Hong Kong Day 3 & 4

On Sunday, we spent our second day at Disneyland.  Thunder and lightning were the flavour of the day!  Here is a picture f the rain bucketing down and Nathanh holding his ears due to the very loud thunder bangs.

The good part was that there were a lot less people there so there was vertually no ride line ups.  I left Nathanh and Ewrin at the Buzz Light Year ride while I went to Mystic Manor and the run away train ride.  Then Erwin went and did those while Nathanh and I stayed dry in It's a Small World!  We also went to see a live performance of The Lion King.  Nathanh didn't seem to like it very much because it was scary - he finds a lot of things scary.  But he didn't have any nightmares and I think it was good to push him out of his comfort zone a little bit.  I was surprised he didn't like it more as he loves drama, role playing and directing.  I often say that he is going to be a screenplay writer when he's older...maybe not.

As we were leaving for the day, a marching band seemed to come out from nowhere and shut the street down.  At least we had a front row view!

The skies had cleared by then!

This morning we had to pack up and check out of the hotel.  Today really seemed like we were rushing all day.  Once we cheched out, we had the hotel keep our bags so that we could do some sight seeing.  I wanted to do the cable car that it was too cloudy to do when we spent the day in Hong Kong on our way to get Nathanh.  Unfortunately, our hotel was way on the other side of the city.  So we took the MTR to the cable car and went up.  There were some gorgeous views but we didn't really have time to explore at the top because we were worried about time. 

That is the "Grouse Grind" way down below!  We saw six people walking up!

 We got down, rushed back to the MTR, got back to our hotel, got our bags and took a taxi to the airport.  Once we checked in we finally had lunch at about 4:00!  We then hurried again to do our duty free purchases.  By then we needed to rush to the plane.  It was the same gate we used almost four years ago when we flew to Hanoi to get Nathanh.  The part that we had forgotten though, was that you have to take a bus to get to the airplane from the gate.  So we were almost late for the bus!  Yup, definitely a day of "hurry, hurry, hurry"!

We have now arrived in DaNang and checked into the resort.  So far it looks beautiful.  Nathanh and I went for a little walk to explore the place.  Unfortunately, the thunder and lightning seems to have followed us.  Hopefully it will be clear skies in the morning.  So far the highlight for Nathanh has been finding frogs (lots of them) on the grassy areas in the resort!

Oh yeah, the reason we're here... On the adoption front, we have been told the G&R will be on Friday.  So we are going to visit the orphanage Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.  We will then stay here Friday night and Saturday night and go to Hanoi on Sunday to start the paperwork Monday.  At least that is the plan...

Ocean Park

Day 2 in Hong Kong we visited Ocean Park.  We ventured off of the MTR and on to a public bus to get there.  It was a double decker so Nathanh was thrilled to go upstairs.  Ocean Park is a theme park / aquarium.  Nathanh loves anything ocean related.  Every time we came out of an exhibit and into a gift shop he would go around giving all of the studies hugs.

I am definitely noticing that our family gets a lot more looks here.  At home, I think people generally look at skin colour and Narhanh is right in between Erwin and I.  Here they see he is Asian and we are not.  Although, our weirdest experience yesterday had a small group (4 adults) chasing me down for photos.  It was very uncomfortable.  I just don't know why they wanted my picture.  They kept positioning themselves near me and taking photos.  If I moved they would move with me and someone would keep snapping.  When I tried to ask what they were doing, they didn't speak English.  Very odd.

Here are some more photos of our day.

Day 1- Disneyland

We were up pretty early despite our tiredness.  I think it was Narhanh's internal clock that got us up! So we got up got breakfast (where Nathanh discovered chocolate croissants and declared this was the best breakfast ever!) After breakfast we headed to the MTR station and made our way to Disneyland. Here are some pictures.

Nathanh is not really a "rides" guy.  He doesn't like anything that is scary or that goes around.  But he loved 'It's a Small World' and the Buzz Light Year ride so we went on those multiple times!  Hong Kong Disney is pretty small compared to California's Disneyland but it definitely has all the magic and the lineups!  It was smokin' hot.  My guess around 36 - 38 C in the hot sun with not a cloud in sight!  

And We're Off!

Well almost off.  We got to the airport with only minor glitches (all involving Erwin and overpacking...I should be used to this by now).  But now we are here and checked in:)

Uncle Colin met us as soon as we arrived and took a few pictures.

We had some lunch and now we are just waiting for our flight.  Nathanh is enjoying the tv in the little play area.  I was hoping he'd actually run around and play.  But at least he is happy and occupied - and I think starting to look tired.  

Next post from Hong Kong!

2 More Sleeps!

Once I go to bed, that is!  I am feeling fairly organized... Let's see if I am feeling the same way in 24 hours.

Today I got lots of things done on my to do list.  I have a couple of errands to do tomorrow but mostly it is just down to the packing.  I hope I haven't forgotten anything.  Last time around there were four other families travelling with us.  We were all in contact and it was easy to ask questions back and forth.  

More and more I am thinking about what that first night with Thianna is going to be like.  I want it to be rosey and happy but I know in reality it will probably involve a lot of crying.  I know I'd be terrified if it was me going off with strangers who speak a foreign language.  I just hope the better days come quickly.  It will be great...it just may take awhile to get there.

