Alas, guys, one of the biggest bittersweet moments of the entirety of 2025, always lingering in the back of my mind, was this blog. I missed it but also enjoyed the freedom from it in equal measure. Not always capturing photos for the blog allowed me to sit back and relax at many functions, with my phone tucked away in my bag, and to just soak the moments in without pressure. But at the same time, I felt pangs of regret knowing that these moments were slipping away and there would be no one to bear witness to these memories. In a digital age where information and pictures are so easy to access or capture, they have become more disposable and thus more fleeting. I know exactly where to find the albums of pictures from when I was eight years old. But will my children?
As I age and life moves forward at its unyielding pace, my memories are jumbled together and often events blur over months and years. It's such a treasure to be able to flip back through these pages to find out what happened, when. I think this is what really drives me to come back here, despite how I feel like I cannot do the project justice and I don't know how to do it halfway.
As we head into a new year, I will do a 10,000 meter birds' eye overview of the happenings over the last 12 months, give or take:
Last year my blog cut off abruptly just as I was turning 41.
Nov 2024: I enjoyed an amazing birthday at our favorite lamb hotpot restaurant in Causeway Bay, which sadly this year went out of business. The kids, especially Al, still mourn and miss it. The single most amazing coincidence was that Michael's birthday present to me was a pair of Bulgari divas dream diamond studs that I had *just* been secretly bookmarking and looking at and thinking about. My jaw dropped when I opened the case and such was my disbelief that the first words out of my mouth were probably something like, "How?! Have you been looking at my phone?!" in a more accusatory tone than probably should be used toward someone who just nailed your dream present like a hole-in-one.
Dec 2025: We had an epic, and I mean epic, Christmas holiday in Western Australia. We flew into Perth and headed down to Margaret River. We stayed at Southcamp Stays in Dunsborough for one day, then made our way down to the rental house by Gnarabup where we stayed for a week and celebrated Christmas. We spent the week exploring Margaret River and all its nooks and crannies, and its gorgeous, isolated beaches. Highlights were exploring Mammoth Cave, swimming in Hamelin Bay and seeing a wild stingray swim right up to Rachel and Lola, running around a real hedge maze at Amaze'n Margaret River, drinking hot chocolate at Margaret River Chocolate Factory, attending an outdoor musical festival at Aravina Estate, dining at beautiful farmhouses and wineries like Meelup and Hamelin Bay Wines, and visiting the southernmost tip of Australia at Cape Leeuwin, where we got to see the joining of the Indian and Southern Oceans. More than the excursions and the activities, the singular moments that pierce our collective memories are what made this worthwhile - like the one night when the sky was so full of stars. We went up to the roof of our house, the wind whipped our breaths away but also, it was absolutely spellbinding how we were able to see an entire twinkling carpet laid out before us like a sumptuous feast. We could see Venus, Mercury, Mars and Saturn all with the naked eye. We then spent two more days in Perth, where on the second day we flew out to Rottnest Island by private transfer (our plane was adorable and it was a really cool experience for everyone to be in such a small jumper plane where we all had to be weighed, including our bags, and strategically seated to balance) to swim and frolic with quokkas. The quokkas are cute but their long, furry tails were too rat-like for me. The beauty of the pristine landscape of Rottnest, however, is unequivocal. Playing in The Basin after enjoying a delicious, fresh seafood lunch with the kids, floating in the icy, briny, clear-as-glass-to-your-toes water, under piercing blue skies and puffy idyllic marshmallow white clouds, it was a pinch-me-this-life-is-too-beautiful moment. If you look up this place, Wikipedia says "Nature has been eloquent here." I would say nature has been incredibly generous to western Australia.
Jan 2025: My dear childhood friend Emily and her family came to visit us for a couple of days in the new year. They stayed with us and we took them all over Hong Kong, playing together. It was really amazing and so cool to see us grown up with our own kids, when we each had met when we were barely older than our oldest kids now. In mid-Jan, I took a trip to London for work and added on a weekend in Paris for pleasure. It was amazing. I hung out with a good friend from Hong Kong and also caught up with a former colleague while in Paris. I bought too many clothes for the kids and bags for myself. Paris is dangerous...
Feb 2025: At the end of January/beginning of Feburary, over Chinese new year holidays, we flew out to Puerto Rico and my parents joined us for a bit as well, at our house rental in San Juan. We were very lucky to be able to bring Siti with us, as she managed to secure a US visa to come with us. Except for Michael, it was our first time to the island. We stayed in the gated community of the Puntas Las Marias neighborhood for 10 days and explored the area. It was good that I was coming off of driving so much (so much) in Australia, because you really need a car to get around Puerto Rico as well, and I felt like I was well practiced. Australia was challenging because I had to drive sitting on the left, Puerto Rico was challenging because I was driving a huge pick up truck in the narrowest and tiniest and curviest of roads and places. I took the kids to El Yunque rainforest and we also explored Old San Juan. We went to beaches near the house and generally enjoyed the swimming pool and Caribbean air. It was so interesting to me how much Spanish is still the primary language of use. After this run of holidays, we were probably the most tan we had ever been! During this month, we also sold off our apartment in the South loop in Chicago, nearly 10 years after we bought it. During that time, neither Michael nor I ever actually set foot in the property or saw it in person!
March 2025: At the end of the month, we went to rugby 7s at the new Kai Tak theater in Hong Kong, and my friend Celine and her son came to stay with us while they were on their school break in Dubai. My parents were also with us during this time, flying in and out of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Ever since we expanded into the apartment next door, we basically gained three additional bedrooms and a huge playspace for the kids. We turned the master bedroom into a guest bedroom that my parents use (and when they are not here, for our guests!) and turned the other two bedrooms into a movie room and a kids study room. It's been one of the greatest gifts to be able to offer this extra room to my parents and to encourage them to use it when they come to stay with us. My parents love traveling around China and Hong Kong provides them with such an easy entry and resting/resetting point. I read recently in a book the phrase "He would miss the sturdy companionable love of his father" and I could not stop the tears from falling. As my parents age it seems each year that their frailty becomes more apparent. How many more years will I have left with them, how many more years will I get to bask in the undeniable luxury of their unrelenting support?
