We Are Alive

Hello all. Sorry for the long period between posting, but of course having a baby and a 8 year old can take up alot of your time. We are all doing great and preparing for Gracie's first Christmas. She is loving the Christmas tree, Christmas cards and all the other decorations she can reach. She has no idea what "NO" means. She just turns around looks at you and carries on doing what she is not supposed to be doing. I just hope consistency will work. Logan still continues to help with Gracie. He will entertain her while we are out of the room for a small amount of time, if we stay away too long he lets us know by yelling for us to come back. He is now on Christmas break so I am sure he will have his fair share of Gracie before he returns to school Jan 3, 2008. We have no big plans during the break so I hope Logan does not get too bored and drive me crazy. Here are some more adventures and accomplishments Gracie has done over the past month and a half.

Took road trip to Paducha, KY to spend weekend with the Horger Family. We met them in Vietnam when they were adopting their daughter Gracie. 11/16/07

Celebrated Gracie's first Thanksgiving with Mommy's family. 11/22/07

Received the last immunizations to get Gracie updated until her 1st birthday. Also had a lead screen and TB skin test performed and both were negative. Got flu shot 11/28/07

Took another road trip to Chicago to vist cousins Chris, Cara, Cleo, Cassidy, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Susie. We took her into the city on a train and she did well. 12/07/07

Has officially started the typical crawl using her arms and knees. 11/26/07

Visited Santa with big brother. 12/13/07

Does Pat-A-Cake. 12/17/07

Starting to talk more. Favorite word "ABBA" What does that mean??? Loved the Group.

We will continue to add to the blog and try not to have such a long wait for you to enjoy our adventures with Logan and Gracie.

Enjoy the Holidays!!!!!

Time flies when you are having FUN

Well, what can I say but WE ARE HAVING FUN. Gracie is now 9 months old and has been with our family for over 16 weeks. She has progressed so much and makes us smile everyday by the funny faces she makes, the new moves she does and the way we see her shine. She has became a big part of our lives and we can't remember what life was like before her. Logan still enjoys her daily and is a big helper. Logan loves to show her off at school when we pick him up and has also taken her to school for show and tell(of course Mom was there too.) Alot has happened and here is a small list of her accomplishments and adventures.

1. Received 2nd set of immunizations 10/12/07

2. Mom returned to work;first day at babysitter's 10/17/07(Debbie Hoffman)

3. First time to see Logan perform at his fall concert 10/30/07

4. First Halloween, dressed up like a ladybug

5. Second visit to Dr. Rojan weight 18 lbs. height 27 inches 11/01/

6. Had name official changed and adoption approved 11/06/07

7. Getting up on hands and knees rocking back and forth 10/07

8. Starting commando crawl 11/09/07

Pictures

More Happy Days with Gracie

We are looking at having Gracie in our family for 12 weeks on Oct. 11, 2007. These 12 weeks have flown and we have gotten to know Gracie very well. We believe she knows us pretty well too. We have her eating and sleeping schedule figured out which makes life easier for all. She does fantastic in both. Logan brings such wonderful smiles to Gracie's face. She loves to see him in the morning before he goes to school and in the afternoon when he gets out of school. It is such a joy to see Logan and Gracie together.

Here are a few accomplishments and adventures:

9/07 Started the process to readopt and legally change Gracie's name
9/20/07 Took her to Derm. He believes she has eczema(not sure about that???)
9/27/07 Gracie's lawyer came to meet family about adoption
9/30/07 Gracie's baptism and party(slept through her party)
10/01/07 Gracie is now saying "MaMa" esp. when she is tired
10/05/07 First camping trip for two nights at Weldon springs in Clinton. Gracie did very well.

Still no teeth, loves all her baby food, teaching her to get on her knees to start crawling and she is starting to laugh out loud at silly things Logan does.

Happy, Happy Gracie My Harley Girl
Love my bottle
Peas they are so good for me(YUCK)
Dig the shades

Two Month Anniversary

September 18,2007

Hard to believe that it will be 2 months tomorrow since we received our precious daughter Gracie. She will be 71/2 months old and getting bigger by the day. We have begun to get her schedule figured out. She is sleeping through the night, which she has done since we received her, and loves her afternoon nap. Logan continues to adore her and is learning what makes her smile and laugh. She is still meeting new people everyday, and continues to enjoy their company. Myself and others do notice that she keeps an eye out for mom when she is not in my arms. She will not cry but assures herself that Mom is near. She also looks out for Dad too.

She acquired a cold 2 weeks ago but it did not seem to get her down. We were constantly sucking and wiping her nose, which she HATES with a passion. She also has breakouts of some sort of rash on her head, hands, arms, and feet. It does not seem to bother her and she has no other symptoms. We will probably get her to a dermatologists soon. We are enjoying getting to know her everyday and thank God for the opportunity to have such a special family.

Here are a few new accomplishments and adventures

Ate her first baby food meats(1st stage, hated them, switched to 2nd stage)9/3/07
Breakfast: Rice cereal, fruit(bananas are her favorite) and bottle
Lunch: Vegetable, meat and bottle
Mid afternoon: bottle(6 oz)
Supper: Rice cereal, meat and vegetable
Bedtime: bottle(6oz)
More professional pictures taken JCPenney9/6/07
Babysat by Uncle John and Aunt Dana 9/8/07
Sitting up by herself 9/12/07
Invited to Reya’s Corley High School Musical B-day Party 9/15/07
Loves to stand up
Weighed 15lbs 13ozs 9/18/07

Gracie seems to amaze us everyday and we are excited about how advanced she has become since the first day we set our eyes on her. She is growing everyday in our hearts and we love her more and more each day.

More Days With Gracie

August 28, 2007

We have now had Gracie in our family for 1 month and 9 days and it feels like she has been with us always. She still continues to learn and experience new things everyday. She has been greeted by many people since her arrival in the US. Everyone comments how cute and content she is. We definitely agree with them. Logan is still expressing lots of love for her. He always wants to hold and play with her. He has made the best big brother just as we figured.

We were given another open house party to welcome Gracie. Our friends Dena Corley and Jenny Lambdin arranged to have members of Club Fitness(gym we go to) join our family at Panera Bread on Sat. 8/25 from 8:00 am to 10:00 am to meet Gracie. It was very informal and turned out quite nice. We were able to visit with everyone and Gracie enjoyed meeting new faces. Gracie received several new outfits for her fall/winter collection. It is great to know we have such great friends who care about us and want to help celebrate the arrival of our newest addition.

Here are a few new accomplishments and adventures Gracie has experienced:

Walking big brother Logan to school on the first day 8/21/07

Getting her first professional picture taken by Shooting Stars(thanks Kathy
and Kris) 8/23/07

Rolls from front to back 8/23/07

First doctor appointment with Dr. Rojan 8/24/07
STATS: 14lbs 9.5 ozs; 23 ¼ inches long(I measured her at 25 inches); 14
inch head
Dr. Rojan said she is a GOOD baby, I do agree. We are going to do blood
work when she turns 1(HIV, Hep B and C)She got her first Rotavirus Vaccine
(oral)
She was a great patient.

