Here we go again!!!

• Well, who would have guessed that being new parents of a 2 1/2 year old would be time consuming. I must admit I did give up on the plan to blog after a few months since we were giving out most important information to family and friends real-time once we were back in this hemisphere.

• Here's the thing. Ollie is now 4. She has grown incredibly and her development has just been accelerating. But we feel she and we are missing something every time we see a sibling group, so as we have already announced to most of our family, we are going for it again.

• As soon as I come up with a catchy Blog name I will be starting a new one tracking our progress.

• Since we don't have a waiting child all picked out like we did with our lovely Olivia, the process is different for us, but more like the usual experience other families go through. We have already looked a two files but did not feel we could provide the right home for either child. Happily, they both already found their forever families.

• So, I will be updating the new blog often after doing some catching up. Best cheer to all!!!

We're Home!!!!

Well, aside from some jet lag issues, we are here and happy!

John, our pet sitter, home sitter, and with his permission to state it, best friend, took great care of everything, and made our transition 1000% easier.

I am going to start a new blog, since Adoption Bound no longer applies... We got there!

Check back soon, and we'll have the new site up. Hopefully later today.

Until then, this would be one of the last shots from Hanoi. Someone was getting tired of having her photo taken.

We call that sumo face.

goin home!

This is it for RnRnO in VietNam!
We leave in just a few hours. Looks like we made it through.
Ollie is in my lap and wants to do some typing, but she keeps going to some other website, so keeping this short.
More in a couple of days. Thanks for all the support frm everyone back home and at work.
See you all soon!!!

Handicraft Vilage Tour

Alright, here I go to try to catch up. Ollie is napping, so it looks like a nice time to get at least one update out.

One of the tours we took last week was to four different villages where they produce some of the hand made goods for local and export use.
Ollie had a good time, and Mom and Dad got to see a lot more of her country so we can tell her about it later.

We visited a village of ceramic shops. The prices were great and it was interesting to see some of the operations.














The next village did Lacquer work. The primary location was under construcion, so we visisted a family shop nearby. The kids toys in the picture are there because that is where they play, next to their parents doing hundreds of bamboo and lacquer bowls, picture frames, and boxes











We visited a silk mill. The picture shows the primary silk producers hard at work.
Our driver also got pretty lost on a back road that could truly be called a water buffalo track. Got to see a duck farm in action.

We also visited a rattan factory. No great pix from there. It was a rough trip, so it is not recomended to anyone traveling with a toddler, but would be good with an infant.

OK, looks like I have time for one more post...

Getting back on the blog...

Hello all from VietNam!

Yep, we dropped off the grid temporarily, or at least I did, due to a horrible rhinovirus infection, that had me feeling pretty lousy. I was up and active as a new Dad as well as world travellor, but by the time I got home each day, I did my best to help out the Robin, then collapsed thanks to some of the OTC cold meds we brought with.

So, I'll be getting up to speed as quickly as possible. Sorry for the delay and any concern it may have fostered. We are all alive, well, and closer and closer to getting on the Thai Airways flight back.

So... Here we go!

This is the elephant that was next to the road yesterday, just walking along.

Water Puppet Theater

We really enjoyed the Water Puppet Theater. Ollie had a great time, and followed the show better than we did. Plus, she clapped along to the beat on our hands. We are positive she has some musical talent there (doting again, I know)

The theater is performed to traditional music. The concept originated as entertainment for he field workers, (rice paddies are perfect for water puppets) but has evolved somewhat to include pyrotechnics and very intricate puppet play. All the puppets are operated via bamboo poles underwater fro behind a screen.

Usually there are at several puppets out there at the same time. There is a lot of narration in Vietnamese, so if you go, bring an interpreter.

I did a lot of digital video, but I hope the images capture the show pretty well.

At the end, the puppeteers come out for a bow. Hip waders are not optional.

More later!

Rich

Waiting in Hanoi

We've been busy touring Hanoi while waiting for paperwork. Our visa extensions came through so at least we are legal. Hien/Ollies US Visa and passport may be done at the end of the week with a little luck. We've had a good chance to get to know her better while touring around. She constantly amuses Robin and I with her sense of humor. I keep thinking how amazing it is that she is so positive even though her life has been turmoil for a couple of weeks thanks to these two strange people. But she gives us hugs, rides in the cabs and tour cars in out laps (no seat belts for a car seat most of the time here) and plays and laughs and sings and is just a sweet wonderful little girl. She is getting more nutritious solid food than in her past too so her skin and hair look better.
We can't wait to go back to the US. Based on notes from our pet/house sitter John, as well as some very good photos, the season change has really taken off, and temps have dropped along with leaves. Here it has been in the 80-90s most of the time, and the humidity is incredible. Add to that the haze from rice paddy burnings (normal part of agriculture apparently), and the weather has been strange. We all sneeze and cough pretty often.
This has been the a lifetime experience, and we absolutely plan to go again, probably for a brother for Ollie, or at least to show Ollie her homeland when she is older. Maybe next time we'll rent scooters for the whole experience... but not likely.
Any way, the next entry will be about the last two days. As say, we have been touring around. We'll be doing adoption work Wednesday and hopefully Thursday and Friday too.