Susan’s son Zach is in love with Chinese dumplings, especially XIAO LONG BAO. They are small steamed dumplings with soup inside. It is hard to find a good restaurant for these special dumplings but WE FOUND ONE! Let me highly recommend “Love’s Dumpling House”, located off I-10 just between Wirt and Bingle Rd. This is actually their second location, with their first being in Katy on Mason Rd. Zach and I went to the new location on I-10 and they were still doing their soft opening. Lucky us, we also met the owner, Mrs. Liang! She is a super sweet lady who started her first location in 2024. Zach and I ordered the shrimp and pork wontons in spicy soup, a combination fried rice, the pork xiao long bao, and some mini pan fried pork and shrimp dumplings. All were A+++ excellent! We loved it and I think you will love it too!
Happy New Year! This is the first newsletter of 2026 and I hope you spend some time to make some goals, find joy, and really enjoy your life. One of my top priorities will be to savor precious time with my family members, especially my sons, two of which are in college and are basically grown up men now! Since the last newsletter, our family wrapped up our family vacation with a stop in Buffalo Gap, TX for an amazing steak dinner at Perini Ranch Steakhouse. We made it back just in time for 2025 to end, with a visit to Fidelity Investments to open up Roth IRA retirement accounts for Joe and Ty. With the new tax laws, people can now move up to $7000/year (max $35,000 over 5 years) of unused 529 money into the beneficiary’s Roth IRA, as long as the beneficiary has at least $7000 in income that year. Since both boys met that requirement, this was a good choice for unused 529 money. Inspired by our friends, The Galvans, we have also been doing a lot of COOKING! Yes, you laugh because normally I am not a good cook, but with the boys home for winter break, we baked a turkey, grilled peppers with Oaxaca cheese, even made some homemade chicken salad. For new years, Ty and his friend Zayan made a beautiful charcuterie tray that we ate while watching the fireworks in Kemah. Joe stayed with us for almost 6 weeks for his super long winter break, helping Koh change out the Tundra break pads, replace the family microwave (result still unknown), and enjoyed playing multiple rounds of golf at Bay Oaks. Ty returned back to Maryland to finish up semester 2 of the Naval Academy last week. And, with Zach also starting back up at school, Koh and Susan are back to juggling work, carpool, and all of Zach’s extracurricular activities!
All members of the Annouras have been busy the past two weeks! Susan was installed as a Vice Chair (executive director) of the Houston Association of Realtors on December 18. This is the third top position of the nearly 50,000 realtor members in Houston. Joe returned to Houston after finishing his fall semester at UT. He has just one more semester remaining before he graduates from the University of Texas. Ty returned home from Annapolis for his winter vacation and Zachary wrapped up his fall semester as well. The whole family hit the road to Pagosa Springs, Colorado on December 20th, which is one of the Annoura family traditions! We own a small townhouse in Pagosa Springs that we normally Air BnB during the year. It’s so fun to go there, visit all of our favorite stores and shops, cook together in our kitchen, and ski/snowboard at the nearby Wolf Creek. I HIGHLY recommend this place if you want to bring your family skiing. It takes about two days to drive from Houston, and we normally stop in Amarillo. If you want to try, please email me and let me know so I can give you all the good recommendations. There are hot springs in Pagosa Springs, too! I would be glad to offer a discount to stay at our townhouse! Here is a link to it: https://www.itrip.net/pagosa-springs-vacation-rental/191-talisman-dr-d202-hot-springs-hideaway
In Annoura Family news, our members did a lot of coming and going to Japan! Zach came back from Japan on the 9th, Susan went to Japan on the 12th, Koh came home from Japan on the 19th then Susan came home from Japan on the 23rd! Next, Joe will go to Japan on August 13. Each person has their own schedule so became like that. Koh participated in the annual Yamakasa Festival in Hakata, wearing the traditional costume and running through the streets with his Nishi Nagare. Susan spent most of her time furnishing the new house and progressed much better than last time, buying a third bed, sofa, tv stand, a big dining table, and all the curtains. A big thanks to Shoichi Arizono for taking me to Ikea and NITORI so many times! Susan and Koh took the shinkansen to Hiroshima for a fun dinner party, meeting some of Koh’s old friends from Chuo Daigaku. Susan also went to Hakodate to meet a client and to check possible investment properties over three days. To wrap up her trip, Susan went to Tokyo to meet more clients who will be coming to Houston to look for property in August. Watching the Katsushika Fireworks show and the Hakodate Fireworks show was highlights for the trip, as well as seeing many friends, Koh’s parents, and meeting our new property manager for our property in Fukuoka. As for the boys, Joe is still in Dallas for his summer internship, Zach went on a one week boy scout camp in Colorado, and Ty went on a one week road trip with his best friends, then flew back to Annapolis, MD to complete the rest of his duties with the Navy.
In Annoura family news…Susan’s mom celebrated her birthday on May 27. She turned an astounding 81 years old! Zach finished up 7th grade and left for his first church camp, Camp Eagle. He’ll be home for a week after that, then head to Japan for one month. When he gets back, he’ll head to Colorado for a week for a Boy Scout camp. He’s got an action packed summer until school starts! As for Ty, he is officially done with his first year at the Naval Academy and last week he started on his first summer assignment, East Coast Protramid. He will get to experience all kinds of training (we don’t know exactly what, honestly) and will get to come home to Houston on June 19 for about one month. Joe has been off from the University of Texas for the most of the month of May. He headed off to Dallas yesterday to start his 10 week summer internship. He will be working for a finance based company that specializes in valuating health care companies for M&A’s. Wow, Joe, good luck! As for Susan and Koh, they left for Washington DC this past Saturday to attend the NAR Realtor Legislative Meetings. June 11 will be their 31st anniversary and they have a trip to Maine planned!