IT WAS HA LONG WEEKEND

We got up early Saturday to head to an overnight trip to Halong Bay. the van picked us up at 8 am and we started out on the 4 hour drive to Halong. If you are wondering why this little guy is smiling at me, I was because I kept trying to take his picture with his friend and their.......FULL SIZE COW HOGTIED TO THEIR MOPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It is crazy how many mopeds there are here and even crazier how much they haul on them. This is the boat, junk, that we will be staying on. Maia got into the spirit in our onboard room with a little straw hat we bought for her.

We cruised out into the bay and got off the boat to check out a cave up in the islands.
The cave was very long and had a lot of stairs up and down. We hiked for over an hour with Maia sleeping on my shoulder and Laurie carrying the 20 pound diaper bag. Charmain would be proud of our workout. Laurie and Maia got a little downtime to just sit on the beach and enjoy the sand.
They are really having fun together. She is a very good little girl, very easy to take care of and so much fun to be around.
It was a beautiful sunset.
And with night came the pitter patter of little feet. Not Maia, not elves or Riendeer, Rats! After midnight you could hear them scurrying around overhead in the walls, everywhere. Needless to say Laurie could not sleep, she had the lights on and surprise she made sure I was awake to keep her company. When she woke up her hair dryer blew a fuse and when I went to find a crew member the first one I saw was carrying a rat on a long pole trap. Not real impressive.

In the morning I took the opportunity to use a kayak and go through to a hidden bay. This was the only way in or out.

There were some interesting rock formations.
The girls were happy to see me when I got back.

We started our cruise back to Ha Long. It was filled with incredible scenery. We enjoyed a nice lunch on board during our cruise back. Laurie was able to buy some pearls for Maia from one of the crew members. We have been picking up little gifts for her that we will give to her on her Gotcha day anniverseries until she is 21.
We made it back to shore. The crew member said Laurie could pay her when we got to shore. When Laurie went to the ladies room the crew member told me to get on the back of a moped with a young girl to go pay. We zipped off to an ATM. It did not work, off we went down the road full of traffic and busses. Our third ATM finally worked. When we got back the others in the van waiting to ride back to Hanoi were not amused with our little delay.

I wish Little Maia was calling for backup. She did well the first part of the 3+ hour ride back, but had a meltdown with about an hour to go. Our fellow passengers were not impressed. We thought she did pretty well considering this was her first time in a carseat.

It was a fun trip and we will certainly never forget it. But we were very happy to get back to our little motel room and rest peacefully.

AND OUT COMES THE PERSONALITY

Today is a fun day, no appointments, no schedule. We got up early and went for breakfast. Laurie and Maia used the sling Jenna made for us. Maia is getting sillier hour by hour and her personality really came out today.

We walk past this tree everyday on our way somewhere. It is amazing how it has just become part of the architecture of the street.
These trees are really something to see, the look like something out of a horror movie up close with shapes that look like faces in the trunk.

Hanoi has a large billboard counting down the days until the city is 10,000 years old. Only 702 days to go.
We did a little sightseeing down by the lake. Maia did took her morning nap.

We had heard the nannys fed the babies every 3 hours all day and night. Maia has been taking two naps, sometimes on the fly and then going to bed at 8pm and not waking up until 6:30 am. We thought maybe the first night was a fluke, but we are halfway into night 3 and she is sound asleep.
The Wisconsin Dells Department of Public works could use a state of the art paving machine like this. It even came with the optional old man with a piece of wood scraping off the wheels while they roll. Even in Hanoi, people just can not live without their Calvin Klein Jeans.We decided to have a local artist paint a picture of Maia while we were in town. We found a cute little Vietnamese outfit, and the fashion show began. Maia and her mom had a blast making faces at me while I snapped a few photos for the artist. She is the gigliest little pistol we ever have hoped for.

Tomorrow we are going on a overnight stay to Ha Long Bay. It is supposed to be incredibly beautiful. We had hoped to visit the other orphanage or one of the foster homes of some of the children waiting for their parents. The flooding has made that impossible. The silver lining is the news of some of the travel referrals for some of those families.

We will post again after we get back on Sunday.

DAY 3 GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECIEVE

Today, Thursday, was a very important day in our adoption process. Although we have had Maia since Tuesday she was really only on loan. Today the Vietnamese government officially recognized that we are her parents and she is our child. We went to a government office in Hanoi with the other two families that accompanied us to the orphanage. There was still flooding outside this building and it very well could have been closed delaying our adoption.

We all went inside into a very small conference room and waited for the official to come in. The director of the orphanage was unable to make it due to the flooding and another staff member came in his place.
This ceremony is called the Giving and Recieving Ceremony and all the adoptions are recorded in a large book we had to sign. We had to promise to take good care of our child and provide yearly updates to the Vietnamese government until she is 18. The lady in the gray sweater represented the Vietnamese government. She gave a speach to us in Vietnamese, and Loa'n from our agency, the lady in white, interpreted for us.

