Grace & Vince's Newsletter

TIMELINE OF EVENTS: JANUARY TO JULY 2004
Long dark days with a few days of snow! We take advantage of the weather by doing some snowshoeing up in the mountain passes, but hey, who are we kidding? Yes, January is a month to stay mostly indoors.	JANUARY	May gets busy; Vince travels to Florida and Georgia; we visit Canada. We enjoy the company of Harvey & Shelanne Lighthouse, who visit from Eastern WA.	MAY
SEATTLE Jan 1 - This is a great way to celebrate New Years' with friends: watching a fireworks display from our rooftop overlooking the Space Needle. (L to R) Bernard, Guilian, and Jessie Pham; Paul Grady		VICTORIA, BC May 9. By now, Victoria is our favorite city to visit; our 3rd time in the past 9 months. Instead of getting there by car ferry we took a high speed catamaran directly from Seattle this time. In addition, we never kayaked in B.C., so we thought to give it a try.
SEATTLE Jan 19 - Samantha & Mark Coupland (Vince's classmates from high school and grade school, respectively) win the prize as guests in our home having traveled the furthest distance--8190 miles, or 13210 km from Melbourne, Australia. And look, there's blue sky!		ATLANTA May 20. The CDC Preventive Medicine Residents of 2003-04 and staff in our last group photo. Although the residents are spread out in cities such as Seattle, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and New York, we get together every few weeks for conferences.
Days are a bit longer now. Still overcast and cold. We sing with the Greenlake church choir, listen to the symphony. Luckily, we had a week in sunny Orlando. In Florida, we got reacquainted with old family friends, the Lukmans and Guis.	FEBRUARY	June is a popular month for visitors. After all, it is summertime. Visitors include David and Ming Berger from Northern CA, who are expecting their 1st child later this year; also Wally, Sylvia, Gustin, & Emmi Lighthouse from the Washington D.C. area. We spend a week in Boise, Idaho for a public health conference.	JUNE
ORLANDO Feb 19. Although the main purpose of the trip is to attend a preventive medicine conference, we also spend time with Vince's cousin, Aileen Peng, who entertained us with a delightful dinner and a visit to Disney's Marketplace in front of scary Lego-made dinosaurs.		SEATTLE June 1. Vince can't get over the great views of the city he encounters during a run. This photo, taken near the intersection of W Kinnear Pl and 6th Ave W, shows a cityscape less commonly viewed by tourists, but spectacular nonetheless.
March's highlight is 10 days in Washington D.C. to attend a seminar and to spend time with family. We celebrate Vernon & Joan Hsu's D.C. wedding reception--their first trip to the area since their marriage last July. Grace also runs her first road race--the 3 mile St. Patrick's Day dash.	MARCH	SEATTLE June 5. David and Pam Ha (Kalen, not shown, is asleep in his crib), visiting from Southern CA, spend a few days with us, as we relax in our apartment. David later thanks us by writing, "I had a blast having no worry or no work to think about and I truly enjoy the quiet relaxation there. Too bad it was only 4 days."
WASHINGTON, DC Mar 20. Alice Hsu celebrates her 60th birthday with her 2nd grandchild, Jason DeWitt at the Vegetable Garden in Rockville. Actually, Mom's birthday is April 6, but with the family in town, why not celebrate early?		July is the big decision month, and we finally choose to go to Orlando. Our initial moving date of June 30 is moved back because Vince is able to continue working in his current job through August while he awaits his FL medical license. We spend as much time as we can seeing the beauty of the Northwest, knowing our time here is limited.	JULY
WASHINGTON, DC Mar 25. As part of CDC training, Vince spends a week in the nation's capital to understand federal public health policy (and why nothing in Congress seems to get done). One of the speakers, U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, (D, California), a longtime advocate and supporter of public health, is nice enough to pose with Vince.		WHIDBEY ISLAND, WA Jul 3. Two couples plan a holiday weekend in the North Casacade Mountains, with the first stop being raspberry picking on Whidbey. Evonne Randolph and us show off the fruits of our picking. Fact: Over 200 species of raspberries exist today; they were considered a luxury until the mid 1800s. We pick these at $1 a pound!
April means the start of baseball season and we're looking forward to a great Mariners team! They start off with 5 straight losses and never recover. On the bright side, we enjoy great cooking class night with Barb Prowant; also visit Atlanta for the annual EIS conference and see the Osters. Our out-of-town guest of the month is Sarah Park, a fellow CDC colleague.	APRIL	NORTH CASACADES, WA Jul 4. Our cabin, nestled by the Skagit River at the foothills of the Cascades, gives us convenient access to hiking and provides cooking and barbeque facilities. We try to make recipes that incorporate raspberries. We brought games to play at night, but are too exhausted after eating late dinners each evening.
SEATTLE Apr 1. Ann Chen, a medicine resident at U Penn and her brother Wayne from Portland, visit the world-famous Pike Place Market, which was founded in 1907. An estimated 9 million people visit the market yearly and is probably Seattle's most famous tourist attraction (along with the Space Needle).		NORTH CASACADES, WA Jul 4. The natural beauty of the northwest says it all, as John, Evonne, and us take a breather during our hike on the Cascade Pass trail. Other areas we hike include Sauk Mountain, Blue Lake, and Rainy Lake. On the way back home we eat lots of cherries and stop by Leavenworth, a tourist town decked out in Bavarian style.
MT VERNON, WA Apr 4. Tulips, tulips, and more tulips of many varieties and colors are displayed at this year's Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It's so packed with visitors, we felt fortunate that this photo captured nothing but us and flowers.		Our immediate plans: we'll be in Seattle through August. On the 30th and 31st movers come to pack & load, 9/1 fly to Los Angeles, 9/5 fly to Orlando. We will stay with Linda Lukman & Aileen until we buy a home. Our cell phone number and email will remain the same for now.	AUGUST AND BEYOND
SEATTLE Apr 27. Our television dies; we initially go through withdrawal and frequent bars in order to watch the NBA Finals, but finally realize that hey, we have more time to communicate with each other now. Then Vince realizes that he has missed watching the Jeopardy! winning streak of Ken Jennings, and gets upset again.		We're going to miss so many of our Seattle friends - please forgive us if we didn't mention you: Benjy & Wendy Sy, Carrol and Bob Grady, Kip & Amy Baggett, Matt & Susan Gamble, Brian Lundstrom, the Duchins, Randels, Beros & PHSKC colleagues, Greenlake and Holy Family Church choirs, & others...