Church directory picture taken with the family 8/24/07

Ate her first baby food vegetable (peas) seemed to like them 8/24/07

Got her first USPS letter in the mail(thanks Uncle Kevin)

Meet Thomas(10 mns old) a friend adopted from Vietnam 8/25/07

Received her first set of Immunizations at the Health Dept.8/27/07
DPT, Hep B, Polio, Hib, Pneumococcal
3 shots (2 in lt leg, 1 in rt leg)
Her lt leg was sore that evening and she developed a 102.2 fever the next
morning and still complained about her lt leg.

Many Faces Of Gracie

Another Day With Gracie

August 18, 2007 Gracie has been the talk of our family and friends and yesterday Stephanie Kupferschmid and Jennifer England gave Gracie and us an Open House party at Forsyth Park. We were greeted by many people who are special in our lives. Gracie was such a good girl during the 3 hour party. She took a 30 minute nap at 8:15pm and got a second wind after waking up. The party started at 6:00pm and was to end at 9:00pm. There were decorations of ladybug balloons and red and black styrofoam ladybugs. Two large sheet cakes decorated with a tree and ladybugs and water and lemonade was to be had for all to eat and drink. The tables were draped with pink and green table clothes just like the colors in Gracie’s room. Everything looked great. The night went very fast and it was hard to speak to everyone. So we apologize to anyone who we did not get a chance to speak to but appreciate you coming to meet the new addition to our family. Logan had a blast. He was surrounded by many of his friends and was able to run, run, run…. He deserves it since he was so good during our adventure in Vietnam and had little chance to be a kid. The gifts were abundant and so thoughtful. We have not had a chance to open them since we would like to do it as a family. It is trying to get us all together but hope to do it some time today. Logan also received gifts from some considerate family and friends. He has been so wonderful during this transition in our family. He shows no jealousy toward Gracie and seems grateful she is in our lives. One evening when he was ready to say his prayers with Jeff he stated that his prayers were answered and he did not need to pray. Jeff immediately explained that there are many other people who need his prayers and he should continue to pray. We too believe our prayers have been answered and want to thank everyone who also prayed for us during this period in our lives. Gracie still seems to be adjusting well in her new family. She brings us joy everyday and is a very happy baby. She is learning everyday and shows us why we took the long journey to add her to our family.

Day 11 And Read What I Have Done

August 16, 2007 Gracie has been home 11 days and she has met many new faces, done several new adventures and accomplished new milestones. Here is a list of the few adventures and milestones: Ate rice cereal Aug 7 did very well Met some of Daddy’s co-workers Aug 7 Went to big brother’s school to register him Aug 8 Ate baby food fruit Aug 8(bananas) did very well Went to Walmart Aug 8 First time in a Pool Aug 8(Lambdins) Went to Church Aug 12 Went to Mommy’s work place to meet some co-workers Aug 12 Went to first birthday party Aug 12(cousin Morgan) Slept from 9:00pm to 7:00am Aug 12 Went to Gym Aug 13(sleep most of the time) Grandma and Grandpa babysat when Mommy went to dentist Aug 15 Can roll from back to front(could do this when we received her) Attempting to sit up, needs some assistance Aug 16 Gracie is learning everyday and loves to watch her new big brother. She does not meet a stranger. She lets anyone hold her without crying. She flashes them a smile and buries her head in their chest. She has adjusted so well to her new surroundings. She wines and sucks her thumb when she is tired or hungry. When we lie her down for nap and bedtime she puts thumb in mouth grabs her new blanket(compliments of Darlene Jones) and goes off to dreamland.

We Are Home

Day 22 & 23 Aug 5th – 6th Sunday & Monday
Written Aug 10th

Homecoming

This was the day we had been waiting for. We are finally going home as a family. This was probably the longest day we experienced here because we were so excited to leave. We weren’t scheduled to leave the hotel until 4:00pm so we tried to occupy our day with a trip to the tourist center for one last look at the comments on our blog. Between breakfast and running to the tourist center we still had about six hours to go before our departure. The rest of the afternoon we past the time by finishing our packing and watched the clock, played with Gracie and watched the clock, and watched TV and watched the clock. Needless to say the afternoon was a long one.

About 3:30pm, Logan and I started moving our luggage down to the lobby. Gracie was just finishing her bottle after her afternoon nap. She was in a good mood and ready to travel. Logan was in a very good mood. Although he finally got used to the cultural change in Hanoi, he was more than ready to get back home. The four of us headed to the lobby a couple of minutes early to say goodbye to the staff. I can’t say enough about the staff at the Hong Ngoc hotel. They provided a service that can’t be found in the States. We especially wanted to personally thank Mr. Tong for everything he had done to make our stay enjoyable. When we arrived at the lobby, the staff was busy with new guests but we were able to have a short conversation with Mr. Tong, who had his son with him, and took some photos with Mr. Tong and the boys. We said our goodbyes and told him we would see him in about 18 years. Then we exited to the car waiting for us on the street.

As we drove to the airport I told Becky I felt a little sad about leaving Vietnam since this is Gracie’s home in which Becky agreed. Becky and I will make sure Gracie knows where she came from and what proud heritage she is apart of.

On the ride to the airport we were pretty quiet. We had gotten used to the traffic during our stay so we just sat and took in our last views of this beautiful country. This is in sharp contrast to the ride to Hanoi when we first arrived and were very chatty with the driver and amazed at everything we saw. Gracie was very content in the backseat in Becky’s arms. As we approached the airport, the terminal building looked more modern than when we arrived in Hanoi several weeks earlier. The departures must be in a different location than the arrivals because this terminal was completely up-to-date.

Hanoi Airport

The driver unloaded our bags and I gave him the last of the Vietnam currency in my pockets since I couldn’t convert them back in the states, but we were able to save a few coins and some paper money as souvenirs. We entered the terminal and was immediately confused on where to go. We walked from one side of the terminal back to the other finally someone looked at our tickets and pointed us to the side where we initially entered the terminal. There was a long line to the ticket counter but since I was carrying Gracie, the airline staff took us to the counter ahead of everyone else. Strike one up for Gracie; she’s already paying dividends. We finished getting checked in and headed for the gates to wait for our flight. As we left the main terminal and headed for the gates, we had to pass through immigration. Becky and Logan went to one booth and Gracie and I went to another booth beside them. Becky and Logan were quickly approved to leave but for some reason the agent took Gracie’s passport and left the booth. I could see Becky’s expression from the other side and we both looked at each other like “what the heck now”. The gentleman returned a couple of minutes later with Gracie’s passport in hand and gave me back all my papers and waved Gracie and I through. That was probably the longest two minutes of the entire trip. The four of us proceeded through security and made our way to our gate. We couldn’t believe this was the same airport we flew into. This part of the airport was very modern with many shops and lounges for the business class flyers similar to the airports back home. I kept thinking why would Vietnam want your first impression of this place to be that it’s run down since the arrival terminal looks something out of the 1950’s while the departure terminal is much more appealing.

