, twice the changings) at the same time which looks to be exhausting.  Shawn and Stephanie seemed to be managing well with their six month olds, but were also happy on Saturday when they dropped off the twins with their aunt and uncle so we could enjoy some baby-free time.


The day was definitely geared towards relaxation as we started off with a delicious tea place.  From there we went to Queens for a stay at Spa Castle.  This is a Korean place where we paid a set fee to get in an then could spend as much time as we wanted in the numerous spas and saunas.  It was uncomfortable at first with the same-sex, nude changing areas and the rule that we had to wear gender-specific uniforms.  Erin and I felt like we were back in Taiwan with the same sense of uncertainty of what to do.  We eventually were able to relax and enjoy the accommodations before heading into NYC for dinner at a vegetarian hummus place.  On Sunday Erin and I had a chance to catch up on emails while Shawn and Stephanie picked up the kids.  We spent the rest of the day putting up a canopy out in their back yard and having a small BBQ.  It was nice to share the weekend with them before moving on.


As Stephanie drove us to our hotel in NYC for the next leg of our trip I thought about all of the babies we'd seen. All of them we're very cute and all of them demanded a lot of time and energy. I'm glad we got to see them and got to see our friends and family in this new stage in their life. As cute as the babies were, the amount of work and the sacrifices that they require didn't exactly make Erin and I want to rush out and have kids right away. We could see how rewarding having kids was, but for now it's nice to be an aunt and uncle so we can enjoy them (and potentially spoil them) in small doses. Whatever our decision in the future is though, I'm glad we got a chance to visit Babyland.

Welcome to Babyland

Last year, as Erin and I were talking with our friends and family about moving to Taiwan, many of them were talking about having kids for the first time.  We noted that the life change they were expecting (like most major life changes) was similar to moving to a new country.  The language they would use would change to incorporate child-related terms, they may find themselves eating different foods, and they would be spending more time with other parents in a similar situation.  We called this new place, "Babyland".

Fast-forward to this summer and now all of those expectant parents are actual parents.  Erin and I planned our summer vacation to visit each of the new baby families over the month of June.  After leaving California our first stop on the Babyland tour was Georgia to see some of my friends from the Army, Brian and Steve.  Both of them had their first kid about six months ago so we were going to meet them and their families at Steve's house in Savannah.

We spent Thursday just getting out to Atlanta.  It was not a good day.  A bad omen was when we showed up at the airport and our shuttle got scraped by another shuttle backing up.  LAX was packed as usual, but the next irritation came when Erin was patted down twice (including once in a little frost-glassed room) even after going through the new x-ray machine.  It didn't help later when I accidentally spilled my frappucino on her.  We then sat on our plane at the gate for an hour because they had to fix a door before we could leave.  When we finally got to our hotel our room wasn't made up.  We got through the day with a great deal of patience, but it was very taxing.

Friday morning we were reminded why we endure the travel as we got to do some sight-seeing in Atlanta.  We started with a tour of the CNN headquarters which was very enlightening to how the shows are produced.  We then had lunch at the Sun Dial restaurant at the top of the Hampden hotel.  The great part about that was that the whole restaurant slowly rotates so that we got a wonderful view of the entire city while we ate.  We finished our tour at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.  It was interesting to see where he grew up and lived, but it seemed like it could use some better care.  We finally left the city, got a rental car, and made it out to Steve's and Adriennes's place that night.  Brian and Cassie got there later that night.

On Saturday we were all pretty tired (either from travelling, tending to babies, or both).  Fortunately Steve and Adrienne have access to a pool, so we spent much of our day there.  

It was great to just relax and not have to worry about being anywhere.  We really enjoyed catching up and reminiscing with everyone.  The babies of course took center stage with lots of adoring to be done.  There was often something that needed to be done to take care of them as well.  Erin and I were thoroughly impressed at the amount of work that went in to taking care of the babies and the apparent ease with which the parents completed that work.  Since both babies were almost six months old I imagine they all had a fair amount of practice.

After spending time at the pool we went with Brian, Cassie, and their daughter to downtown Savannah for dinner.  While we didn't see much of the city, the part we saw looked very nice.  We ended up having dinner on the rooftop of a pub while we discussed life and having kids.  Our discussions continued late into the night back at Steve's and Adrienne's place as we watched a lightning storm roll through.

After breakfast on Sunday it was time for us to pack up and head back to Atlanta.  It was unfortunate that we couldn't spend more time, but I know we'll meet up again in the future.  Even though our friends are at a different place in their lives (full of feedings, diaper changes, car seats, and strollers), it doesn't mean that they're any less our friends.  Erin and I haven't made a final decision on whether to have kids sometime in the future, but whatever we decide, it's good to know that our friends in Babyland will continue to be our friends - just as we'll continue to be their's.