Getting There!

This morning we were up early to book airline tickets and hotel.  We are leaving on Wednesday!  We are going to spend four days in Hong Kong along the way.  Which will be great.  Hong Kong Disneyland here we come.  Then we will fly into DaNang on September 1st.  We booked a gorgeous looking beachfront resort.  I can't think of a better place to bond as a family than on the beach and around a pool!  On the days prior to the G&R we will have the opportunity to visit some of the local tourist areas and I am so looking forward to it as this area of Vietnam looks absolutely amazing!  Of course getting to meet our daughter and finally being able to bring her home with us will be pretty amazing too!

Once all is finished in DaNang we will fly to Hanoi to get passports.  We were planning to stay in the West Lake area to get a little bit away from for hustle and bustle of the main area.  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, we read the extra fine print on the hotel booking and found that in that area it says if you make any changes to your booking you will be charged 100% of the originally booked dates.  Since we do not know exactly when we'll be coming home and it is quite likely that we'll need to make some changes, we decided to go back to the good, old, tried and true Somerset.  That is where we stayed when we adopted Nathanh.  There was nothing bad about it, just a bit noisy, the price and was better and the fee to change the reservation was minimal.  At least we know what we are getting and already know great restaurants nearby.  Depending on how Thianna does with the transition we may try to get out of Hanoi for a few days while we are waiting on her passport but we'll make that decision once we are there and can see how Thianna is managing with so much change.  This trip is about her and we don't want to overwhelm her any more than necessary.  The days are going to go by fast now and there is still much to do but I know it will all come together.

I'm Excited!

Yes, that means good news!!  We have finally gotten the second approval letter from the province signed and been given the go ahead to book travel.  We have been told that everything will be shut down for the holiday on September 2nd and realistically everyone will be taking the 1st off to make it a four day weekend.  So no orphanage visits until the 3rd.  Erwin and I are still planning to arrive the evening of the 1st to settle in.  We thought it might be fun to spend a holiday with Nathanh in Vietnam so he can experience a bit of the culture.  We will actually get to experience two holidays, as the Moon Festival will take place while we are there too.  Anyways, we will get to visit the orphanage and then have the G&R probably by the end of the week or perhaps on the following Monday at the latest.  Yeah!! I am feeling so relieved that we finally have some dates, approval and are moving forward!!

It is a good thing too, as I was getting so antsy that I went down to the school district office and filled in my leave applications today.  So all of the estimated dates we had worked out and I feel a little bit ahead of the paperwork game:)

Our next task is to book flights and hotels.  It is going to be a busy weekend!

I Hate Waiting!

Well, what we do know is that our G&R will not be the week of the 17th as we were originally hoping for.  We have been given a new estimate of September 3-5th, however, that is not confirmed yet.  So we are continuing to wait.  Our paperwork is moving forward though.  In the province it has two places to go - The People's Committee and The Justice Department (though I am not sure the order).  Our paperwork is through one of them and is now waiting on the other.  It seems that in some provinces this is done together or simultaneously, but not in DaNang.  So it has been estimated the week of September 1st, but the 2nd is a holiday in Vietnam so basically everything will be closed on the 1st and 2nd.  We are thinking of booking travel anytime though and then just changing the ticket dates if necessary.   When we were waiting for the go ahead on the week of the 17th, we kept checking flights every night and were watching them skyrocket in price as the dates got closer.  So we think it might be cheaper to buy them ahead of time and just pay the re-booking fee if we need to change them.

We are hoping to get enough advance notice of the G&R to spend a few days in Hong Kong en route to Vietnam.  We are also hoping to be in DaNang a few days early and get in some orphanage visits prior to the G&R.  We have now been told that is fine but I hope the weekend and the public holiday on the 2nd doesn't interfere with planning visits. 

For anyone interested in the details, we did get our passports back from the Vietnamese Embassy.  Erwin and I were issued 3 month, single entry tourist visas and Nathanh was issued a 6 month visa waiver, multiple entries.

So really that was a lot of words to say not much has changed around here and still waiting.  Hopefully more exciting news in my next post.

Still Waiting

No new news here.  The wait is getting a bit frustrating.  We are still being told that it is very possible for the Giving and Receiving Ceremony to be the week of Aug. 17th but it is not confirmed yet so we have not been given the go ahead to book travel.  I really thought we'd have heard by now.  Anyways, we have basically done everything we can do without dates.  When we get dates the 'To Do' list will grow again.

One of the things I've been working on is Thianna's bedroom.  Nathanh moved into his new lego starwars bedroom so his old room had to be changed from a little boy's room to a little girl's room.  He had a brown, green and blue colour scheme so that has been changed out to brown, pink and green.

There are still remnants of blue turtles on the wall which will probably be changed out to butterflies and dragonflies but really it is complete enough to bring our little girl home to.

To try to avoid this wait, endless hours scoping the internet and waiting for emails, we have decided to go camping this weekend.  We booked a campsite long ago and for awhile it was looking like we might have to back out on our friends.  But since we have no travel plans and really nothing to do but wait, we figured we may as well go!  Nathanh and I are leaving Thursday and Erwin is going to join us after work on Friday.  

Not to fear though,  Erwin ALWAYS has a computer with him so if we do get the go ahead to book travel we will just book from our campsite!