We found our gate and unloaded our carry on baggage and got ready for the hour and a half wait. Gracie was doing great but we did have to take her for a walk from time to time because she got bored of just sitting. Logan loved the open space in this part of the terminal and he would run short distances whenever he could. I told him not to run too much because I didn’t want security to get too nervous. When we had about 30 minutes before we were to start boarding, they announced our flight would be delayed for 30 minutes. We weren’t happy to hear this since we only had a 2 hour layover at Hong Kong. Gracie was also starting to get tired and hungry. We were trying to plan her feeding during takeoff so it would help to depressurize her little ears but because of the delay this would not be the case. We went ahead and fed Gracie and changed her into her sleeper because we figured the aircraft could be a little cool. The one place we hoped the Vietnamese would have air conditioning would be on the aircraft. The plane wasn’t delayed any further so we boarded the plane and took our seats. I scouted out the plane before takeoff and noticed a row completely empty just a few rows up so I asked the attendant if we could use that row to lay Gracie down when we get to cruising altitude. She said that wouldn’t be a problem. Gracie cried during takeoff because she was getting very tired and she was required to be belted to the front of Becky during this time. Once the fasten safety belt sign was turned off, Becky and Gracie headed for the empty row were Gracie slept for the first leg of our trip. The attendants served a hot meal with two choices on this two hour flight. This is something you don’t get on domestic flights back home. The attendant asked me what my choice was but I couldn’t understand a word she said so by this time I was tired of trying to piece sentences together and simply shook my head and said I don’t understand. She gave me one of each of the choices and I gave Logan the one I thought he would like. Logan liked what he got so it all worked out. The flight went by pretty quick but Becky and I were very concerned about making our next flight from Hong Kong to L.A. because of the delay.

We landed at Hong Kong airport with only about 50 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave. By the time we exited the plane and they bused us to the main terminal, Becky and I were starting to worry we wouldn’t make our connection. As we entered the bottom level of the terminal, there was a representative from Cathay Pacific Airlines waiting with a sign that had several flight numbers listed on it; one of which was our flight to L.A. They pulled us, and several others, aside and checked our tickets and put small round stickers on the front of us so they could identify us. The leader had a 2-way radio and was in communication with a person at the gate. Our guide took us up escalators, down elevators, on a tram, and back up another elevator, rushed us through security and checked us through to our plane and made sure we boarded the plane. Logan loved the run through the airport and Gracie had woke up since the flight and seemed to marvel at the large building we were running through. Becky and I would have never made the fight if it wasn’t for the persons at Cathay Pacific and this made a huge impression on us. The 747 was already loaded and ready to go so it didn’t take long before we were taxing down the runway. Becky and I hoped that only our luggage got the same treatment as we did in finding the flight.

Flight from Hong Kong to L.A.

We took our seats and the flight attendants assured us we would have the bassinet we had reserved weeks ago, but they couldn’t set it up until after we were in the air. Because we had the bassinet, we had to sit with the bulkhead (wall) in front of us. Logan expressed his concern that we didn’t have TV screens at our seats because he didn’t see them on the bulkhead in front of him. He was quickly relived to find they were under the front of his seat and all he had to do was pull it up and lock it into place.

It was my turn to hold Gracie during takeoff. She sat quietly buckled in my lap but she was tired. Since we sat in the middle of the plane, there was a gentleman sitting beside me in the fourth seat. I tuned to him and apologized in advance for the noise that will come out of Gracie. He said she was very pretty seemed to be a very good girl. There’s a sucker born every minute. As we started to taxi, Gracie got very tired and started crying very loud. The guy sitting next to me was a little early with his “good girl” comment. As soon as we got in the air, Gracie fell asleep on me. Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant set up Gracie’s bassinet and we quickly put her in it. She slept 13 out of the 14 hours we were in the air. Logan also got much more sleep on this flight than he did going over. I noticed he still managed to watch Spiderman III about three times during the flight. The kids did great and Becky and I even seemed to get several hours of sleep. The service on this airline is spectacular. They bring you a menu at the beginning of the flight for the two meals they serve and also provide snacks during the flights. They even know they have young passengers on board and bring them kid’s meals in advance of serving all meals. They are very polite and friendly and I can’t say enough about the quality of service. This was the flight that Becky and I were dreading the most and it turned out to be extremely comfortable for a 14 hour trip.

Flight from L.A. to Chicago

Although the flight from Hong Kong was on time, we only had two hours to go through immigration, get our luggage, go through customs and head to the domestic side of LAX. This is where the nightmare started.

We entered LAX and after some direction from one of the workers we were able to quickly proceed through immigration. We dropped off the folder containing Gracie’s paperwork so she is now a U.S. citizen. We were too tired and worried about our luggage to celebrate so we headed to the baggage claim carousel to retrieve our luggage. This place was getting very busy with all the incoming international flights. The idea here is to claim your baggage, go thru customs, drop our checked luggage off in the “checked luggage area” and walk over to the American Airlines terminal.

Everyone from our flight huddled around the baggage carousel waiting for the machine to start. After about 15 minutes, they announced on the load speaker that our flight’s baggage was moved to another carousel. We figured it was because of mechanical problems since there were workers wondering around our carousel with confused looks on their faces. We quickly moved to the new carousel and waited for our baggage. We waited and waited and waited. We finally got our luggage with only 25 minutes to make it thru customs and drop off our luggage and proceed to the domestic terminal. We quickly made it thru customs while Gracie was yelling because she was hungry at this time. The girl knows when to turn it on at the right time. We only had twenty minutes to get to the American Airlines terminal so we rushed to the luggage drop area at the exit. When we got there the workers said that area was closed and that we had to take our luggage to the American Airlines terminal next door. Becky and I couldn’t believe this. The baggage area closed at 11:30pm and it was now 11:35pm so we missed it. We didn’t have time to complain so we ran out of the international building and headed towards the building next door. Logan had one cart full of luggage, Becky had another cart full of luggage and I had Gracie in my arms running to the next terminal. We got to the next terminal with 15 minutes to go before our flight left. There was no easy way to get the luggage up a flight of stairs to the departure counter so Gracie and I took the steps while Logan and Becky looked for a way to get the luggage upstairs. Becky and Logan made it to the counter with 10 minutes to go but it was too late. We told the woman at the American Airlines area we had to make the flight to Chicago in ten minutes and she quickly said “you’re too late so you missed the flight”. We could tell by the level of customer service that we were back in the States. The woman is very lucky I had Gracie in my arms. She didn’t realize how long of a day we have had and the lack of sleep I was operating on. I could have easily ended up in the airport security from beating that woman. Becky commented that she had never seen me so mad. I took Gracie and walked away and paced for several minutes. Becky just started laughing or else she was going to start crying. Logan didn’t understand what was going on and thought we were still going to make the flight. After we calmed down, we stood in line to talk to the representative at the counter. She said the next available flight would be at 9:00am the next morning but she would put us on standby on a 6:00am flight. Logan was pretty upset by this news and buried he face into my side. The lady said we could go back over to the international terminal because the shops stayed open all night there. Becky said she couldn’t believe Gracie first night in the States and we going to spend it in the airport. Luckily the representative next to ours said there was a delayed flight to Chicago that might have some openings. Our rep checked and there were three seats available in the last row so we jumped on them. The flight was going to leave in one hour. This gave all of us a second wind. Logan was extremely happy again and was back to pestering his little sister. The time was 2:00am so I called Kevin to tell him of our new flight plans since he is going to pick us up at the airport. I didn’t realize until after I called him that it was 4:00am his time. I hoped he didn’t have trouble getting back to sleep after my call. This flight was going to get us into Chicago by 7:15am instead of 6:00am from our missed flight. The flight was uneventful and both kids slept for most of the flight.

