We will be moving back to California during January – our house is ready, and it will be nice to be back in the place we made our own through extensive re-modelling in 2002. We will of course be leaving behind our friends and my family, but with low-cost air travel, e-mail, and cheap phone calls, we hope to stay in touch.

Our possessions are ahead of us – probably somewhere close to the Panama Canal by now. They are expected in Oakland on December 24th, and if customs clearance proceeds as expected, we should be able to start unpacking quite quickly – perhaps even in the first or second week of January.
Lots more to say – but the most important point is simple:

Thank you all for your support and friendship over the last year, and let us wish you every blessing for Christmas and the New Year!

Tim, Marina, Caelean and Jeremy

Gong Xi Fa Cai,

2005 was our second full year in the UK. It’s been busy with school, work, and a lot of travel. It’s also been quite traumatic with family illness, and all of us getting a bit older. Wiser, I cannot say. Our 2004 letter is not online, so this will touch on some of our activities over that time too.

The highlights have been the time we’ve been able to spend with our family, and the travel – Paris, Budapest, Venice, Prague, Turkey (Istanbul and the south coast), Cornwall, the North East and the Lake District (pictured), and most recently a trip to Norway and Sweden. Of course we have also been back to the US as well. Rather than include a lot of pictures of our travels here, you can find them on the website (they will be re-published here when I get a chance). It’s one of the great joys of being in Europe that so much culture is so close.

Tim’s business travel has added a number of other locations – Malta, Munich, Stockholm, Helsinki and Antwerp to name a few. Travelling one is always aware of the diversity of culture and opinion, the different priorities and the many ways in which culture and belief are reflected in daily life, in architecture and design, and of course in the basics like food and clothing.

In April, we met The Coughlins in Istanbul and spent a couple of days there before heading down to the Aegean Sea to spend time on a traditional Turkish gulet for 7 days. We had two boats with four families on each, so we had the chance to meet some very interesting and nice Turkish people from both Turkey and the States. Some of them had spent all or part of their careers in the Navy or shipping, so Tim had plenty to talk about. Our days consisted of swimming, motoring from cove to cove, or docking at a town where shopping and cultural opportunities awaited us. The boys became much better swimmers, and we all loved the food (and drink!).

Marina tagged along on one of Tim’s business trip to Prague for a couple of days while the boys stayed with Tim’s parents and in April, the boys and Marina headed back to CA. Marina went to the US Open with her family in early September, a long overdue birthday present for her Dad. We saw some good tennis and Marina couldn’t believe that her Dad still wants more tennis after a full day out on the courts!! Then just after Christmas, the boys and Marina tagged along with Tim on his business trip to CA. We spent about 6 days in Los Angeles with Marina’s family and then another 6 days up in the Bay Area with friends.

In August, Marina’s cousins Melody and Lucia and their families visited from Hong Kong. Their kids went off to a boarding school in the Cotswolds for some intensive English language experience, while the adults lived it up. The first week in was spent in Rotherwick. The cousins’ husbands arrived on Jermy’s birthday. We took them to York, Grimsby, Whitby and the Lake District. We had a great time, and enjoyed both meeting Marina’s family and the opportunity to show them around.

Jeremy moved up from the infant school to the junior school. Most of the children in the infant school just naturally go on to the junior school, but staff of the infant school made it a big deal so in some sense, it was a big change. In the UK school system, most schools combine the infant and junior school but for some reason, it isn’t the case for our local school district. In this situation, Caelean was behaving like the big brother, describing to Jeremy the ins and outs of the junior school since this is the school that Caelaen started out in when we first moved here. It’s taken a little bit of time for Jeremy to settle into Year 3 (2nd grade) but I think he has a good circle of friends now and is quite happy. Jeremy has always loved books but he has discovered the joy of reading to himself and is now almost all the way through the Harry Potter books. He also started piano lessons in September. He is enjoying this too, singing along as he plays, and is making great progress. The two boys both performed in a concert put on by their teacher – both did well and seem to be unaffected by nerves.

