On December 30th at 12:33am, Grace and I welcomed the arrival of our first child, Olivia Elise Rhee. Grace was an absolute superstar, and spent much of the 29th in labor. Despite all of her efforts (including 3 hours of pushing), Olivia decided she wanted the easy way out (c-section). Both mom and baby are doing very well. She is beautiful. Here are pictures of her first day.

The entire Park clan came to our place for Christmas. Even though Grace was ready to drop anchor at any time, she cooked a wonderful meal, with the help of Addy, David, and her mom. In addition to Charles and the kids, Charles’ parents and his brother Arnold’s family also joined us. All of the kids seemed to enjoy their gifts - hopefully the adults are equally excited. It was great family time and we were able to enjoy a lot of time and wonderful meals together. Lots of pictures here.

The weekend of December 9th, we celebrated Jen’s 40th birthday in Las Vegas. Grace sadly wasn’t able to fly. We also had a “caring for your newborn” class to attend on Saturday, so I made it a very quick trip. I stayed with Francis at the Wynn. It was very nice of Sherri and Kim (childhood friends), Stacey (NY friend), cousin Millie, Ray, Prem and Linda (gambling buddies) to also make the trip. Linda brought her new son, Oliver, along with her nanny and nanny’s mother. That’s quite an entourage. I think 24 hours might be the optimal length of trip to Vegas. A lot more damage can be done in 3 days.

Greg Thorne was in town for a quick business trip, so we used the occasion to have an impromptu Man’s Meal. Although the group was small, everything else was typical - Harris’ Board Room. However, I had a very unpleasant experience a few bites into my filet. I can’t quite describe it, but I was smart to not swallow it. The explanation from the chef was that the meat was “over-aged.” I was imagining it to be gangrenous. In any case, it almost ruined steak for me. I may even have to propose a change of venue next time. This serves me right for not just getting the typical prime rib.

On November 24th, we invited the Kellogg gang over for a holiday potluck. It was great to get everyone together, especially the newlyweds, Rhonda and Ky. We had a big game of no limit hold ‘em until late into the evening. Jon got the best of everyone. Erich claimed to not know what he was doing, but came in second place - “so a flush beats a straight?” - sure. Good times.

Grace was grounded due to the baby, so the Rhee family was kind enough to visit us in Burlingame for the holidays. This was the first time we ever hosted a holiday dinner. Grace, Mom and Jen cooked up a storm! Ann, Jeremy and Murphy also joined us for dinner. We all have much for which to be thankful. Photos.

On November 20th, we had the whole Michigan gang over for the big Michigan vs. OSU game. All of the hype leading up to the game proved to be warranted. And, the passing of our beloved Bo turned the drama up to 11. In the end, we came up short. However, it was a classic game, which we could have (and should have) won. Go Blue! Pictures here.

Lisa and Brian had everyone over at their place to welcome all of our new employees. We’re growing fast! As always, Katie, Lucy and Jack were the life of the party. Pictures here.

The weekend of November 9th-11th, the boys made a special trip down to Cabo San Lucas for Matt’s bachelor party. The 12-bedroom house with infiniti pool (”Casa W”) in Pedregal was spectacular. Lamar did most of the cooking. Matt had friends from home and b-school there as well. Coincidentally, one of them and I went to elementary and high school together - I hadn’t seen him in about 18 years. Time was spent at El Squid Roe and Cabo Wabo. Good, clean fun. Everyone made it back across the border in one piece. I think we may be getting a little old for this… Great times.

After spending 5 wonderful days in Oahu, we went over to Kona for the rest of the week to meet up with my parents. We sent them to enjoy Maui while we were in Oahu. Thanks to all of Grace’s travel, she was able to set them up in a beautiful corner suite at the Westin at Ka’anapali Beach. I think they may have been a little too spoiled because by the time they got to Hualalai, they seemed to be missing their spacious digs. In any case, we had a really wonderful time together there. We all golfed together one day (mom drove the cart and took pictures). Eemoh’s kids wanted to do something special for mom and dad’s 40th anniversary this year, so they treated them to a helicopter ride across the island to see the lava flows. Grace and I golfed together again that day.

We enjoyed Hualalai on our honeymoon. Since then, I wanted all of our parents to be able to enjoy it, too, so we were very glad to have mom and dad enjoy it with us. Hopefully, next time, mom and dad Park will join us, too. This was our last hurrah before the baby. It was a wonderful trip beginning to end. Check out the pictures.