As soon as we landed and entered the terminal we walked past a restaurant. Logan said “Dad, you smell that…………it’s American food”. He seemed to walk with a little more pep in his step. Gracie was awake and alert and ready to see what Illinois was all about. On our way to the baggage claim, Becky’s cell phone was all lit up with people calling. We quickly made it to the baggage claim and grabbed our luggage and headed for the exits. Kevin had called and said he was stuck in traffic and would be about fifteen minutes late. We didn’t mind because it was good to stand there and stretch our legs. It was suppose to be the start of a hot and humid week in the Midwest but to those of us returning from Vietnam, this seemed like it was going to be a cool day.

Kevin arrived about the time he said he would and we loaded up his van and were off to his house to visit before heading for home. Kevin and Sue had things ready for us back at their house. Sue had to work so she wasn’t able to greet us. They had bagels from the Great American Bagel Shop, cereal, and cold milk. This was the best. Logan didn’t have any problem getting enough to eat this morning. Kevin and Sue had planned for us to spend the night, if we so desired, so they had dinners ready and everything. We felt bad about them going though all that trouble for us but we traveled 10 thousand miles and all we had left was 150 miles to get to our home so we just visited Kevin until noon then headed for Forsyth. It was great to get a chance to take a shower and freshen up at their house after the long trip. Sue called from work and said she would have some open time so we stopped by to see her before we left Chicago. When we got to Sue’s office, she quickly took Gracie in her arms and toured the building showing off the new addition to the family. Everybody there was excited to meet Gracie and her brother Logan. They had heard of our trip and were happy to meet us. After about an hour visit, it was time to get on the road for home. We appreciate everything Kevin and Sue had done for us.

Gracie makes it Home

As we pulled up to the house, we saw our house decorated with a big welcome sign with lots of balloons that Jennifer Voorhees put up. That was just the start of the great welcoming we got from friends and family. As we entered our house we noticed the big bouquet of flowers from Becky’s gym buddies(Dena, Kelly, Jenny and Wendy) on the counter. There was a large bag of Del’s popcorn for us, a Lady bug necklace for Gracie and a game called “Find it” for Logan from the Lamdins on the table. There was a note from the Kupferschmids that read “dinner was in the refrigerator and all we had to do was place it in the oven.” Audrey Kupferschmid made a great little notepad for Gracie. The house was already clean because Dena, Kelly, Jenny and Wendy had the house cleaned for us while we were gone. We hope we have not forgotten anyone who provided us with a special gift. If so please forgive us. We told Gracie there was going to be a lot of people that care about us when we got home and everyone proved us right. Over the next couple of days, other people brought gifts for Gracie and food for us to eat. The love and support from everyone here has just been remarkable and we know we are truly blessed.

Logan wasn’t in the house longer than 2 minutes and he was ready to run the neighborhood. Becky and I brought Gracie in the house and then started to unload the car and unpack. This task took about two days to complete because shortly after we arrived home many people stopped by. It was great to see everybody and Gracie took all the new faces in stride. The Allsup family was running on adrenaline by now. I thought I could stay awake until 9:00pm but this proved to be a challenge. I hit a wall by 8:00pm and actually fell asleep talking to Dee and Tim from down the street. I hope they didn’t take it personal.

Becky and Logan were quick to recover from our long trip but it took me a couple of days to get my energy back. I called my supervisor on Wed to see if I could take the rest of the week off and return on Monday since we thought we would be ready for Gracie at home before we left but we didn’t have the little things from the store. My supervisor, Ralph Smith, has been very supportive and I can’t express my gratitude enough. It makes me feel great knowing that my management and company really care about my family first and the job second.

We will continue to post to our blog as events occur. We have so enjoyed sharing our joyous time with our family and friends and will present this journal to Gracie when she will appreciate it and understand her heritage and her birthplace.

Farewell To Hanoi

Day 19-21 Aug 2nd – 4th Thurs-Sat
Written Aug 4th and submitted Aug 4th

The last couple of days have all blended together. One by one the other adoptive parents have left Hanoi each day since we have received the children’s visas last Wed. The Allsup family is more than ready for the long flight home. Logan has been great but he needs more space than what the hotel has to offer. He needs to spend some time with people his own age because he is bouncing off the walls.

We are trying to find things to make the days go faster but we’re done shopping and we’ve seen every museum and local sight seeing thing there is close by. I noticed some day trips in the tourist center that we could take but they are all a 2 hour van ride from Hanoi and that doesn’t sound appealing nowadays. Our last few days have pretty much gone like the following schedule:

Go to breakfast
Walk to the tourist center to check the comments on our blog
Walk around the lake
Walk back to the hotel
Put Gracie down for her nap
Read
Play with Gracie
Go somewhere for a late lunch
Back to the hotel room to play with Gracie
Order room service
Watch the wonderful B movies on the one channel we have in the hotel room

Saturday we did the same schedule but when we put Gracie down for her nap, we started packing. This was a good feeling but when we finished our packing it was only 1:00pm so we still had a lot of day left. We are really trying to rush this last full day.

We received an email from Becky’s brother Kevin asking what we planned to do when we get to Chicago. We replied that as long as it included drinking COLD cow’s milk and eating cereal and bagels we didn’t have any set plans. We have been three weeks without milk so we have been all going threw withdraws.


Gracie first came to us just over two weeks and since then she has made some remarkable improvements physically. When we got her she didn’t grab for anything and she could barely lift her head up for more that 10 seconds at a time. Even when she was sitting up her head would hang forward. Gracie had rashes on her head, under her neck in the front and rear in which some of these were open and oozing, and a different type of rash altogether under her feet. Within one week the rashes were almost completely gone and the only rash that was still obvious was the one on the bottom of her feet. It’s amazing what a little air conditioning and a nightly bath can do to clear up the skin. After ample “tummy time”, Gracie has no problem keeping her head up and she can even start from a lying position on her back and we can pull her up (holding onto our hands of course) to a standing position. She grabs for everything that comes within reach of her and the rash under Gracie’s feet is almost gone. I think she really started to get comfortable with us after one week because that’s when she started talking to us. She sounds a lot like the cat that Logan always wanted but can’t have at home(due to allergies.) So we now get a great voice to go with her open-mouthed smiling face.

Although we are anxious to leave Hanoi, these last few days have been very important because they have enabled us to get to know Gracie better. I can’t think of an easier way for a family to spend quality time together than being sequestered to a hotel room with absolutely nothing to do. If Gracie is happy in this hotel, then I can’t wait to see her face when she gets home and is surrounded by all the people that love her.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedules to read our blog and follow our travels the last several weeks. It really means a lot to us to read the encouraging words from the people back home. Those persons that have left comments and sent personal emails have allowed us to stay connected back home during this time away and it’s proof that we have many caring and loving friends and family. Again, we are very thankful.

Precious Moments

On The Home Stretch

Day 17 & 18 July 31th & Aug 1st Tues/Wed
Written Aug 1st and submitted Aug 2nd

Visa Interview at the US Embassy (Tue)

On Tuesday we tried to pass the day playing with Gracie and reading or watching movies while she was taking her nap. Later that afternoon was the last trip to the US embassy for the second interview. We have been waiting what feels like an eternity for this stage since we have arrived here in Hanoi.