Caelean is happily settled into his school life and is in Year 5 (4th grade). He still loves to read and we are amazed that he still remembers all the intricate details of all the Harry Potter books. This year, Caelean has ventured into two new interests: PlayStation 2 and sailing. Jeremy and he pooled their financial resources during the year and purchased a PlayStation 2 console shortly after Caelean’s 10th birthday. They have been saving up for the PS2 for almost 2 years and Caelean found himself overwhelmed and exhausted after the purchase experience. This opens up a whole new world for not just the boys, but also for Tim and Marina.

Just before school started in September, Caelean received a certificate for taking the Stage I sailing class and then another certificate for the Stage II sailing class over the October school break. We would like to sign Caelean up for the Stage III class and Jeremy for the Stage I class (since he has expressed interest) in April over the Easter break. When Caelean reaches Stage III, he will be able to take a sailboat out on his own which he is very much looking forward to. It was nice to see him show helpfulness and kindness in this class towards his classmates and we think it will help with boosting self confidence and self esteem. It was also an opportunity for Caelean to show some leadership skills now that he’s a full ten years old. It makes us realize that in another ten years, our children will most likely be seeking lives of their own and we will be entering into another stage of life ourselves.

Marina is still doing her telephone contact job but the calls have really been tapering off as email is becoming a more popular tool. She has also signed up for a counselling course and she is really enjoying it. Marina is still running and has also taken up Pilates with an ex-London ballet dancer as the teacher. She’s hoping to do the Paris marathon with Liz and Dick in 2006, but is currently nursing a minor injury. We’re hoping to take the opportunity to visit Brittany and possibly Normandy at the same time if we can fit it in…

Tim has been travelling a lot, especially the last 4 months of 2005. He was gone every week with a monthly trip to CA. With the waiting time in airports and some flight times on planes (when he is not actually sleeping), he has found the time and rediscovered the pleasure in writing. Jeremy and he developed the plot of a children’s book together which is now finished and he has also gone on to write articles, plays, and other stories. We have not had much sailing experience with our boat, Yamkat. 2005 was full of maintenance work and with Caelean’s interest in dinghy sailing, we decided to put her on the market which was a really sad event. The cost of a large boat really requires the whole family to be committed to sailing, and that’s been difficult for us. In addition, the sailing conditions here are pretty challenging with big tides and changeable weather. We’re not quite sure what 2006 will bring, but if previous years are anything to go by, we expect excitement and a lot of wonderful experiences. We wish you the same.

Tim, Marina, Caelean and Jeremy.

Dear family and friends,

It is the end of 2003 and our family is embarking on a new adventure for 2004. During the summer, an opportunity to work for Cadence in Europe presented itself for Tim and it became a reality in early November. Tim will be working from Cadence’s Bracknell office starting on January 5th, 2004 and will be VP Of Marketing for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. We will be living in a small town called Odiham in the county of Hampshire. Caelean will be attending Mayhill Junior School as a Year 3 student and Jeremy will be attending Burysfield Infant School as a Year 1 student.

The plan is for our family to live there for the next two years and then we will decide whether to stay longer (or permanently) or move back to the States. We are renting our house out in CA and will be renting a furnished house in the U.K. Our new address there is: Pembria, Wedmans Lane, Rotherwick, Hampshire, RG27 9BN, UK. The best way to keep in touch will be through email because we may be moving into an unfurnished house after 8 months. Marina’s email address is here and Tim’s email address is here.Tim’s year has been one of travel. Trips to Canada (Ottawa Toronto, Montreal), Japan, Germany, India (Delhi) and the UK, as well as a lot of domestic travel: New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, and Seattle. The new job will probably require a lot of travel within Europe, as Cadence operates throughout the region. The big advantage of traveling in Europe is that there are not a lot of time zone changes to deal with, so jet lag is less of a problem.

One reason for the travel is a new responsibility – talking to analysts and investors about Cadence. Investor marketing is one of the costs of being a public company, but it’s also a very interesting task, because institutional investors have a lot of money to spend, and very little time to really learn about their investment targets. We help explain Cadence’s strategy, and they decide whether or not to invest.

