My Journey for a Family: Hanoi & Halong Bay

We are on our last day here in Vietnam. It has been a great trip. Kyle is just awesome and everything we could hope for. He has really become a part of the family and his personality is starting to shine. He smiles when he gets up in the mornings for the last 2 days and is taking all the sight-seeing and shopping in stride. He is eating food like crazy. I really expected him only to be taking a bottle... but he is REALLY hungry! Formula only is not cutting it... I figured that out on day 2. Now, he starts yelling at Jack when he sees us eatings something... like "Hey... I want some too!". He is very flexible and can bend practically in a U shape and hold his bottle with his feet. He likes to make funny faces... fish face and blowing bubbles with his mouth. He also likes to rub his forhead to mine in a loving gesture. He is very ticklish and likes to be tickled.Also, he has birth mark on his back/buttocks called a Mongolian spot which is green/blue in color. Looks like a large bruise. I asked other parents about this and they said these are common in Asian children and to be sure to get pediatrician to write in notes b/c people will think we are bruising him! He is crawling and pulling up all over the place and is definately ALL BOY. I will have my hands full. He is getting better at me changing his diaper and does not give me much fuss anymore. He is sleeping pretty well too. We leave for the States tomorrow--- so we will see how 16 hours on a plane goes!

We are enjoying Hanoi and did some fun shopping yesterday and had some ice cream by the beautiful Hoam Kiem Lake. I find the people here are friendly but not as aggressive/ overbearing when shopping as Saigon. We have eaten at some nice restaurants... but I'm ready to eat at home and not worry about Kyle pulling everything off the tables. Last night we tried to stroll around Hoam Kiem lake, but pick-pocketers kept following us... so we left. Today, a group of us went to Halong Bay... truly a beautiful place. Its a day long tour and you get a boat ride, guide, lunch, and transport to/from the bay.. plus see a beautiful cave. We had a seafood lunch... which is always interesting here... good seafood... but I wish they would remove the head/ tail and fins/ feet.... it freaks me out that my food is still looking at me! We finally figured out the taxi cabs...many of them will try to rip us off... so we figured out which ones are the good ones (with only 2 days left!)

Tomorrow, we fly out of here in the morning. It is a mixed feeling.. we have loved our time in Vietnam and had a lot of fun. But, we are also ready to be home in our own house, with "dry heat", ice cubes, meals at home, not living in a suitcase. Here are a few pictures from the last few days... a mix of beautiful, cute and some weird stuff too...

These are some brides at a park/resort where we had lunch with Joanne from our agency...