We received a call from Martin in the morning that everyone must meet at the hotel lobby at 2:00pm Tues to get cabs to the US embassy. There was Alison, Nancy, Christy, Amy, Becky, Logan and I and all with our new additions. Everyone was very excited. Most of these mothers have been here one week longer than us so they were also tasked with getting standby flights as well. Gracie was in good spirits and seemed like she was ready for the process to end too. We entered the building, climbed the stairs to the second floor, we went through security and into the same room as the previous visit. We weren’t sure exactly what was supposed to happen, but as always we expected the worst and hoped for the best. Although we all had heard this was the easy part. We didn’t have to go to the interview room as before. During this visit we were called one-by-one to a widow in the main room to show our passport and pay the $380 US for the visa. After we sat for a few minutes we were called to a second window where an officer conducted a short interview with Becky. Gracie, without warning, decided she was very hungry and started to let me know rather loudly so I quickly made her a bottle while Becky finished the short 3 minute interview. Gracie finished her bottle and she was happy again. We took our seats and waited for the other to finish their turn. Logan and I decided to go across the hall and buy some hats as souvenirs of our travels to the embassy. There was a woman across the hall in another office that was selling the items so Logan and I went there. While I bought some hats, Logan thought it would be a good idea to go in the hall and run up and down the flight of stairs. As I walked out of the office after buying the hats, the security personnel were on their way to tell Logan to stop going up and down the steps. I smiled at the woman and said I was sorry and told Logan they would probably throw him in irons if she got to him first. Logan is just dying to just run around and play. We’re almost home buddy. All the interviews were complete within an hour and we were on our way back to the hotel. In twenty-four hours (Wed) we will have Gracie’s visa and the only thing stopping us from coming home is our flight doesn’t leave until Sunday.


The rest of the night we walked the Old Quarter to do some shopping. We dropped by the tourist center to read the comments on the blog. We sure appreciate all the comments from the special folks back home. Gracie just doesn’t realize how much she will be loved by her extended family and friends, but she will soon find out. We stopped by an outside shoe store to see about getting Logan some tennis shoes. Becky found a good deal for $15 US. Logan doesn’t mind walking the streets if we are buying for him. As Becky and Logan looked at the shoes, a merchant selling books approached Gracie and I. He started by asking if she was Vietnamese and how old she was and that he had a daughter at home the same age. This guy didn’t realize that I have been here over two weeks so I knew the drill but he was good. He finally asked my to buy some paperback books on the Vietnam War or some DVD’s so I quickly told him I have bought everything I wanted in the last two weeks and the only thing left to buy was my son’s tennis shoes so “NO THANKS.”. This night for some reason the merchants were especially pesky because he wouldn’t leave and was soon joined by the cigarette lighter salesman. I kept telling him I didn’t smoke but I don’t think he understood because he kept asking me to buy. Gracie seemed to take it in stride. Becky and Logan finished so I just left the two peddlers standing there and we headed for the hotel.

Gracie was very tired. She had sort of a mad cry so we got her ready for bed and fed her a bottle in which she practically cried through the whole thing then we put her to bed. This was the first night since she had been with us that she acted this way. She was screaming bloody murder. At first we thought she might be hurting. We did everything the baby manual(did we tell you she came with a manual, just kidding) said to do but nothing worked so we just put her in her crib and within minutes she calmed down and went to bed. The rest of us watched the movie Ice Princess on TV (remember, we only have one channel) then went to sleep.

The Day We Received the Visa (Wed)

This was a long day. The days seem to get longer the closer we get to leaving. After breakfast we went to check on some items that Becky had ordered. We met Christy and Grace at the lobby and went to a few shops not far from the hotel. Becky needed to pickup the diaper bag she had made and check to see how the painting of Logan and Gracie was coming along. If it was being painted in that studio then we were hoping to take a picture of it being worked on. The sales woman said the artist was working on it at another studio or at home. I didn’t quite understand where but just not there, but they said it will be done on Thursday. We stopped by another store to buy a decorative plate made of bamboo and then headed back to the hotel. We went to the room to let Gracie get a two hour nap and then headed to the VinCom Plaza with Christy and Grace to get smoothies and coffee at Gloria Jeans so we could get a break from the Old Quarter. Logan got his opportunity to play on the escalators again so he was happy. Poor kid is starting to get delirious. Both babies were very good on the trip. We had to meet Martin back at the hotel around 5:00pm because he was going to drop off the final paperwork. We didn’t want to be late for this meeting so we jumped into a cab about 4:30pm and sped towards the Old Quarter. We all went to our rooms to wait for the call but by 6:00pm Martin hadn’t called yet so we made up our minds to eat downstairs in the hotel restaurant. Before we left to eat, Christy called and said that she talked to Alison (quite the network here) and she said Martin had everyone’s visas but Nancy’s was not correct so they were trying to fix it for her. Nancy is supposed to fly out tonight so if they can’t fix it by 6:00 tonight, then she will miss her flight again because she will have to wait until tomorrow to get her son’s visa. Nancy has already been here a week longer than us so she was more than ready to go home.

We had to wake Gracie to go to dinner or she wouldn’t sleep tonight. Even though she only had about 30 minutes of sleep, she seems to always be happy when she wakes. We went down to dinner and soon after Christy and Grace joined us. While we were eating Nancy stopped by our table and said everything had been taken care of and she was on schedule to leave tonight. We were all very relieved for her. We eventually met Martin at our table so Becky went upstairs with him to go over the paperwork and give them their gifts we brought from the states. She was only gone about 10 minutes. We have all Gracie’s papers and passport and all we have to do is step on US soil and she will be a United States citizen. Wow!

After dinner we all retired to our rooms. Amy had to run to the store because she was leaving at 8:00am the next morning so we sat her Collett while she gone. She and Gracie played on the bed together then they both started to get hungry and tired. About that time, Amy returned to get Collett and Becky got Gracie ready for bed. Gracie gave me a run for my money tonight trying to take her bottle. She was throwing another fit like the night before. She was fed, burped, clean diaper, and everything else we could thinkof and she still cried so we put her to bed and she cried herself to sleep. She was out in less than 5 minutes.

Logan watched one of his DVD’s, I typed my journal (2 days worth) and watched some TV while the rest of the Allsup family went to sleep.

LIfe Is Good

Day 16 July 30th Monday
Written July 31st and submitted July 31st

Today starts the week of waiting for the magical phone call. We are waiting for a call from our caseworker that says the investigation has been completed and Gracie’s visa has been approved. Several people here at our hotel have been waiting a little longer than they have expected so everyone is on pins and need. We hope to get the approval before our flight this Sunday.

The four of us awoke from our sleep and everyone seemed healthy. Logan is much better now except for being a little plugged up and Becky is running about 90 percent, which for everything she went through the night before that sounds pretty good. Gracie is always so smiley in the morning and always happy to see us. She has her classic open mouth smile that always reminds us why we made the trip.

Once we got ready, we went downstairs for breakfast. This wasn’t a good breakfast day for Logan because there wasn’t much on the menu he wanted. He managed to find a couple of items that he would eat and then he grabbed the room key from Becky and headed to the room to get on the computer. Becky and I sat with Alison, who has been here a week longer than us and is still waiting for her baby’s visa to be approved by the US embassy. We really hope she gets approved soon because like everyone else she’s ready to go home. After a quick meal, Becky, Gracie, and I headed back to the room to begin our wait by the phone like everyone else.