The staff member from the orphanage was a lady we recognized as someone who also worked as a nanny. She took Maia from me and held her the entire time except while she signed, then took her right back again. It makes us realize just what a special child we will have the opportunity to raise, she was definitely special to many of the staff at BaVi.

By handing us this official government document the Vietnamese government and this official is congratulating us as the parents of little Maia.

After the other two families completed their paperwork and offficially recieved their children we stopped for a few photos outside. Maia with her forever Mom and Dad. We are her forever family, the 'adoption' is over, she is ours, we are hers, as real as any family could ever hope to be. We are sure that anyone who is fortunate enough to meet little Maia will never question she was destined to be with us and us with her. She is ours ery bit as much as her big brothers are.

A wonderful moment shared with the other forever families.

The little ladies with their Mothers.

The guys with the ladies who will change our lives, again.

On the way home I saw this guy carrying a water tank on his Moped. Could you imagine calling a plumber and having him show up with your new water heater on the back of his moped. I know Mcclyman Plumbing has a Moped, lets see what happens if gas goes back up to $4 gallon.

After the ceremony we met up with the other families at the Green Tangerine for a little dinner. This French restaraunt was very nice. Laurie and I were pleased to see New Zealand Steak was on the menu, I did not have the heart to tell her it was Kangaroo, Just kidding, it was very good, and saved us from ordering something random in French.

Maia says 'good night' and thank you to everyone following our blog.

Day 2 Getting to know you.

Maia got her first bath with Laurie when we got home from the Orphanage.She loved her bath and splashed around. She is very strong and can sit very well, so she did good in the big tub. With her all cleaned up the fun began. We tried different outfits on her and gave her lots of hugs and kisses.
Nothing better

We did not do much today. We spent most of the morning talking to the Boys and Jerry and Sally as well as some others who called us on skype. The video web cam on our laptop is awesome and the boys have loved being able to see Maia while they talk to us.

We ate lunch at KFC. They have several in downtown Hanoi. It is the only american restaraunt chain I have seen. It was finger licking good. There is a beautiful lake right by the KFC. Just 2 blocks from our hotel. We walked to the store to get some supplies to wash her bottles.Maia has been really good with the hats we have her wear.

We had been told that due to the flooding our process would be delayed up to a week. We would have our Giving and Recieving ceremony on Saturday or Monday and not be able to apply for a passport until that was done. Passports take a week and are needed for the next step. We got some good news and found out a few strings may have been pulled. I told Laurie it was because I told Loan, our agency escort, about her father and mother alone with our three boys at home and that after 3 weeks Jerry might look up Dr. Kevorkian.

Laurie and Maia stayed at the motel while I went out with the other families to apply for the girls passports. We were able to expidite the process with a slight injection to the vietnamese economy. We felt like celebrating the fact we were back on track to return to the US on time and went out for dinner.
Dinner was awesome, the food was ok. Al Fresco's had some pretty good ribs and chicken. The french fries were the best. Maia decided it was her turn to feed me. She would take a bite feed me a bite then giggle. Day 2 and she has daddy right where she wants him, tightly wrapped around her little finger. The giggles are just starting to come out, we think she is getting more comfortable with us. She still has not let us put her down. She won't sit by herself walk or stand. She just wants to be held. Not a bad problem for a baby we waited 3 years to hold! Maia got a chance to color on the paper tablecloth with her first cranyons.

Laurie is so proud, her favorite toy so far is her light up toothbrush. She had done a good job scrubbing her little teeth four in front on top and four more on the bottom. She also has 2 molars. 10 teeth for her mommy to fuss over.

Tomorrow we go to the Giving and Recieving Ceremony. That is when she officially becomes ours. It is hard to describe how someone you never met can become the center of your life in one day. Logan, Reid and Grant will be overwhelmed with love for this little girl who will make them the best big brothers ever.

What a Day

This was the best day ever. I will never forget this moment. The director of the orphanage was holding Maia, and finally handed her to Laurie. I wish there were words to describe how we were feeling. Wow, just wow! She is more than we ever expected. Now that I showed you the good part, here is the rest of the story.






When we flew into Hanoi Sunday Morning, from the air it looked like there was flooding, terrible flooding, everything looked underwater, roads, houses businesses. I wish I had taken photos.

When we contacted PLAN on Sunday, they told us we would go to BaVi Tuesday if it stopped raining Monday. It did for the most part.

Tuesday morning we woke up to rain, lots of rain..

