Hanging out with Ava

This is how Ava saw most of Ho Chi Minh City. Michael carried her 95% of the time. I tried carrying her but with my short torso, her legs kept bumping into my legs and I was afraid I'd trip over her. She didn't protest unless she wanted something to eat.

Almost Famous

I can't remember if I posted this on my blog before. But when we were on our van ride to the Mekong Delta, Binh was telling us how he was personally asked by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to come live with them in California immediately after they adopted their son from Tam Binh orphanage (the same orphanage that Ava and Allison Stelmach came from). I can't remember the reason why he was invited to Angelina Jolie's house but he told us stories of his visit. He said that every section of the house had security access codes. If he wanted to exit the garden into the kitchen or the bedrooms, he would have to remember the various security codes. He said it got confusing at times. Also Binh told us that between the four kids, they had two nannies on duty during the day but Angelina Jolie took care of the children at night, starting at bath time. She would just put all four kids in the bathtub. Sounds reasonable to me. Anyway, what I would do to have even a part time nanny or a maid...ha ha! So we know someone who knew someone famous person. Good enough for me.

Binh's wife is expecting their second child in September and they have an eleven year old son. I felt bad that Binh had to escort us all day to the Mekong Delta and then to Hanoi. He has to do this one more time for the new families that arrived in HCMC the day we left for Hanoi. Then I think they will not have any new referrals or families going to Vietnam for a couple of months. I think Sandy and Paul Pinkerton (our Facilitators) are returning to PA where they live three months out of the year. Starting September through December, they will be back in PA.

Napping Position

This was and still is Ava's preferred napping position. I know she is adjusting to her new life and is still very insecure about her surroundings. We were commenting that she has seen so more in the past three weeks than she has in her entire life. We're hoping the nap situation will improve over time. She likes to take mini cat naps that last only about 20 minutes and has been treachorous for us in the late afternoons, early evenings. She fights off the sleepies like there's no tomorrow. I know we get a little frustrated at times since we are all adjusting to the time change and jet lag. It will get better...I have to convince myself ;-)

Pink...the non-gender color

It has been a many conversation between the four families that traveled to Vietnam together. Two families adopted boys and two families adopted girls. Whenever a Vietnamese person would stop to admire the babies, they would ask the parent if the baby was a boy or a girl. Now look at Ava's picture below. She's all dressed in pink. They would still ask us if she was a boy or a girl. Even the earrings weren't enough. They would still ask. So the color pink is apparently not associated with any gender in Vietnam.

This picture was previously posted on my blog so I removed the original post and added the picture to this one instead. Michael and Ava were sitting on the couch in the lobby of the Somerset in HCMC. I think we were getting ready to go to the Tax Market to buy additional baby supplies. Since Ava wore the pink bonnet all day, Michael would say "Ava has a bee in her bonnet" whenever she started to fuss. Of course I laughed evertime because she looked like she did have a bee in her bonnet ;-)

Ava Giggling Video

This was taken around 7/15/07 at the Somerset hotel in HCMC. This was the first time that Ava really giggled. We had her for six days. We actually took the video clip with the digital camera. The video quality won't be great but here it is anyway. We still have to figure out how to upload videos from our DVD camcorder.

Our Last Evening in Hanoi (part 2)

Okay, you get the idea about the wine bottles. We ordered two bottles for dinner on the first night. The second night they ran a special, buy one glass and get the second free. Sweet!



Karen, Allison and Max.









Yours Truly

Michael playing with Max.









They brought this basket of toys out for the babies and as you can see, the plastic farm animals became better table decoration.


Logan stroller lounging.

Our last evening in Hanoi

Okay, so here's the restaurant I was raving about (The Vine). If you are ever in Hanoi vacationing or passing through like we did, you should try to visit. I should have told the restaurant manager to give us a discount for my free internet endorsements ;-)

The restaurant was recommended in our travel guide from the Facilitators. Here's the info just in case:

Vine Wine Boutique Bar & Cafe (it's down the street from the Sheraton Hanoi)
1A, Xuan Dieu, Tay Ho District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Phone: 84-4-719-8000



Michael stepping up into the front entrance.









The bar at the front of the restaurant. I think that is the restaurant manager on the right. He was typing on his laptop when we came in and he also stopped at our table during dinner to see how everything was. He was wearing a suit so I assumed he was the owner or manager.



Cool bar stools.












Michael carrying the stroller up the winding stair to the second level.

Last scenes in Hanoi

Here are final pictures before I sign off. Thank you for all your comments and following along on our trip. I hope to keep up with the blog page post Vietnam. I have tons of pictures but didn't have the time. See you in 24 hours in PA!!






















We went to this restaurant on Wednesday night called "The Vine". The restaurant decorates their walls with wine bottles. I think the decor is pretty "artsy" and I will post more pictures later. We had visited this restaurant on Tuesday night and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to revisit for our last dinner in Hanoi. The food and wine selection is terrific and it's not like we have to drive anywhere. The restaurant was in walking distance from the hotel and we had a van pick us up to take us to the airport at 8:30 p.m.













Ava's hairdo after her bath last night. She wouldn't let me towel dry her hair so I just let her roll around on the bed hoping the bedspread would do the job ;-)

Teddy Bears from Hanoi

Someone had inquired about where we purchased the Teddy Bears in Hanoi. Go to this website: http://www.zantoc.com/

I didn't check the website to see if you could order the bears online. For adoptive parents who will be going to either HCMC or Hanoi, here is the info. so you can look them up.