About an hour later, Becky called Christy to see if she was going to some shop a couple of blocks away and that she would like to join Christy. So the two of them left for some shopping and Logan, Gracie, and I settled in for the morning. It was about an hour later that I heard the phone ring from the bedroom. I yelled at Logan to answer the phone because the phone in the bedroom doesn’t work that well. By the time I got in the front room to see who was on the phone, Logan had the phone in his hand but said nobody was on it. I picked up the phone and said hello. Martin, our caseworker, was on the other end. He must not have known what to say when Logan greeted him. Martin told me that our visa had been approved and that the interview will be sometime Tue afternoon and that he would call us tomorrow when he gets the appointment from the embassy. He said he was trying to call Christy’s room because her baby’s visa had been approved as well so if I could let her know, then that would be great. Matter of fact all the visas had been approved for the parents in our hotel and the Melia. I told Martin that was excellent news and when I got off the phone Logan was looking at me funny because he has never seen his dad dance like that before. I haven’t been that relieved in a long time and I couldn’t wait to tell the girls when they returned from the shopping trip. Logan was happy but he’s a man with little emotion unless he just bought a gameboy game and can’t figure out how to advance to the next level. Then his emotions really come out of him.

About 30 minutes after Martin’s phone call, I heard the girls in the hallway so I opened the door and told Christy to step inside because I had some news. The girls were ecstatic. Christy and Grace have a flight early Thursday morning so getting our visas on Wed means she can make her flight. We decided to meet for dinner for a little celebration meal.

Becky soon got on the computer to email Todd, our travel agent, to see if we can get us a sooner flight. Our current flight has us leaving Sunday so we are going to try to leave Thursday or Friday. The worst case is that we would have to wait until Sunday. We will fly into Chicago Monday 8/6 at 6:00 am. Just knowing the paperwork is complete and all we have to do is wait is good enough for me at this point.

We didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. I ran down to the tourist center to read the comments on the blog. I copied the comments to an email and then mailed it to ourselves so Becky could read them in the hotel room. Logan got his fill of movies and video games that afternoon. We could tell Logan was feeling much better now because he was having fun pestering his little sister. As soon as we told him it was time to read for 30 minutes, all of a sudden he was hungry or tired or something else was wrong with him. We knew then that he was back to his old self.

Late in the afternoon, Gracie was sleeping so Logan and I went down to happy hour for some snacks. Every day between 2:30-4:30pm the hotel has snacks laid out for the guests. They usually include about five different types of pastries or baked goods and Logan usually likes them. We took our seat at the front window to watch the people on the street. I explained to Logan the events that will be taking place this week so we would definitely be home on Monday. I asked him what’s the first thing he’s going to do when we get back home and he said PLAY! I don’t blame him because he’s been cooped up with nothing but mom and dad and other adults for the past two weeks but he’s done an excellent job. I told him it was important that he came on this trip because Gracie’s going to have many questions about the place where she was born and she is going to be asking him questions. It will mean a lot to her when she gets older that her brother was there when we received her from the orphanage and that we spent the time in the hotel room getting to know her. Logan seemed to take it in.

As usual when sitting at the front table next to the window, street merchants still like to come up to the window and show you their goods. The cyclo drivers will stop in front of the window as well and wave at you to take a ride with them. Even sitting behind the glass in the security of the hotel, Logan has a hard time with this. He will slouch down in his chair to try to get out of their line of sight. I told him they can’t come in the hotel but he just doesn’t like people standing there looking at him. I just smile and wave back and eventually they move on. About an hour later Becky and Gracie joined us at the front window. Gracie just woke from her nap and she was happy as usual. After a short while, we went to the room to call Christy to see if they were ready to go to our celebration dinner.

We all headed out to dinner about 5:30 to a new place that Becky and Christy found earlier in the day. It was a small place that served Western food but this was the first place that was a little smoky. As soon as the waitress brought our food, Gracie decided she wanted to eat NOW! She is pretty good about letting you know she is hungry but this time we received no type of warning. So we quickly made her a bottle and she was happy again. On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a shop that Logan had spotted earlier that sold gameboy games and purchase a game for Logan. They’re only $6.50 US per game so it’s hard not to buy them while we are over here.

We went back to the room and Becky got on the computer and Logan played his new game. Becky and I got Gracie ready for bed and she went fast asleep. Logan and I watched a terrible movie because there was only one channel then we went to sleep

Halong Bay Pics

Halong Bay Pictures

Halong Bay Trip

Day 14 & 15 July 28th & 29th Friday
Written July 30th and submitted July 28th

This weekend we decided to leave the hotel and venture out to a place called Halong Bay.

We were a little concerned about the trip because Logan developed a slight fever and his sinuses were a little plugged. We gave him some Motrin and that seemed to bring his fever down. Becky and I thought he could have a fever and sit in the hotel or have a fever and sit on the boat in Halong Bay so we decided to go.

The bus was going to pick us at the hotel lobby at 7:30am so we had to get up early and downstairs to breakfast early. Logan and I went to breakfast ahead of Becky while she finished up on a few things and when we returned I started getting Gracie ready while Becky took her turn at breakfast. We made it to the lobby right on time. Christy and her daughter Grace were already waiting for us. I was surprised to see them already in the lobby since Christy is by herself because her husband David had to go back to the States a couple days ago.

We sat in the lobby for about 15 minutes before the van arrived. During this time, Tracy, Amy, and Max entered the lobby door from the Melia hotel to meet their transportation from our hotel. While we sat there some of the local people were looking across the street with concerned looks on their faces and they were speaking in their native tongue. Apparently an old woman got her foot ran over by a truck in front of our hotel. So far I have seen quite a few accidents while we have been here.

The van pulled in front of the hotel and the tour director (Phuong) entered the hotel to get our tickets and check our names on the list. She was a young woman who spoke good enough English to understand things normally on the first try. We grabbed our bags and threw them in the back of the van then took our seats up front. Phuong announced that there would be 14 people traveling with us today. We all looked in back of the van and tried to imagine how we were all going to fit. We made our rounds to other hotels in the Old Quarter to collect the other riders. Every square in the van was occupied. There was a couple from Holland. The young woman was originally from Vietnam but her parents moved to Thailand after the war then eventually moved to Holland. Her boyfriend had studied in America so he was very familiar with our country. One family with two boys about the same age as Logan was from the Philippines and the last group was from Korea. The Koreans were only traveling to Halong with us because they were staying at a hotel on land.

The ride to Halong Bay was about three and a half hours. They do give you a break about half way at a tourist trap. The prices here are jacked up pretty high for even US levels so we didn’t get much. We got the babies out of the van to get them a change of scenery. After buying Logan a couple of cans of Pringles and Becky an ice cream cone, we loaded back into the van to finish the journey. During the trip, the babies did great. Becky and I passed Gracie back and forth so she could see some different faces and this seemed to appease her. She seems like she is going to be a good traveler just like her brother was when he was her age. As we left the busy streets of Hanoi, the landscape started to turn more rural. When we crossed the Red River, the director was standing at the front of the van and started asking us Vietnamese trivia to see if anyone has learned anything from our stay here. We were able to get a few of the questions correct. Some of the people were starting to drift from the trivia test and you could get a sense that the director (Phuong) was starting to get annoyed at this. Especially when Becky and Christy were joking and laughing directly seating in front of her. Phuong eventually sat back down so we could watch the landscape in peace and quiet. The highway took us pass many manufacturing plants, long stretches of rice fields, and through several small towns with many small buildings with shopping and eateries that all looked the same from the road. We could see some large steep mountains in the far off distance but the highway was relatively flat. As we started to get closer to Halong Bay, we started driving past large rocks. These were the size of small mountains and were sitting in areas by themselves. It looked as though something has just placed them randomly in their positions. These landmasses were anywhere from 1/8 to a 1/4 kilometer in diameter to 1/8 to a 1/4 kilometer in height. They were really fascinating to look at and their numbers began to increase as we got closer to our destination.

