More Halong Bay

Inside a dragon fruit.

This is a dragon fruit. Inside it looks like a white kiwi, but tastes pretty bland. Mike bought this one from a lady's small fruit boat that pulled up to our junk.

From the front of the boat.


We sailed down between the 2 outcroppings of rock to get to the cave.

Halong Bay Pics

This was our boat.

Exploring the cave. It was really large.

Taken at the cave with some of Halong Bay in the background.

This was our lunch on the boat. It was good, but neither Shae nor Leanne were crazy about the shrimp and fish being totally intact.


This is the main level of the boat we chartered.

Haven piloting the boat.

October 26, 2008

Today we went to the Green Tangerine a great Restaurant in a restored French colonial in the Old Quarter. We were supposed to pick up my Ao Dai, but it wasn't done yet. We did go to the Water Puppets this afternoon. It's a Hanoi tradition. The baby girls slept through most of it. We've got video tape for when Haven's older though.

Here's some pictures of yesterday. We had a 14 passenger van, a guide, driver, and the whole boat for just us and our friends all for only $75 a piece for the adults. Pretty sweet deal.

October 24

This is the restaurant where we had lunch today out under an umbrella.

Yesterday we got around the Old Quarter by Cyclo or bicycle cab.

It's amazing what they can carry on a bike or motor bike.

One of Hanoi's finer restaurants or "sidewalk cafes"

Ready to take on the world or just Hanoi.


Hi dear friends and family,

We've really been appreciating all of your comments and reading them so keep 'em coming.

Haven seems to be doing better on the new formula so we've held off going to the doctor for now. She spit up her whole first bottle of it, but at least it was just liquid still. Since then she's been doing much better so PTL! Thanks for all the prayers on that. We'd appreciate continued prayers for her to keep feeling better.

Today, we cooked our own breakfast and made use of having a kitchen. We have a small store just downstairs so that's handy. Then we headed off to the Old Quarter again. I was measured for an Ao Dai and should be able to pick it up in a day or 2. Then we did do some more shopping much to Mike's dismay. He says it feels pretty bad to leave with 2 million (dong) in your pocket and come home with only a few hundred (almost 17,000 dong=$1).

We had lunch at a nice restaurant on Hoan Kiem Lake, cheap too called the Little Kitchen. Then we all headed back since our friends had their medical appointment for their little girl this afternoon. Tonight we're going to check out the Big C across town, for diapers and formula, which is Vietnam's version of a Super Walmart.

Tomorrow we plan on doing a day trip to Halong Bay a geological wonder of giant rock outcroppings sticking up out of the bay. It takes 3 1/2 hours to get there so we're hoping the babies do okay. It will be a really long day for them. Halong Bay is on the must see list for Vietnam and some want it to be on the New Wonders of the World List so hopefully we'll enjoy our trip.

Currently all of our official appointments are scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday. So hopefully we'll have Haven's visa in hand by Thursday night and have no problems with making our current flight schedule.

Big Day

Hi all,

Today we've been taking advantage of a divine appointment and meeting. Before we left home we had posted on all our online adoption Yahoo groups our travel dates and asked if anyone was traveling around the same time since everyone ends up in Hanoi at some point. Another family had almost the exact same schedule as us and was also planning on staying at the Somerset Hotel where we are. We said we'd try and hook up when we all got here by email since both families were by themselves. So I emailed them our room number and it turns out they were right next door in the neighboring suite. So we've been hanging out a lot together since dinner yesterday. We're even the same ages except the guys vary by 1 year, so pretty funny.

Today we all headed to the Old Quarter to explore and shop. The babies did really well. Our friends' little girl is 8 months. Haven slept really well in the stroller we bought. A little later since we were all hot we checked out the pool. Haven was not impressed. We'll try and get pics. up as soon as we can. I bought Haven a couple of different the traditional Vietnamese outfits, the Ao Dai and a conical hat. Mike thinks we should be done with shopping, but there's more on the list. LOL Fortunately, things are pretty cheap.

Tonight we had a change of plans and are staying in. Haven has been a pretty spitty baby, but tonight she spit up her entire bottle and over the past days it's getting less and less liquid and more and more curdled. Last night she also had a bad episode but nothing like tonights. Everyone needed an immediate bath tonight. Sorry for the gross description, but we're getting concerned and would appreciate prayers. Tonight there was a 2" diameter projectile. That just can't be normal. So we've decided to switch her formula right away and will see how she handles that tonight to the Vietnamese version of Enfamil which she'll be getting when when we get home anyway. It's also for her age. Otherwise we'll probably take her to the S.O.S. Western Medical Clinic tomorrow. She's also dealing with the normal cold the kids all get with experiencing air conditioning as well.

