To Our Friends and Family,
The year started off in glorious fashion with a trip to Reno for New Years Eve. We drank, gambled, and “play snow” with our close friends and family. We also went to an all you can eat lobster buffet in Boomtown. Needless to say Peng won the lobster eating contest by consuming eight and a half lobsters. The half came from Carrie because she only had half of a lobster. Also needless to say Peng’s sisters consumed seven and six lobsters respectively. We all had to roll ourselves out of there.
As most of you know, Carrie is pregnant. Isabella is due the day after Christmas, so she may already be out and about by the time you get this newsletter. Her full name is Isabella Daravathi Lim. Peng’s parents gave her the middle name. Isabella shares half of her middle name, Vathi, with her two female cousins that were born this year (Amaravathi and Samavathi). All three names are Cambodian names derived from ancient Indian names.
We had plans to visit Cambodia with Peng’s family this summer. However, with Carrie being pregnant we decided to go to Hawaii instead. We spent three weeks in Hawaii. We spent all of our time in Oahu and Kona. We rented a car and went everywhere in Oahu. We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial and toured the Missouri Battleship. Our funniest moment was when our tour guide repeated the history of the pineapple and sugarcane fields about a thousand times. We also enjoyed the snow cones on the North Shore. We liked Kona better because it was more of a sleepy beach town… and they have the best ice cream shop (Kona’s Badass Coffee). Kona also has butter avocados the size of Peng’s stomach. We visited the volcano in Hawaii.. it was very stinky. The trip home was full of anticipation because we had an appointment to find out Isabella’s gender…. and it’s a GIRL… at least that’s what they said.
Carrie has had an eventful year and it’s not over yet. She spent the first three months of her pregnancy throwing up (even in Hawaii). Her second trimester was better but even then she was ready for Bella to come out. She is now in the third trimester and she is feeling very uncomfortable. Carrie has visited the ER four times this year (did she beat her dad?). The first was for a busted lip (it wasn’t me). The second was for cluster migraines. The third was for headaches related to the pregnancy and the fourth was for breathing troubles. Bella is not out yet and she is already making our lives hectic.
Carrie got accepted to USF for her masters program. She is very excited. She will start the program in the fall of 2008. Carrie’s last day of work was the day before Thanksgiving. She was very thankful indeed. Carrie is now a retired teacher much to Peng’s apprehension.
Peng has also had an eventful year. He has been and still is very busy prepping the house for the new arrival. However the most eventful thing was his lay off in October. Peng was freaking out. But as always, Peng found a job very quickly and is now working at Brocade. Brocade is much closer to home so Peng can spend more time with his family.
Simon and Lucy (our dogs) are all grownup now, but they are still very cute. Lucy is enjoying Carrie’s enhanced belly, finding it a comfy place to sit and sleep. With Carrie being home, Simon spends less time in the kennel which leads to big smiles on his face. They are both in for a big change as our attention will be shared between three instead of two.
May you holiday season be filled with love and joy,
The Lim Family