But, after a light breakfast we got in the van, and met the other two families. They told us of their failed attempt to go to BaVi on Friday. Traffic and flooding made the trip impossible.












After a couple miles it did not look good. The roads were underwater in the city and we had a long way to go outside the city. We were all determined to get there somehow.

There was water everywhere, the roads were packed, and most roads were not much more than one lane wide.















The drivers use their horns continuously. "I go beep beep they go this way, I go beep beep they go that way", was the way one driver explained it. It was just like you see in the movies, we were flying along, scooters and other vehicles inches away on either side.





Then we stopped. Our driver got out and started walking, that is him with the cover over his head. that is not a jet ski coming toward him, it is a moped. When cars on the other side started turning around and we all thought it was over for the day. Of the three routes to the orphanage, the other two were not passable and this one looked the same. Finally he got back in and we convinced him to try it. We pushed on with the water up to the doors.

We were able to continue on to the orphanage across some roads that resembled paths and through more mud and water than you can imagine...


Then we finally pulled up to the gate and the sign we were all looking for.


After meeting with the director in a formal meeting room, we were all told to go to see our babies.





Two were in the last room for older ones and the other was in the first room.


It was incredible, they were so much smaller than I had imagined Their room for 10 to 15 babies was about 10ft by 15 feet. They were all asleep and I knew her right away. Before we could pick her up, the director did and began to play with her.

Soon the nanny, definitely her main nanny had her and was showering her with love.






We both got our picture with this wonderful young woman who had such a special bond with our little daughter while she was here. We will make sure Maia never forgets her.

I tried to let Laurie see Maia and let the Nannies say their good byes as they passed her around and around kissing her and telling her things.





I got to hold my little buddy Tu whose mom and dad are waiting to pick him up. I got some photos of another little boy, Ryan, who is definitely the big man on campus.





Maia's little friend was also there meeting her family. They are so cute together.











I printed some pictures of the nannies with Maia on a couple other families visits and also pictures with Maria, when she visited. The Nannies went absolutely crazy looking at the photos, laughing and grabbing them like they were thousand dollar bills.



Jenna sent some slings which they were modeling and carrying around the babies and formula us and the other families brought for for Ryan. They also marveled at the photos of Ella with her beautiful new lip.



It was one of the most awesome hours of my life. I finally got my turn to hold the other woman in my life. Two women, it is bound to be trouble for me. Then it was time to go.



That is when the real adventure began. The roads had become worse and our ride was almost 3 hours back to the City. Every road ended in blockage, retracing our path and heading down narrower and bumpier roads, through little towns and back alleys, fields and washed out roads.


Even the main roads in town were underwater when we came back. When we finally made it back we got a quick bath, ate some pizza and headed for the SOS Clinic for a little check up and some medicine for her raspy breathing. Finally off to Bed, as my friend Maria would say "What a Day".

Laurie and I had a great time (ha) traveling half way around the world. I met a special friend at the Taipei Airport. this was 30 hours into our 36 hours of traveling time.

We are staying at a small hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. It is literally street after street of small (10x10) shops on every street. We are on the 7th floor which gives us a pretty good view of the area.

Laurie and I made a mistake of looking too much like tourists and ended up holding the yolk. The worst part is they ended up selling us (me) fruit at 100,000 dong. About $6 for a cut up pinnapple.

DAY-O,ME SAY DAY, ME SAY DAY, ME SAY DAYAAY-O,

Come, Mr. Tally Man, tally me banana/ Daylight come and we wanna go home

Traffic is just too hard to explain. this video does not even do it justice. We sit and watch while we eat dinner, it is so unreal no one gets hit. I asked Laurie to run down and cross the street and waive so I could video, sorry maybe next time.

Tommorrow we will travel to the orphanage to get Maia. We are going with 2 other families. We have toys in her bed in our room ready for her. What a great thing to wake up and do. A life changing day is less that 12 hours away.

The rains here have been terrible. They let up today, otherwise we would have to wait longer to get Maia. One other family has been waiting since Thursday to go, but the flooding was too bad.

We were not even able to take a taxi to the Big C store (kind of like Wal Mart) there is too much flooding to be able to drive there from here. We may be here a little longer due to the flooding and a delay in our Giving and Recieving Ceremony.

Its been raining

We finally made it to Hanoi. The 14 1/2 hour flight from LA to Tapei was almost unbearable. Four movies, several hands of cards and a few catnaps did nothing to make the time pass any faster. We are both exhausted and cannot wait to go to sleep tonight. The cultural changes are more than Laurie and I expected, but find much of it fasinating. Traffic is really something that can only be appreciated in person. The number of passengers, crates of goods and animals and children lying between passengers, head out one side, feet out the other, makes the randomness of traffic laws only more risky.
til tommorrow
Darrin and Laurie