Halong Bay

We passed over a large modern suspension bridge as we entered the bay area. The city of Halong Bay has a population of 9,000 residents but it’s a typical tourist town filled with many hotels and restaurants. We stopped at the docks that were located in the heart of the city. There were many other tourists eagerly waiting to get to the boats. We unloaded the van and followed Phuong towards the main building that was the entrance to the docks. We could see many junkets tied to the docks. The junkets were all basically the same style of boat. They were made of what look like mahogany wood and had two levels. The bottom level is the cabins and the second level is the dinner room with a sundeck on top. All the boats had slight variations to them. Ours had a shorter dining room but had an area on the front of the boat with a table under a roof. This was excellent because we sat outside in the shade while cruising the bay. After a short wait at the entrance we followed our guide to the end of the pier. There had to be 50 or 60 boats all along the pier parked side to side. Our boat was on the other side of another boat so we had to step on to one boat then walk across it and step on to our boat on the other side with our luggage and Gracie in our arms. There weren’t any handrails so you had to be very careful not to drop anything into the water.

The dock was very busy and we had to wait about an hour on the boat before the captain finished his paperwork. Our group boarded the boat and climbed the flight of steps to the dining area were we grabbed a table for our small group (Becky, Logan, Gracie, myself, Christy, and Grace). Everyone had to show their passports in order to spend the night on the boat; compliments of a communist country. These boats can produce of lot of black smoke from their diesel engines so every time a boat went to leave a portion of it would drift into our boat. The dining area had many large windows which were open and every table had a fan mounted on the bulkhead (wall) so it was quite pleasant even though the sun was very hot. The benches were make of wicker and had plenty of padding and there was plenty of space for three people. The paperwork was finalized and the passports were given back to us so we were ready to set sail. It was fun to watch the other boats pull into the dock because they didn’t worry about docking these boats without bumping into one another. It was kind of like watching bumper cars but not quite so bad. We left the dock and cruised for only about twenty minutes. The guide told us we were going to have lunch out in the bay. There was a nice breeze coming through the windows and Gracie was asleep on the bench between Logan and I. The crew started to bring the food to the table plate by plate. Eventually we have about 7 different plates of food to share among us. There was chicken, fish, tofu, rice, sprouts (grass), and a few other things we tried but we had no idea what is was, but it appeared safe. Becky and I shared a bottle of white wine with our meal. Logan wasn’t crazy about much of the lunch but he was able to find a few items he liked with one of them being squid.

Cave Tour

Our guide went through the itinerary when we boarded the boat and she seemed very determined for us all to acknowledge that we understood it. She repeated herself many times so I got confused and it seemed like we were cramming four days of activities into two short days. Anyway I think we were supposed to eat lunch in the bay, cruise to the cave for a walking tour and then cruise some place to go kayaking in another cave before finally anchoring in the cove for dinner.

We finished our meal then the boat headed for the cave. We left the area by the city and headed out in the bay. In the bay, several kilometers away from the dock are all the tiny islands that stretch all the way to China. These rock formations are just beautiful. The guide, who by this time has been nicknamed the “tour guide nazi” after the “soup nazi” from the Sienfield show, said that there were two thousand of these islands. The name Halong means deep dragon because the rocks look like humps on dragon coming out of the water. This place is just spectacular with its natural beauty. I can see why it’s on the list for voting of the new natural wonders of the world. It truly has my vote. We cruised for about an hour before we got to the cave located in one of these tiny islands. The small dock had about ten junkets tied up to each other side by side so our boat just bumped right up into the boat at end and dock. We grabbed the babies and followed our guide to the entrance of the cave. Our guide said to stay close to her because there would be many people in the cave. The steps to the cave were many and steep. We probably climbed about 80 feet to the opening of the cave and by this time we all had a pretty good sweat going. I figured the cave would cool us down since it is under ground. Not in Vietnam. Even the underground caves are hot and humid. The cavern inside was plenty spacious. The height from floor to ceiling was about 40 feet in some areas. It was easy getting around in the cave because they had cut tiled steps into the rock floor. This is where the guide got her nickname. She pointed out many rock formations and told us to use our imaginations to see if we could guess what they were suppose to be. If we didn’t agree with her, then she seemed to get upset. If people started to not pay attention to her, then she again got very annoyed with this. This of course made Becky and Christy crack more jokes. On about the sixth rock formation our guide pointed to, I finally got tired of agreeing with her and I said it looked like a triple scoop ice cream cone and Christy agreed with me. The rest of our group then smiled and agreed so I think you could chalk one up for our team. We finally get to the exit and we were all ready to get back to the boat. As we descended the steps from the cave, we passed by little areas with refreshments and souvenirs for sale. Becky and Christy stopped to look while Logan and I continued to the boat. We all eventually made it back to the boat where we continued our cruise. The boat cruised through the tiny islands on our way to the place to get kayaks. During this part of the cruise Logan was sitting at one of the diner tables playing his gameboy while we were sitting at the table on the front of the boat talking to the couple from Holland. Logan went to leave the table and he accidentally pulled the tablecloth with him and broke a small vase sitting on the table. He then placed it back on the table and went about his business. We then approached this little manmade floating island. It was a cluster of short walkways with little huts on it. Our boat docked and we mustered onto the front of the boat to get off to get our kayak to go to another cave they kept talking about. The guide said if we looked closely at the island, we might be able to see monkeys on the sides. At this time one of the shipmates came to the front with the broken vase and talked to the guide and was pointing at Logan. She looked at me with a concerned look on her face and said he would like to be paid for the vase. I quickly asked how much and he said 50,000 Dong (about 3 dollars). I said no problem and that I would pay him when I get back from the kayak trip. We then all proceeded to the kayaks while Becky and Christy stayed back with the babies. As Logan and I walked to the kayaks on the side of the floating island, we passed some holding areas with different types of fish in them. You must be able to purchase seafood here because you sure could smell it. The walkways were made of bamboo and loose boards for it was pretty flimsy. We made our way to the launching area for the kayaks and there was a big pile of lifejackets. All the lifejackets were the same and they were for a 300 lbs man. Some were missing zippers and other the latches were broken but we were able to find a couple that would stay on us in case we flipped. The Coast Guard would definitely shut this place down for sure. Logan and I took the next available kayak and headed for the cave. We had about a half a mile to get to the cave. It was a nice peaceful and quiet and Logan and I seemed to get a handle on the kayaking part. The water was very warm (go figure) and seemed very deep. We went past a couple of junkets anchored with people swimming from them. We eventually made it to the cave in about 20 minutes. The cave was a lot smaller than we thought it would be but it was neat to kayak through. It gets dark here at 6:30pm and it was about 6:00pm when we reached the cave so I told Logan we needed to start heading back because we didn’t want to get caught out there in the dark with the larger boats cruising around. We made our way back to the boat where we boarded our junket and waited for the others to join us. When the others were back on the boat, we headed for a calm cove to set anchor for the night.