Nagu Hanoi
20 Nha Tho St.
Phone: 84-4-9288020
email: nagu@zantoc.com

Nagu Saigon (in HCMC)
Continental Hotel
132-134 Dong Khoi St.
Phone: 84-8-8234001



Vietnamese flowers you can choose to have embroidered on the bear's paw. For the girls, we picked flowers and for the boys we picked the Vietnamese red star.


















Okay, so I lied. Ava is taking a nap in the hotel room while I post one or two more updates before I log off in Hanoi. We found out this morning that we were able to reserve our hotel room for half a day. So we walked around for a little while and then headed back to the room for a nap, shower, final packing and a final dinner with the group. We have the room until 6 p.m.
We will be picked up at 8:30 p.m. tonight and head over to the airport. Dallas and Scott will be traveling with us to Tokyo and Chicago where we will part for our final destinations. Karen and Jeff will be traveling with Marybeth and Mark on Korean Air together.

We did not do a whole lot of shopping. The only thing we purchased in Hanoi were these handmade teddy bears. You can personalize the teddy bears by picking the color of the outfits, what embroidered pattern to print on one paw and the child's name on the other paw. The bears also have a Vietnamese conical hat which make them unique I guess.

Hanoi and Embassy Interview

Binh told us that Hanoi is a lot hotter and humid than HCMC. That was really reassuring since HCMC felt like it was 95 degrees all the time. Being in Hanoi for the past two days, we've noticed a significant decline in the pollution from the scooter exhaust. There are a LOT less scooters in Hanoi. The city is smaller than HCMC and you can definitely see the French and Chinese influence throughout the city. The streets and buildings have more charm and charisma. Some of the streets, resaurants and landscapes remind you of some parts in Europe.

The Embassy interview on Monday went without a hitch. Much like I expected and read from other blogs. There were no problems with obtaining visas for the babies and Binh dropped off the official documents and visas that we have to carry and present to U.S. customs once we land on U.S. soil. We are still scheduled to leave at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night (yuck!). The interview at the Embassy was more like two question;, how long have we been in Hanoi and how are we enjoying the visit? They didn't ask us any questions about the babies or about the adoption process. Not like the interview we had with CIS in HCMC. After the Embassy apptmt, we bought some Embassy hats and shirts for souvenirs. We thought the trip to Hanoi was such a waste. We had to spend three days in Hanoi for a ten minute interview. Maybe that's why the Embassy is changing the process where the families will now be able to obtain the visas through the U.S. Consulate in HCMC instead of Hanoi. Wish they would have done that before we arrived! Oh well.

Here are some snapshots of Hanoi. This will be my last post in Vietnam as we have a long trip ahead of us. It is 11 p.m. on Tuesday night. We have the hotel room until 12 noon on Wednesday. Two families were able to reserve their rooms until 8 p.m. on Wednesday. We weren't able to hold on to our room because there are Soccer tournaments going on all week in Hanoi and the Sheraton is booked solid. We will most likely "bunk" with one of the families who still have their rooms.

It's been a nice visit in Hanoi but we are very anxious to sleep in our own beds and most importantly, be with Sebastian!!

Views right outside the Sheraton hotel.










St. Joseph's Cathedral in Old Quarters.










Ava playing on the bed in our hotel room. The crib fit in between the beds.





We walked around this lake in the Old Quarters.

Ava's first flight

Ava did well overall on the flight. She just needed her usual bottle feeding, took a short nap and then played with Daddy for a while. She had to sit on Michael's lap the entire flight because she was strapped to Michael's seat buckle. Hopefully, it won't be that way on the flight to Tokyo since she will have a bassinet instead of a seat.











I on the other hand, took advantage of the Business Class service while Michael and Ava were snoozing. The food looked better than it tasted. Guess the tablecloth linen and real flatware had me fooled ;-)

Business Class Lounge

This will probably be the only time we get to travel in luxury. Much to my surprise, the plane tickets to Hanoi were in Business Class! Binh had purchased the tickets for us and we reimbursed him. Since we had over an hour wait for our flight, we were able to relax before boarding the plane.











I don't think this lady will be bringing Ava's bottle to her ;-)












Dallas enjoying the massage chair. I think everyone tried the massage chair and from what I hear, the mechanism in the chair wasn't all that great. Michael said that it felt like he was rolling on a bunch of billiard balls and it was more painful than relaxing. Needless to say, I was too scared to try the massage chair.

Welcome to HCMC Airport (again)

I've been having problems with my blog page. I can see my updated posts individually but I can't see them on the home page. I hope everyone can see the pictures from HCMC to Hanoi. Since we arrived in HCMC at night on 7/7/09, I didn't bother taking pictures. There was a lot more to see during the day. Here are some shots of HCMC aiport.

Okay, so I cheated. I took this shot on the airplane leaving HCMC airport.

First Baby Group Shot

As you can see from the pictures, it was hard to get all the babies to sit up right and look in the same direction. Professional photographers, we are not. Since we had only 30 minutes to meet, consult and take pictures, everything was a little rushed.

It took us two weeks but we finally got all the babies together for a group shot. Babies, left to right: Ava, Logan, Max and Allison :-)