Hi Everyone! Sorry, we are late this year. It feels like we’re behind on everything. This has been a year of excitement and a year of heartbreaks as Caleb transitioned into college and mom has been struggling with her health.
Let’s first start with Caleb. This year, he made it to the High School State Tennis Tournament with his good friend Alex. It was a great way to end his high school Tennis career.
He graduated in May. Grandpa flew up from Utah. Most of the Winter was spent writing and re-writing college application essays. Most of Spring was spent waiting for colleges to answer.
He organized a trip up to Lake Constance on the peninsula with Kenta and Alex. The Washington Trail Association has the following description. “The Lake Constance route is not a casual hike to a lake. It’s a Class 2 and sometimes Class 3 scramble that requires continuous attention and careful hand work in areas where a mistake could prove fatal.”
He decided to attend University of Michigan. Mainly because it is where one of his personal heroes attended. Darth Vader. Darth Vader even made a promotional video for Michigan. He is thriving there. He joined a technology fraternity (KTP) and a consulting club (Apex). He is learning how to manage his time and find his limits on time commitment.
Tenille and Don got a chance to visit and watch a Michigan football game (with 100,000 other fans). They take their football VERY seriously. I thought you needed a truck to have a tailgate party… but apparently any party before the game is called a tailgate. If you are a true fan, you wear ALL your gear from shoes and socks to hat and gloves. I suspect most people had Michigan underwear on, but I was afraid to ask (because I’m pretty sure they’d show us.)
Andrew is now a sophomore and has started driving. We’re sorry if you live nearby and your insurance premiums increase. He still enjoys playing piano (although still can’t read music, yet.) He will make video games from time to time. Much of his time is spent on his phone texting, instagram’ing, BeReal’ing. Thankfully, he is also out and about with friends having real social interactions, too. Apparently, the home schooling didn’t do that much damage.
Tennis has become one of Andrew’s passions as well. He made it to the league tournament this year and got 5th place. His goal is to make it to state next year as a Junior.
Here is Andrew at the Thomas Jefferson tournament with his partner Thoma where they got 2nd place.They were recognized as the League’s Doubles Team of the Year. t the Tennis banquet he was voted as most inspirational player and best sportsmanship.
Tenille has become quite serious about Pickleball and goes to community centers to play in the mornings. Sometimes the advanced hour players can get a bit snooty and Tenille feels she has to prove that she deserves to be there. Apparently, not all pickleball players are playing for fun. She played in her first tournament with Andrew and got 3rd place.
She recently received a promotion at People’s Bank and is now the Director over all Projects. She is working full time and loving her job. Here we are at their Mariner’s night!
In August, she went to Alaska to visit with Bonnie. When we asked Bonnie what the coolest thing she’s ever seen in Alaska, she said it was watching Kodiak Bears feeding at the river. So they went to Homer and they had scheduled a flight in a tiny plane to go see these Kodiak Bears. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating, and the flight was canceled. They still had fun hanging out together with Bonnie’s new puppy, Poppy.
Speaking of dogs, we got one this year. It was a used dog because new dogs are expensive. And to be more precise, Tenille got a dog. Don got a step-dog. The kids acknowledge that the dog exists, but the relationship to the dog is pretty vague. His name is Mochi. He came with an eye condition which required a not cheap surgery. The previous owner told us he is pretty much 95% potty-trained. We found out that he was 0% potty-trained. It didn’t take long before our family room smelled strongly of dog urine.
There was a 3-4 month period where we were in deep self-reflection as to whether or not we’re really dog people. To be more precise, Don knew he did not want to take care of a dog. Tenille was struggling with her dog-owner identity. Whether the dog goes or stays, one thing for certain is that we had to replace all the downstairs carpet to something that does not absorb dog urine. Thousands of dollars later, Mochi is still with us – and he’s the most expensive cheap dog we’ve ever purchased. Money issues aside, Tenille loves Mochi…. Doesn’t love to walk him… But loves him.
