France & Monaco

Alex had the weekend off, so we took a quick trip down to France. We booked a hotel in an old medieval village called Eze.

The hotel is inaccessible by car so they use these two donkeys to carry the guests' bags. It was drizzling when we arrived, so no donkeys for us.

View from our hotel room.


The Mediterranean Sea, somewhere between Nice and Monaco.


We were able to fit in a quick visit with Alex's uncle Miche so that Jacob could meet his great-uncle for the first time.


On our way home, we made a quick stop in Monte Carlo.

Jacob was totally fascinated by the waterfall in front of the casino. The cars, shops, yachts...not so much.

November/December

We've been delinquent on posting pics to our blog. So here's a bunch of pictures of stuff from November and December.

Jacob figured out how to stand on his own. Here he is, modeling his Italian outfit. The slim cut Italian jeans and t-shirt fit our skinny child very well. Thanks for the t-shirt Kate & Tony!

Holding the TV remote for dad.


It actually snowed in Houston. Jacob didn't have a winter hat, so we went hat shopping that day.


Not a fan of hats at all. Cute cowboy, though.


Santa arrived on a canoe this year.


Meeting Santa for the first time.




Not too excited about this guy. Notice my friend's daughter Cara calmly watching Jacob's meltdown.




For Christmas, we went to visit my grandmother. Here he is with his grandmother and great-grandmother.


We call this his Max outfit, from "Where the Wild Things Are".

Grandma and Aunt Erin

Karen's mom and sister flew out to meet Jake and to lend a helping hand during his first couple of weeks at home. Their timing couldn't have been any better as Jake ended up in the hospital for 6 days. We are so thankful that they were here to help us out!

Love at first sight.


Proud Grandma.


Meeting aunt Erin for the first time.

Shou-Chuan Tao 1915-2008

My grandfather passed away on Wednesday. I'm not the writer in the family, so this is a link to my cousin Eunice's tribute to our grandfather, Shou-Chuan Tao.

http://ryanandeunice-life.blogspot.com/2008/07/gong-gong-1915-2008.html

California

We spent a week in California visiting family and friends.

Group pic with Valerie and Paxon, two of my cousin Jennifer's kids. Pax looks a little nervous.

Pax was just starting to walk. Here he is, walking to great-grandma.


Great-grandma with her three great-grandchildren, Valerie, Paxon and Melody.

We drove down to San Diego to support our friend Kate, who was running her first marathon. She's the one in the peach top looking very chipper at mile 10.

Kate and her husband Tony after it was all over. Under four hours!!

Along the coast in Coronado.

Tuscany

We took Erin on a tour of our favorite Tuscan towns, Montalcino and Montepulciano.

Streets of Montalcino.

We found the vineyards of our favorite brunello, Casanova di Neri. Love this place!

Sitting on the walls of Montalcino.


Another view of Montalcino.

Our other favorite town, Montepulciano. Rare pic of me and Alex together!

Erin's Visit

Erin came to visit us for a week, so we took her to some of our favorite spots.


Assisi.


Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.


Another view of the basilica.

Erin was in town to watch Fabriano play against the team from Jesi, the biggest rivalry in the league. This is also the first time Erin had seen Alex play since college, back in 2000. The people in orange are Jesi fans.

Time out.

California

Erin and I went to visit our grandparents in Monterey Park and our cousins in San Mateo.


Cousin Eunice with her son, Spencer.


The most adorable Spencer with her two doting aunts!!


Hi cutie!!!


Dinner with the cousins: Benson, Danielle, Eunice and Ryan.

Quebec

Montreal

Our annual trip back to Quebec began with dinner with the kids.

Jenny, Rim, Mehrez, Karen, Diandre and Nic after a delicious dinner.

We headed in to the Laurentians, an hour north of Montreal, to visit one of Alex's old coaches during a basketball camp. Here is Alex teaching the campers something about basketball.

Alex running through a basketball drill with some of the campers.


Andrew Bier, a Maccabi Canada teammate, Emerson Thomas, former National team player, Alex and Coach Dore.

Trois Rivieres

Drinks with two high school friends, Jean-Charles and Max in downtown Trois Rivieres. Max was in town for the week (he lives in Europe) and Jean-Charles was just driving through on the way to New Brunswick. We couldn't have planned this reunion even if we wanted to.

On the first sunny day, we headed up to Lake Wapizagonke for some canoeing and sunbathing.


Dinner in the backyard with Mom, Dad, Nic & Diandre.


Jenny & Rim drove up to Trois Rivieres to hang out with us.


Alex, Nic & Rim playing in the sandbox.


Hanging out with Max and his wife Zoe.