This June was surely filled with travels – my style of birthday month! Mom says because I was born in the year of the Horse, it’s my destiny to be on the road. This I believe. She also says that my fate indicates the further I’m away from my family, the better I will succeed. This I don’t really believe. Anyway, look where everyone has been this month:

Nashville, TN, USA. Jon & I attended the annual Slate Summit where we got to meet our colleagues, partners and friends. Too bad we couldn’t spend more time to soak in the music vibe at the Music City, but we’d been away from home and the kiddos too long we just kept counting until the day we flew back.

Nha Trang. Ong and Ba took the kids to Nha Trang to visit one of our relatives and to enjoy the beach for a week. We actually got back to Hanoi a couple of days before they did. Kids seem to love water and swimming.

Ninh Binh. Nick and Jana and the kids visited from Bangkok. They had a boat tour in Trang An with Jon and Nem. Had a blast as it was Nem’s first time on the row boat.

Phu Tho. We had the first annual birthday trip of 8 members: Mom, Dad, 4 of us, Minh & Nhung. We went to a hot spring resort (ehhh.. when it was 38 degree celcius outside😂) about 3-hour drive from Hanoi. It’s nested in ponds and ponds of lotus in peak bloom (11 varieties in total!). Couldn’t ask for a better birthday celebration!

Lastly, Thanh Tri. This is a fun one as Haruki joined his friends on a school field trip to the Museum of Forest Resources of Vietnam. He had soooo much fun, and surprisingly didn’t ask the teacher to hold him and walked on his own the whole time. So proud of you Nem!