April 2025: Michael's brother Tommy and wife Jen came out to visit us in Hong Kong with their three kids, Abby, Emma and Hank. It was amazing to get to hang out with them and show them Hong Kong: we visited the Peak, the parks, went on the Peak Tram, went on the mid-levels escalator, went to Ocean Park... athey also took a day to go to Disneyland. We were so pleased to be able to host them in our home. We then also took a quick 3 day trip to Bangkok, where we enjoyed Easter Mass at a Thai cathedral, visited temples, went on a longtail boat ride, went shopping and tried all kinds of food (including durian). I went to my partners retreat in Florida and enjoyed making connections with partners from all of our offices.
May 2025: Lola, Michael and I went to the US for a couple of days for Dave's (Michael's youngest brother) wedding in Cleveland. Because I was already in Chicago after my firm's retreat, we three then stayed in Chicago for one night (beautiful Park Hyatt on Michigan Avenue) and even got to take Lola to visit the Harry Potter store, where she picked up a wand and considered trying Butterbeer. In Cleveland, we got to see so many family members, Michael and Lola were in the wedding party, and we danced at City Hall until late. I ended up taking a business development trip to Des Moines, Iowa, my first time in that city and that state, and I quite enjoyed it. At the end of May, I desperately, desperately wanted to go to my 20th college reunion over Memorial Day, but the timing just was not going to work. I also realized that, without my family in tow, there was actually very little at reunions that was of interest to me, and my missing them and wanting to show them around campus was actually going to overshadow any nominal benefit I would receive from attending.
June/July 2025: Just like that, we were done with the school year! We packed our bags and flew out immediately after school was over. The kids were enrolled in a summer camp at Tasis Dorado in Puerto Rico for a week, where on the first day they made friends with a girl of similar age. After that week of camp, the kids then attended Alliance Francaise camp for three weeks. The remainder of the time was spent going to the beach, playing legos and make believe, swimming and learning how to golf.
August 2025: Upon return to Hong Kong, the kids were getting settled and ready to get back into the swing of things. My parents came back out to stay with us, and Michael and I headed to Park Hyatt Hanazono in Niseko to celebrate our tenth (10th!) wedding anniversary. The trip was lovely, with good food, beautiful hikes and drives, and plenty of opportunities to look at houses and also just enjoy the surrounding area in summer. We had only ever been to this place in winter, so it was kind of fun to see it all green in contrast.
September 2025: School starts anew! This was a nice, relaxing month where we did not really travel and just tried to settle into a comfortable pattern of things. The kids started to learn golf, the boys got more into soccer, and Lola continued to enjoy dancing.
October 2025: Routine as usual this month also, with birthday parties and after school activities and school events mostly dominating the headlines. We enjoyed our annual Halloween bash at the American Club. Lola dressed up as K -Pop demon huntress Zoey, Michael went as a Saja boy, I went as Celine, Teo went as a vampire and Al went as a Harry Potter character. We also joined our annual street trick-or-treating party, which seems to get bigger and more and more elaborate each year. At the end of the month, I flew out to the US, Michael flew out to the US a few days later. Thankfully I had my dad here to help provide some babysitting support.
November 2025: This was a very hectic month for me, with back to back travel like I have not really done in a while. In the course of four weeks I was in the US, Japan, and Europe (Lisbon, Paris and Brussels), while trying to be home for weekends. The Japan trip presented a wonderful opportunity as well, where I had three days (a Friday plus weekend) in Tokyo and I brought Teo with me. My dad was able to fly out to meet us in Tokyo and help me with Teo for the days I had meetings, then they flew back to Hong Kong together while I stayed on for more work meetings the following week. Lola previously had a special trip to Singapore with me, now Teo has had one in Tokyo, and I promised Al one next year on my next business trip opportunity. It's been such a gift to be able to take the kids with me to enjoy a different city, to allow them some one-on-one time. Interestingly, Teo found my hotel very boring (he complained that there were no toys) even though it was such a lovely suite, and I think on the first day of the trip he was a bit at a loss because it was the first time he had been without his siblings for a prolonged period. He didn't know what to do with himself! I find that traveling really wreaks havoc with my workout routine, but during the times when I am not jetting around and trying to fend off jetlag, I have sought to cultivate a long-term relationship with yoga. It has meant cultivating my yoga practice and being patient with the results and the journey, rather than forcing it or trying to will into being something that is not quite there. Surprisingly, with this attitude and mentality, I have been able to unlock a lot of poses that I had been struggling with for so long. It's been really fun. Finally, at the end of this month, I turned 42! Another year older.
December 2025: And that brings us to present day! We just bought a house in Puerto Rico, in one of the fastest signing-to-closing processes we have ever engaged in (2 weeks). The house ticks many, many boxes for us and, after nearly a year of looking, we are so grateful to have finally found something. We are now engaged in finding furniture and potentially working with an interior decorator to help us get it to exactly where we want it to be. I am probably most excited about the saltwater pool and the mango tree in the backyard, though also really excited for the huge kitchen and sunny, bright living area. Now we are frantically wrapping things up for the holidays and about to fly out to Japan for our first family ski trip. We will be at Club Med Sahoro for a week, enjoying a hopefully white Christmas, and so excited but also so nervous for how the kids will find skiing. I am hoping to brush up on my ski skills, also.