As for Don, he finally fulfilled a long-time dream of playing in a band. He got to play accordion with “Off Their Rockers” for a parody cover of a song about our favorite bands getting old.
Don also took a roadtrip with his good buddy and workout partner, Brock. Brock was moving to Tennessee (sad). So, they drove thousands of miles across the country hitting BBQ joints and other food havens – and finally parted ways in New Orleans, Louisiana. One of the highlights was hitting Bucc-ees in Texas.
Don also took a trip up to Alaska with Michael. We also met up with Bonnie. We passed on her recommendation to go watch feeding Kodiak’s because Michael doesn’t like to ride in small planes. Leading up to the trip, I would receive weekly news clippings of small plane crashes. Once we landed in Alaska, Michael was also insistent that we need protection from bears. He proposed firearms as soon as we got out of the airport. I was able to talk him down to bear spray. Here he is walking through a paved hiking trail through a residential neighborhood in Anchorage – armed with Bear Spray. I was much more concerned that I would be a victim of an inadvertent discharge of a weapon than a bear attack… but neither happened, so I suppose we were both paranoid for no reason.
This is a picture we got while fishing on the Kenai. I’m not trying to make a point about bear attack paranoia, but I will point out that there’s an Alaskan man fishing 20 feet from a bear, and it doesn’t seem like he is too concerned.
As a family, we took several trips together. Caleb’s senior trip was to Puerto Vallarta. His good friend and tennis partner, Alex, joined us for the trip. Here they are entertaining themselves on public rocking horses at the beach.
We also hiked a part of the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier. It is one of the two most beautiful trails in Washington State. (The other being the Enchantments.) We did the Mowich Loop.
Guess what we forgot. Tent-poles. Well, Tenille got to sleep in the tent that had tent-poles. Don and the boys had to take turns improvising the other tent. Luckily, we did not forget how to make lashings and a tripod. Hooray for boy scouts.
It truly was beautiful. But by day 3, Tenille was hurting. Her knees were protesting and her pack was distributed mostly to Caleb and Andrew. On the final day, the kids ran ahead while Don and Tenille hobbled out of the trail.
We also made it to Palm Springs to the watch the Indian Wells tennis tournament. Andrew declared this one of his favorite trips. He loves watching Tennis on Youtube and was excited to see all of his favorite tennis stars in person. We even got to watch his favorite tennis player, Alcaraz.
As usual, we made it to our annual Lake Powell trip with Tenille’s family. This was a bit of a special trip because grandpa and grandma were going on a mission to Australia, so we will be on our own next year. There was a passing of the torch (and responsibilities) to Tenille’s brothers.
Tenille’s oldest brother, Mark, and his family visited us in December for Justin’s Premier Soccer Team game. We made it out to the Christmas Nativity event. Great pic, except for the folding metal chair.
Finally, we went on a Christmas Cruise with Don’s sister and her daughter, Helena. Helena was born during the pandemic and this is the first family vacation we have taken together. It was fun for Andrew and Caleb to play with and get to know their cousin, Helena. Here is Andrew with his giant cup of virgin Margarita.
Caleb, Andrew, and Tenille hiked the Dunn River falls in Jamaica. They also went to stingray city and swam with the stingrays. Apparently, they haven’t heard about how the crocodile hunter met his end.
This year has been a difficult one for mom. Her brain tumor has been growing which has made it difficult to move her right side (and consequently walk). It’s meant a lot of adjustments for the family. Though she has always been a capable and independent lady, she has become dependent on others to help her with even the most basic tasks of self-care. But, it has been an opportunity to give love to mom not only in words, but in deed. How often, do we have a chance to truly show our parents how much we love them. We’re grateful for these struggles and hope to learn the lessons God has in store for us as well as use it as an opportunity to love each other in a more meaningful way.
We wish you, our friends and family, a joyful new year filled with peace and success. We wish you good health. We pray His choicest blessings upon you. We hope we will be able to connect with you this upcoming year and share a part of our lives together.
With love, the Hyun Family – Don, Tenille, Caleb, Andrew, (and Mochi)
Hyun Family 