Chicago: Susan's Graduation and Family Trip

This weekend, my older sister, Susan just graduated, Summa Cum Laude, from optometry school at ICO, so the whole family and a few of her friends flew over for her commencement. We did lots of touristy things like going up the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), walk the Mag Mile, visit Wrigley Field, and walk around Navy Pier. I love Chicago!

We stayed at a condo near Millennium Park, so we took pictures at the Bean before going to her commencement.
 
Family Pic!
 
I wonder what it'd feel like standing in a glass box 103 stories above ground...
 
We definitely ate our way through Chicago: Molly's cupcakes, Garrett's popcorn, and some awesome Giordano's Stuffed Crust Pizza.
 

Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou

After Chengdu, we spent a day at Huanglong and a day at Jiuzhaigou. Seems like this year will involve lots of revisiting places!

The last time I was here, it was snowing and cold, but since it was fall, the trees were shades of red/orange. This time, Huanglong was warmer and had beautiful blue skies.
 
Jiuzhaigou - always breathtaking!
 
 
 
We had a Tibetan banquet (with lots of BBQ yak that I didn't eat). During the course of the dinner, I ate, drank, and got married to this girl!
 

Chengdu!

For our annual company trip in mid May, we spent a few days in Sichuan, with our first stop in Chengdu.

I got to see the Pandas at the Chengdu Panda research center again. I could watch them all day!
 
 
We went to see a Sichuan Opera, which involved some sword throwing, with yours truly!
 
The coolest part of the show was the Sichuan Face Changing performance (Wikipedia Link). Performers changed faces in less than a second. One walked up to one of my coworkers for a handshake and POOF, new face!