C&C's 2025 Holiday Update

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

We’re so happy you scanned the QR code so we can share our 2025 year with you!

TL;DR: 2025 was a year of reaching new physical heights (literally), hitting milestones as first-time Airbnb owners and hosts, traveling, and quality time with family and friends.

January

January was a continuation of a little initiative we called “Make Winter Great Again”—getting back into skiing (and snowshoeing) to beat the gray skies, rain, and gloom of Washington winters. It had been 15 years since Catherine last skied, and over 29 years for me! In fact, when we went to buy used gear, I asked: “Do you have parabolic skis?” and they replied, “We do, sir… but we just call them skis now!” You know, technology has changed since the mid-90s!

March

In March, we did a family road trip with Bill, Julie, and Gracie to Golden, British Columbia, to celebrate Julie’s and my birthdays. Highlights were the quality time with Bill and Julie—and skiing at our new favorite spot: Lake Louise Ski Resort in Alberta!

May

May brought us back to our favorite Hawaiian island (Kauai!). We stayed at Pali Ke Kua—our go-to spot on the North Shore. We swam and snorkeled at our private beach, and did an epic hike along the Na Pali Coast.

June

We decided that 2025 would be the year we finally summited Mt. Adams.

Mt. Adams is Washington State’s second-highest mountain/volcano at 12,276 ft (3,742 m). To our hardcore mountaineering friends, Mt. Adams is basically a day hike. For us… not so much. We’d attempted it twice before: once in 2021 as a car-to-car (meaning one day), which we failed miserably, and again in 2023 as an overnight (we failed again—this time because Gracie was too exhausted for the summit push the next day).

This year, we left Gracie with the grandparents and made our third attempt—and we finally made it! Third time’s the charm. 🙌  If you want to take a look at our 1-minute highlight reel of our trip, you can watch it here!

July

July had us mostly spending time at the beach house on Camano doing outdoor training and paddleboarding. We saw tons of seals and eagles, took plenty of beach walks, grilled lots of meat, and made our famous gluten-free strawberry shortcake for the 4th.

Late August & September

While late August and September are usually our biggest hiking months, we did slightly fewer hikes this year. Gracie’s officially an old lady now, and our Mt. Baker cabin was booked solid. That said, we still did a new-to-us local trail, Mt. Pilchuck, and hiked to the very cool old fire lookout tower (built in 1943)!

In September, we decided another road trip was in order and drove to Banff National Park in Canada for the first time. The drive through Banff was spectacular. That said… Jasper National Park is still our top pick for the best hiking and wildlife spotting.

In Banff, we hiked some beautiful and challenging trails, as well as some easier routes so Gracie could join us. She celebrated her 11th birthday this year, and her legs just aren’t as strong as they used to be. She would follow us to the ends of the earth if we let her—but we can’t ask that of our old girl anymore.

I also decided to see how big I could grow zucchinis this summer. This was basically a 48-year-old’s degenerate science experiment. They got really huge—so huge that we had no idea what to do with them. Julie worked her magic and turned one of them into some insane, epic chocolate chip zucchini bread.

October

In October, Catherine and Julie went on what’s now going to be an annual mother-daughter “get out into nature” road trip! This year they headed to North Cascades National Park for quality time in nature together.

We also joined the 4th Annual Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer—our fourth year walking—alongside friends and in honor of our dear friend Natalie. We raised a lot of funds for the cause. Natalie passed away in November, and we miss her deeply, but her strength, humor, and grit live on in everyone who loved her. We were proud to walk for her.

November

November was another big travel month. We flew to Toronto to visit my cousins and friends, then drove to Renfrew, the town in Ontario where I grew up. We celebrated my brother Adam’s 28th birthday, and had a great time hanging out with Johnny, my parents, cousin Nam, and Aunt Thu. Catherine also met some of my old high school friends—lots of good laughs!

November was also a major milestone month for our Airbnb cabin business! After exactly one year of owning and hosting our first Airbnb, we received our 100th 5-star review in a row. This is a huge testament to Catherine’s “unreasonable hospitality” mantra—and my ability to keep my mouth shut when dealing with challenging guests. 😂

But seriously, it’s been a banner year for the cabin: a Top 1% listing on Airbnb and 100 consecutive 5-star reviews. All signs point to starting our next luxury Airbnb… but we’ll see what 2026 brings.

December

December will be another milestone moment for us. I’m scheduled to take the oath soon and officially become American citizen! I’m really looking forward to becoming a proud American.

That’s all the updates we have for now. Thanks for reading this far! We wish you the happiest of holidays this season, and a new year full of good health, love, and adventures.

Sending love and hugs! Keep in touch! 🫶

Chau & Catherine