California Dreamin'

The first leg of our summer back in the US started in California.  With the trip East across the International Date Line we had left around 9 AM on Sunday in Taiwan and arrived around 10 AM on Sunday in California.  Everything went smoothly as our flight from Kaohsiung to Los Angeles was on time, we were able to get our bags, and found my parents outside the terminal as they drove in to pick us up.  That afternoon we were able to have lunch with my uncle and cousin as we drove back to Tulare.


On Monday we were able to relax as we got re-acquainted with America.  This included a trip to Target and the joys of consumerism, washing and drying clothes in a washer and dryer we could understand, and understanding what people were saying.  Later that week we enjoyed eating some of the most delicious Mexican food we've had in a very long time.  There's a lot we've been missing.

Tuesday found my parents, Erin and I driving up to the mountains where my family has always spent summers.  Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon National Park is like a narrow version of Yosemite, but with a fraction of the visitors.  It has always been a place of beauty and peace for me and I was glad to share it with Erin.

For the rest of the week we enjoyed the relaxing nature of the park and it's breath-taking views.  After collecting plenty of firewood we had fires each morning and evening since it was colder than usual.  It was nice to relax in camp, eat some snacks, and read a book during the day.  When we got energetic, Erin and I would hike through the canyon and take in the sights.  On our last day my Dad and I went out fishing, though we didn't catch anything.  It was a very nice trip.

For the following weekend we took a trip out to the coast to see my friends who live in Pismo Beach.  We arrived somewhat late on Saturday night and ended up having some amazing BBQ before ironically sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows (like Erin and I had done all week in the mountains).

On Sunday we went out for some wine tasting.  I had never known there were so many wineries near Pismo Beach.  Though my recent flare up made me cautious about drinking too much wine it was great to have some small samples.  It was also a lot of fun just hanging out with my friends too who I haven't gotten to see much since moving away from Tulare. While we're older now and have wives (and kids) we can still enjoy some really good times and share a lot of laughs.  The wine wasn't half bad either!

Erin and I stayed at the coast on Monday enjoying the delicious seafood and some beautiful trails along the cliffs above the beaches.  However, by Tuesday we had to say goodbye and head on back to Tulare.  We were able to get one last hike in and enjoy a picnic lunch in Paso Robles on our way back though.  It may not have been Colorado, but by the end of our trip I think Erin was starting consider what it would be like to live in California.


By Wednesday it was time to pack up, finish some last minute details, and head back to LA for our flight the next morning.  My parents were kind enough to treat us to one of their favorite restaurants, Lowry's, for a wonderful prime rib dinner.  Even the vegetarian plate that Erin was delicious.  Early next morning Erin and I caught a shuttle over to the airport and we were off to our next destination: Georgia.  After such a wonderful trip we're looking forward to the next time we're able to visit California.

School's Out For Summer

So this post is rather late, but after the hospital stay it has been hard getting back in the rhythm of writing.  It has also been very busy.


By the first week of May the Humira appeared to be working and I started to get better.  I was soon eating more solid food from the hospital kitchen which made me eager to get out.  I was released from the hospital on May 7th which coincided with a visit from Michele, Erin's former drama teacher.  Over that first weekend in May I returned to the comfort of our home while Michele shared her many stories with us.


The next week I mostly stayed home from work as I tried to eat more and get my strength back.  I was feeling well enough by Friday to go in to the school for a few hours and give the staff an introduction to the new student information system that the school would be using next year.


Over the weekend though my condition seemed to get worse.  I was getting the Humira once a week on Friday, but because of that (and a case of thrush I had developed) my doctors had decided that I should quickly taper off the steroids.  In the past it had usually taken several weeks to go off steroids, but the doctors had told me to go from 40mg to none in just one week.  After researching online Erin and I felt that might be too quick so on Monday I was able to get on the phone with my GI doctor and made the suggestion that I go back on the steroids and taper them more slowly.  He agreed and since I still had some steroids left said I could take those.  As I went back on the steroids my condition once again improved.


With this, and our experiences in the hospital, it became clear to me and Erin that we had more ability and necessity to be my own doctor than we had in the US.  We were doing research online of what had worked for other people, determining the drugs and the dosage that we found worked best for others, and indicating to my doctors what we thought we should do.  The relationship felt more liberating than what we're used to in the US, but also requiring more responsibility.


For the third and fourth weeks of May I was going to school for more and more of the day.  Before long I even had enough strength to teach my classes (or at least be there as the students worked on assignments from other classes).  As I felt better I began eating more food and incorporating more types of food into my diet.  I tried not to push myself too hard, but it was difficult as there was so much to get done before school ended.  My improving condition gave Erin and I hope that we would be able to have the summer vacation we had planned.


The last days of May and first days of June were a rush of things to do before we could leave.  I was able to get enough medication for the summer (including the Humira) so that was a relief.  Over the weekend Erin was able to finish up all of her grading and I was able to get the IT systems to a point where I could leave them for the summer (or manage them remotely).  Finally on the night before we left we packed our bags and tidied up our place.  It was such a relief on Sunday to finally get on a plane and head back to the US.  We're very much looking forward to enjoying our summer with friends and family before going back to Taiwan in August.