A post from last Sunday

We walked to Al Frescos Saturday night for dinner and the kids had a great time. the waitress, like most of the employees there, are university students studying the hospitality trade. she talked to us for a while and told us how different Americans treat their kids (and in her opinion better) she said they'd never allow their kids to lay on the floor.  she said the Vietnamese would not let their kids color at will. they'd say no the sky can't be green, use the right color, stay within the lines. things like that. she was very sweet and friendly. the kids were great and ate their food and played and had a fine time.

this morning, Jeff was very very nice to me and let me sleep in to a decadent 7am. man who knew sleeping in to 7am could feel so good. we realized we dont' both have to be up this early and that we'll start taking turns at those 5am wake ups. Again this morning, the kids came into our room without crying. they are really comfortable with their surroundings now and know our routine. Jeff and I decided to take the kids out on separate trips, so the boys went to the playground and market while Emma and i went for a walk. There's a tiny market area very close to the hotel. i walked down there and had to keep dodging the fast moving moped traffic down this very narrow path. once i saw it lead to the butcher's market i quickly turnaround. i did not need to know what laid beyond. we then walked to the lake and i remembered the nice mall we had seen. it's a very hi end mall, and i thought it'd be nice to go inside and check it out. the first floor was all jewelers and i really wanted to buy Emma a jade necklace for her (one day) wedding. but not knowing enough about jade, or how much is too much, i just kept walking around.

once we got back outside on the streets, Emma was sound asleep in my arms. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful that feeling is. she was out like a light and i got to just hold and carry her the few short blocks back. Jeff told me he and David had all kinds of fun in the playground, reinventing the use of the play cars (great devices to shoot down the slide). It was good for the kids to have some private playtime with mommy and daddy. and it was great for mommy and daddy to have some private playtime with the kids.

Sunday night also meant dinner with the other families and our facilitator, Ninh. He took us to dinner.  and once again the kids were just amazing!!!! We dressed them up in cute outfits and they are just so adorable! i wish i had brought a change of top for Emma though since it was so hot and the poor thing was sweltering in the heat, with that high collar and long sleeves.

the Ashton Family

That little girl had some mind of her own!

Emma giving us her Mookie Eyes

They were fine on the car ride there and even with the tons of folks walking around, they seemed to be oblivious. i took David to the buffet line and his eyes lit up at all the goodies. he had to figure out that all this stuff was there for him to eat.  it took him no time to point out all kinds of foods he wanted to eat. none of which I'm sure he's ever had before but if his eyes lit up, and he pointed at it, i scooped up a serving for him. there was one food in particular, Morning Glory, a green spinach like veggie. it was cooked heavily in garlic and the kids gobbled it up. i had to get them 3 servings of it!!!

Hopefully that is one of the foods i can find for them locally. i remember at the orphanage they had some green long, stringy, similar looking veggie simmering in hot water. so i wonder if this is the same thing? after dinner the kids starting playing with the older boy who was also adopted. this was the first time they ever played with him. they avoided him and his sister. but we think that David and Emma now realize we're their parents, that they are with us forever, and it's okay to talk and play with other kids -- even ones from the center. This boy, Rio, was inhaling plate fulls of snails, and David and Emma were fascinated. He was a real pro at it and showed our kids how to scoop out the meat with a toothpick. they just stared at him forever. wow, food and those fun toothpicks all at the same time. Dinner was nice and the kids did so well, but we were ready to head home. it was way past all our bedtimes.

All seven families adopting a total of nine kids!