We have the VISA!!!

Paul went to the embassy for us today at 4pm and Rylie's VISA is issued so we are out of here!!!! We can't wait to be home. Everything was issued correctly, so we don't have to go back tomorrow..now to get everything back in the suitcases....

John, Ry and I went to the old part of the city today and to a "mall".We were not at all impressed with Hanoi. We liked HCMC so much, so this was quite a disappointment...luckily, the Sheraton is beautiful and the staff is exceptional...especially with the babies. We think Rylie is teething...she bites everything..HARD!!!! Her two little teeth leave a mark!

I'll upload the few pics I have..not sure if I'll blog anymore before we get home. We are sooooooooo dreading the flights!!! She so active and there is no room for that!

See you all soon.

pictures UPLOADED!!!!

Embassy Interview Today!

Sorry all..as of now I have tried for an hour to upload pictures...they won't upload. So I'll try again right before I go to bed. Today went well..we got up and went for a walk around the hotel grounds (beautiful gardens!!!) and the village around it. The Sheraton is actually outside of the city part of Hanoi. Not far, just not nearly as busy...also LOUSY shopping nearby, so tomorrow we'll look around old city more. HCMC is definetely the place to shop!!! The visa/exit interview was a breeze and no one in our group had any trouble. Afterwards, we came back and had celebratory cocktails in the hotel lobby bar. It was a fun little party!! I took some pics of Ry and the other kids playing, I'll try to upload again later.

Hanoi and Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!! Lexi, did the Easter bunny come? He came here and brought Rylie the new horse toy you can see in the pictures. Today we flew to Hanoi in business class and it was wonderful!!! There was room for us to put a blanket on the floor in front of us for Ry to play!!! I told her not to get used to it cause we won't have that space on the long ride home. All is wee here, we are all checked into the Hanoi Sheraton. I'll try to post each day we are here. We have our embassy appt tomorrow at 330 and then if all goes well, we will have the Visa Tuesday at 5..then HOME!!!!!! if its all good. That is the last step!! Enjoy the pics...see all the babies!!

Another Hot Day

Today we went on a cyclo tour of the city which was quite fun and a great way to see the city, people, and traffic. I posted some pictures for you to see the traffic, but it really can't be imagined unless you are here. The cyclo tour went all over the city, to a temple and to the lacquerware factory. It was very interesting to see how its made.

Tonight everyone was beat, so Rylie, John, and I went to an italian place for dinner...John loves the lasagna..and then went to pick up a few things I had ordered at different stores.

I have a migraine, so thats all I can post tonight. Enjoy the pictures..sorry it is not the 138,000 Lexi requested.

Shopping, Shopping, & more shopping!!

Today was a free day, so we got up and went to the New World Hotel for breakfast around 1030 and then shopped for a while. Up until today, we really hadn't bought much..today we did. We figured whatever we were buying, now is the time..tomorrow we are doing a cyclo tour in the afternoon and Saturday we have to figure out how to get everything back in the suitcases to go to Hanoi. We also wanted to find different bottles for Rylie..she seems to be getting lots and lots of air in the ones we brought, so we went and bought Avent ones today. She liked them and seemed to get less air, so I need to get more of them when I get home. Thats unlike her sister who would only drink from the cheap bottles!!! She was a bit fussy this afternoon and early evening (her nose seems kind of stuffy and she has a little cough) so we ordered dinner in and then she crashed for a while, John watched a movie and I went and got a 2 hour hot rocks massage..$21!!!! Can't beat that! Enjoy the few pictures, I'll take more tomorrow. The one of John is him shooting at the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Busy Day!

Today had a lot going on..First we had to go to Vietnam Airlines to book our flights to Hanoi, at 830 AM. We are flying out of HCMC to Hanoi on Easter at 2pm. Everyone was able to get the business class seats we wanted. It was only $34 more than coach!! Too bad the big flights are about $8000 more for business class..oh well. After that we had to go for Rylie's exit physical at Cho Ray hospital. The exam was fine, its an experience seeing the hospital though. After that we saw the hospital where both Rylie and Lexi were born. Finally we went for Ry's VISA picture...there are so many steps!!! Thank God for Sandy and Paul!! We went out to Al Frescos with Sandy and Paul and their adorable kids tonight. Not too many pics cause of all the "business" today!

We did include a shot of her eating her biter biscuit (banana flavored)..she loves them. We also ate fruit for the 1st time today..pears!!! They don't have any plain fruits except pears, so pears it was. We may try the banana/pear combo soon. The selection is not that good, so if she doesn't go for it, we'll stick to the cereal and pears til we get home. She ate 1/3 of the jar on the 1st try.

Hanoi interview set!

Today we received news that our last US interview will be in Hanoi on Monday at 330 pm, so we will be able to leave Vietnam a bit earlier than expected. Our flights are changed so that we will arrive home at noon on Friday, instead of Tues the 17th...so 5 days early!!! Today we filled out paperwork for Hanoi and then went to lunch and shopped a bit..then Rylie and John hung out in the A/C while I went to the grocery store and to change our flights. Its all in the Diamond Plaza, a really nice building and fancy department store.

Tonight we went to the Rex hotel for dinner as a whole group. It was nice and we got to know Regina and Terri a bit better, and their precious baby girl Lia..they live so close to us, right over the bridge in Jersey.

Tomorrow is the "official" physical at Cho Ray hospital..and we have to go book our flights on Vietnam Air in the AM..We leave for Hanoi on Easter.

Kisses for Lexi!!! We miss you baby girl!!!

CIS Interview Today!

Today was our 1st of 2 US interviews. It went fine, as we expected it to. There was no drama for any of the 6 families in our group, so that was wonderful. We also got Rylie's passport today, so we are moving forward..so far, so good. Our schedule for the rest of the week, if all goes as planned is: Tues- free, Wed- hospital check up for the baby and a visit to Tu Du Maternity hospital where she was born, Thurs- some people are going to the Delta, but we aren't as we did it before and it don't really want to take the babe! Fri-cyclo tour of the city. We are doing that. Sat- free, Sun- Easter and probably fly to Hanoi...it depends when we get our interviews in Hanoi...we won't know that for a few days yet.

Rylie is doing great! We didn't do much today cause we had to wait to find out our appt time, etc. but her face is getting better and the cream from home came...Thanks Dad! Tomorrow we are going to try real food..baby food. We have to see what we can find at the citi market.

Enjoy the pictures.

Palm Sunday!

It seemed strange being here on Palm Sunday, just seemed like we should be somewhere else..anyway, Rylie had a good day today, very good. We went to the Ben Thahn (?) market today and didn't last too long..its very hot and smelled something awful..so we hopped a cab and went to one of the malls here..We went to Highland Coffee for a muffin and iced coffee (it feel like home there! Well, almost)..and then we found some American toys..actually a whole store of Lamaze cute bright toys..we got her the two you see in the pictures. Tonight we went to the Ren. Riverside hotel for dinner with Sandy and Paul, Todd, Eddie and Nana...and of course, the two babies (Rylie and Raz!!) The Pinkerton kids stayed home tonight! Rylie slept through a lot of dinner, so she is just playing on the floor now. Hopefully, she'll tire out soon! Last night she slept from around 10-745 am..so far we've been really lucky!! Tomorrow and Tuesday will be our groups interviews at the CIS. I'm not sure whether we'll go tomorrow or Tuesday, we find out tomorrow AM. Enjoy the pictures!