Nighttime on the Boat

It was approximately about a 30 minute cruise to our night destination. There were already about 30 other boats in the cove surround by the rock formations. It was like being in the party cove on Shelbyville but only better.

The power to the cabins didn’t get turned on until 6:00pm so I went below to get the air conditioners started so the rooms would be cooled for bedtime. Logan had been feeling pretty good for most of the day, but we had also given him Motrin earlier in the day. The guide announced that it was time to eat dinner so we all took our seats. We chose a table that didn’t have a vase on it this time. Again they brought out about seven or eight plates of food. It was getting dark so you could see the lights from the other boats in the large cove. It was quite scenic. The food was good and I was very surprised to see Logan eating the squid again. He thought the tentacles were pretty cool. I also thought it was cool that nobody at our table was eating it except him. Shortly after we ate the babies were getting cranky and Logan’s temperature went up a little and he looked very tired so we called it a night and went below to our cabins.

The cabins were clean and spacious for a boat. They all had their own bathrooms and the air conditioners were new and worked great. Logan and I shared a double bed in one cabin and Becky and Christy shared another cabin and each had a single bed that was up against the wall so the babies would not roll off. The walls and floors of the restroom were all white tile because the room was the shower itself. The restroom contained a toilet, a sink, and a shower nozzle overhead so you just showered standing in the middle of the room (very efficient). Like Becky commented you can actually shit, shower, and shave at the same time. Becky and I gave Gracie a sponge bath in the sink and then put her to bed. Both babies were very tired and quickly went to sleep. Logan and I said good night to the girls and headed to our cabin for the night. Logan played with his gameboy for a while then we went to sleep.

Day 2 of the Boat Trip

We had to get up early to transfer boats. I don’t understand why they did this but we had to be up and ready to move to another boat by 7:00am the next morning. This is not a problem because they turned off the power and water to your room at 6:30am. Thank goodness we took our showers that night before going to bed. You have to shower at night here just to get the layer of sweat off of you. Becky already had things ready to go. We grabbed our bags and headed for the second deck. A boat pulled along side of us and tied up. The guide said it was time to board the other boat. Instead of climbing down to the bottom level and loading on to the boat we stepped onto the roof of our boat and then stepped onto the roof of the new boat. It was very strange. There is a three foot overhang that runs around the second deck that matched up with overhang on the new boat. This is what we used to board the new boat. It just didn’t seem that safe but we made it. After I crossed to the new boat, I grabbed my camera because I had to get a picture of Christy making this crossing with Grace in hers arms. She said her husband David will crap when he sees this.

We made it onto the other boat successfully and the boat we spent the first day on sped away. This boat was very similar without the seating area in front of the dining area so I’m glad we spent most of our time on the first boat. We made our way to an island that had a swimming beach. We had a hour of free time on this island were you could do more kayaking, swim on the beach, or climb to the top for the view. Christy, with her daughter Grace strapped to her, and Becky climbed the stairs to the top while Logan, Gracie, and I went to the beach were Logan swam. The water was clear and you could see small schools of small fish swimming by. The stairs to the top of the island looked very steep and to reach the top was about a couple of hundred feet. It actually took Becky and Christy ten minutes to climb all the steps to the tops. When the girls returned, Logan and I took our turn climbing to the top of the stairs. This was very exhausting. Thank goodness they scheduled this part of the tour at 8:00am because it was already hot. Logan started to poop out on me so I kept telling him just around the corner but after the fifth or sixth time, he stopped believing me. I could eventually see the top so this motivated him. At the top was just breathtaking. You could see for miles and in all direction were these little islands. It was worth the climb to the top. I can’t believe Christy climbed it with her daughter strapped to the front of her. Logan hit the water again as soon as we descended to the bottom where he cooled off before loading back on the boat. It was time to cruise back to the dock at HaLong city. We cruised another two hours back to the dock where we grabbed our bags and followed our guide through the mob of tourist and to the restaurant for our last meal. The restaurant was located within a short walk of the dock. We entered and quickly realized we were in trouble because it was noon and this place was not air conditioned. We took our table in the back and under the slowest ceiling fan in the entire place when the servers started bringing all the plates of food. They eventually filled the entire table with all different types of dishes. It’s hard to eat when its 90 plus with tons of humidity in the air, but we managed to eat a little because we knew we had a three and a half hour drive ahead of us. The guide said we had an hour a half for lunch. We looked at ourselves in horror at the fact that we were going to be there for that long. We ran into Amy in front of the restaurant and she said the hotel across the street had air conditioning in the lobby so after we ate we headed for this place to wait out the rest of our time there.

The Van Ride back to Hanoi

With just ten minutes before the van was scheduled to leave, we made our way back to the front of the restaurant to meet the others for our ride back. We couldn’t wait to get in the air conditioned van. The signal was finally given by the guide to go to the van. Everyone loaded into the van and off we went back to Hanoi. The only problem was I kept waiting for the air conditioner to get cold and it never did. Logan and I were in the front seat and the sun was beating through the front window. I fanned myself the whole time back to Hanoi; it was just miserable. Becky and Christy were seated just behind us and Becky said she could just feel very little cool air. Poor Christy had the guide fall asleep next to her and had her head resting on her along with her daughter Grace on her. We finally made our way to a resting place that was just like the tourist trap we stopped at on the way to HaLong Bay. We grabbed some ice cream and stretched our legs for about 15 minutes before loading back into the oven for the remainder of the trip. We finally made it back to Hanoi where they dropped us off first. It may have helped that the babies were crying and everyone wanted us out. We quickly went to our room and cranked up the air conditioning.

The Intestinal Attack

A couple of hours later I started to get hungry and asked if Becky and Logan wanted to go get something to eat. Becky hadn’t felt to good since we got back from the trip so she said she wasn’t interested. When Logan and I finally got ready to go, Becky wasn’t doing well at all so Logan, Gracie, and I went to get something to eat and let her lie down and rest. We were gone about 45 minutes and when we returned, Becky looked terrible. She had the chills but no fever so that was good but she knew things were stirring inside her. After I gave Gracie her bath, I laid her next to Becky on the bed to put get her dressed for bed. Becky quickly got up and headed for the bathroom. I think it was this time that she was about to explode. I could hear her moan and call my name but I had to tell her I was busy with Gracie. Luckily Logan was feeling much better. We could tell this because he was pestering his sister. When Becky yelled for a cold towel to put on her face, I told Logan if he ever wanted to breathe again he would follow his mother’s instructions to the T. I couldn’t believe it but he did what he was supposed to do. He must have felt his mother’s urgency in her voice. Gracie took her bottle and quickly went to sleep. Becky eventually made it out of the restroom and took a couple of pills to firm things up a bit and went to bed. Logan and I watched the movie Narnia then went to bed.

It was good to get away for the weekend to get our minds off the adoption process. Sometimes sitting around the hotel we have time to speculate what is going or not going to happen so this was a great break. I’m also glad to go to HaLong Bay to see a different side to Vietnam. Hanoi has been a good experience but it’s great to see it’s natural beauty as well.

Gracie & Logan