We're really not sure the orphanage showed us the correct formula can for whatever reason or accidental. She's had problems with her formula including that first bottle they sent us with. First, there was the marathon of dirty diapers and horrific diaper rash. Then the spit-up keeps getting worse. It was a formula for 6 months and older so I've had my doubts from the beginning.

So please pray for all of us.

Love to all,
Shae

Finally Pictures

Well here we go. 1st attempt at posting some pics. Now I just need to figure out how to rotate them.

Enjoy,
Shae

From top:

10-21-08 Driving from Vinh to Hanoi

10-21-08 Haven demonstrating her ability to roll over and push herself up

10-20-08 After the G&R at the hotel

10-20-08 At the G&R Ceremony--Official Adoption

10-19-08 Sleeping Beauty

October 22nd

Hi All,

Haven is just waking up from a nap as I type this so I probably don't have long. Mike is out with our guide doing something with Haven's passport. We're going to go check out the buffet breakfast pretty soon with or without Mike and see how that goes. We've had some pretty interesting dining experiences thus far, but those may have to wait for a later post. PTL! We haven't gotten very sick just a bit unsettled from the general travel. Funny thing is we're usually not hungry during the day, but definitely in the middle of the night when we give Haven her bottle. Our stomachs haven't figured out the whole opposite time change thing yet.

Haven is such a good baby. She sleeps well, eats well, which I'm sure you could see from her referral picture. If anything her chin, is even bigger. Very, very healthy. Since she's a 4 month old that isn't always feeling her best though, we've still been pretty busy. One thing she is not patient about is her bottle. When she's decided that she wants it, you better be ready.

I promise, I'll try and get Mike's help to get some pictures up today. Even if I have to hog tie him. For those that know him or don't, he's a Systems Administration Manager so a complete freak (rightly so) about internet security and password security so everything has to be done through a secure channel...takes extra time and my patience. LOL Also, the computer is chained to the table, but still has to be put away and secured in the safe each time we use it. (Big sigh from Shae). Mike if you read this post, I love you hon. Poor Mike he never had much time to get into the blogger or Yahoo group world so he doesn't always equate the same importance as I do (or everyone back home) to these things. So bear with us.

Obviously, I'm the patient type and perfect myself (ha, ha).

The ride here was interesting, but I can't wait to experience more of Hanoi traffic. Aye, yai, yai. It looks like chaos on the roads, but really they do sort of have a system...sort of. Hee, hee. We actually really liked seeing the countryside and for the most part find the ride an adventure with a few close calls and thrills thrown in for good measure. Picture one long game of playing chicken with the oncoming traffic over and over and over again to pass all the trucks, cars, bicycles, motorbikes, water buffalo, water buffalo crossing the road, water buffalo carts, pony carts, jaywalkers who don't look at all before walking into traffic, dogs, chickens, geese, etc. You honk to signal you're passing or for the smaller traffic to hopefully get over a bit and flash your lights at the oncoming traffic. Hopefully they acknowledge you. They have lanes, but don't really use them much. We're very glad we're not doing the driving. On the long drive yesterday, we actually had one little boy step in front of our SUV and take a stance like he was going to challenge the car. Thankfully, we stopped in time.

Well I've got to run, but will try and fill you in more later. We'll probably stick pretty close to the hotel today. Maybe try and figure out the washer and dryer. It's all one machine. Haven is kind of a spitter though so she and I are in need of some clean clothes.

Love to all,
Shae

She's Officially Ours

Hi all,

We had our G&R ceremony yesterday at about 2:15Pm so Haven is officially ours in the eyes of the government here. Our guide had a good way of explaining the timetables here in Vietnam. He said time here is like a slinkie, it gets stretched a bit. He said this as we were waiting for one more official to arrive to start the G&R in a 100 degree plus room. Now we spend the rest of the time trying to get her Visa from the US Embassy so we can come home. Mike and our agency guide go to apply for her passport tomorrow AM which is Step 1.

We obviously have internet, but it is very slow. We'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.

We've been following Haven's apparent schedule which suits us just fine with being weary from the new travels and jet lag. So we've all been going to bed ab.out 8PM and getting up by 5 AM. So I've officially been a walking zombie for a few hours now.

We arrived in Hanoi today at 6:30Pm and are staying at the Somerset Grand. The trip went fine...just long for all involved.

Off to bed. We'll try and fill you in soon. I know everyone is waiting for pictures.

Shae