Tim

Tim built a 9’6″ sailboat this year. He finished it in about two months, working nights and weekends, and constructing it from scratch in plywood and fiberglass. We launched it at Shoreline about a month ago with the Bourne’s and were pleased to find it is well mannered and quite fast. Caelean and his friend, Stephen, each kayaked all the way around the lake while Tim sailed. Woodworking is a relaxing and rewarding pastime, so we expect a steady stream of useful objects to appear from the workshop throughout the coming years!

Marina…

The year seems to have gone by like a whirlwind for Marina. Besides turning 40, the biggest event this year for her was doing the Lake Tahoe ultra marathon. This was a 3-day triple marathon around Lake Tahoe – three marathons in three days. Her accomplices were 3 other crazy girlfriends. At first, it was a 50th birthday celebration for Liz, but it quickly turned into one of Marina’s most memorable life experience. It taught her how powerful our mind can be and that our potential is really limitless. After this amazing weekend, going back to being a Mom took some getting used to: working in the boys’ classroom, walking, running, monthly book club meetings, household administration, and setting aside time to practice yoga. What has been new this year is building our community – getting to know more parents in our boys’ school and strengthening ties with our boys’ former preschool, the Mountain School. This has been very rewarding and THE hardest thing for Marina to leave. It will take time to build a community in Odiham, but the hope is that it will happen.

The boys…

Caelean is eight and has matured by leaps and bounds this year. He’s really come into his own. Over the summer, he became a ferocious reader. A couple of weekends ago, he sat down for 4 hours straight and finished one of Enid Blyton’s books which he received for his birthday. He’s also very interested in the Lego model kits and will work steadily through until it’s complete. He’s fallen in love with soccer this year and had a fabulous year on the soccer team. He is playing with a lot more confidence and we’ve enjoyed going to his games and cheering the team on. His favorite time of the day seems to be the early morning – he is almost always the first to wake up, then he climbs up onto the top of his wardrobe (he calls it his “lift”), and reads books and Lego catalogs.

Jeremy is five and started Kindergarten this fall. He is enjoying it very much and has fitted into the routine of his classroom and has become friends with a number of the kids in his class. Most of his friends will miss his ability to make them laugh and his stories. Jeremy loves to talk and he also seems to know a lot, so he’ll spend a lot of time explaining what he knows to you. He is practicing Tae Kwon Do and has reached “yellow-stripe” belt level, which has required him to pass two tests. He enjoys reading and current favorites are Judy Blume’s “Fudge” books. It’s hard to believe that he was in Teacher Marie’s 4, 5 class, at the Mountain School, just the beginning of this year.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and a Happy Chinese New Year!! Gung Hay Fat Choy (Wishing you prosperity) as the Chinese would say. It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since our house remodel has been completed. We’re continually doing things to turn our house into a home. There seems to be an endless list of things to do, but we’re making progress. In the next year, we will be focusing more on the outside rather than the inside. We’ll extend the lawn and build a play area and perhaps put up a swing or two.

Tim started the year at Simplex Solutions, which was then acquired by Cadence. This is the company we both joined in ’89 and this is where we met. Tim has a very different role now. He’s VP of Corporate Strategy, and doing a lot of other things to do with investor relations and customers. He is enjoying the work and learning a lot from being part of a strong team. It’s challenging because the company and the industry are changing fast. This year he will travel a bit more than last year – so far trips to Tokyo, New York, Toronto, Ottawa and Boston, with the UK, Munich, and possibly India to come.

Marina ran her third marathon in April at Big Sur and did her best time ever. She’s currently in a strength training circuit for improving strength and running performance. She’s taking more pleasure in organizing and cleaning house, which is something she absolutely cannot understand. If she’s not in the gym or on the road, you can either find her in Caelean’s or Jeremy’s classroom, or organizing a school or personal project. We thought we’d get the boys involved in our newsletter this year and this is what they have to share.

From Caelean’s Journal written in December:

“My last (soccer) game the skor was? 2 to 0! The last game was the funist gam of the yeer. They wer the hardist players. My Christmas tree is smoll and green, sit’s in a pot. My tree is in my haws. There are presens around the tree. I like to play soccer. And I like to geting precens. And I like to get jrest up. For Hall(oween).”

From Jeremy:

“I did not play soccer last year. I went to Mountain School and I was only three.” (He turned 4 in August). “That’s all!” Lots of love from our family to yours.