We are home!

We arrived home Wednesday afternoon after nearly 28 hours of travel. We left our hotel at 8:30pm Tuesday (Hanoi time) for one last taxi ride to the airport. Our first flight was 4 hours (from Hanoi to Seoul). Linh cried almost the entire first hour of the flight. Thankfully flight was not full and we were able to spread out in to a couple of row. We were finally able to get Linh to sleep and placed her on a couple of seats. She was still sleeping when the plane landed. During our 5 hour layover in Korea, Linh slept another 2 1/2 hours at the gate. John and I tried to rest because we knew we were in for a 12 1/2 hour flight with a sleepy 17 month old. Overall she did good on the flight. We sat in the bulkhead seats with a bassinet. We did not have a seat for Linh - after a lot of debating we decided against the extra seat. Since she was under 2 we were not required to buy a seat for her. As it turned out, the bassinet was a better way to go for us. The first flight Linh was sprawled out over 2 seats, so even if we had purchased one for the long flight she would have been squished. She was able to stretch out somewhat in the bassinet and sleep. Only her little feet were hanging over the sides. It was adorable. She was awake the first 3 hours and played and ate a lot of Cheerios. Then she fell asleep and we placed her into bassinet. John and I quietly clapped our hands. The sweet woman across the aisle also clapped her hands. Linh slept 3 hours during which time we tried to sleep. Then she was up another 3 hours, then she slept the last 3 1/2 hours of the flight. She barely cried- we worked to keep her occupied with toys, bottles, walking around, books, crayons - anything we could think of for her. We were so relieved to hear the captain announce we were preparing to land in Chicago. Once in Chicago, we went thru the immigration process. We submitted the paperwork that we had guarded since receiving at the US Embassy in Vietnam. The immigration officer looked it over then congratulated us and indicated that Linh's Certificate of Citizenship would arrive in the mail. She is now a U.S. citizen. We then picked up our luggage and went thru customs. We rechecked luggage and then went to gate to wait for the 45 minute flight to Detroit. We met a couple at the gate that had been on our flight from Korea. They told us that Linh did very good on the long flight. It was nice to hear that other passengers noticed. We finally boarded our final flight. Linh was immediately taken by the man next to me. He was very friendly and entertained Linh. He has 3 young grandchildren and was perfectly happy to sit next to a squirmy child. He was full of questions about Linh and Vietnam in 2009. He served in the airforce during the Vietnam War and was stationed for 7 months in Saigon (nka Ho Chi Minh). He helped to get her to sleep the last 20 minutes of flight. Thank you kind man!


After 28 hours of travel, then sitting in a car seat for the first time in her life during rush hour traffic through downtown Detroit, touring her new home, being greeted with hugs and kisses by family, what else could a 17 month little girl do but fall asleep on mommy's lap while sitting at the table?

We're heading home

Today is our last day in Hanoi. In fact, we leave in 9 short hours. Our bags are packed. Our little girl is napping. We have our paperwork ready. We will miss Vietnam but are anxious to come home.

Yesterday we went shopping in Old Quarter and then to Fanny's for ice cream before heading to another bookstore for a cookbook (for me) and a Vietnam architecture book (for John of course). After the rave reviews of the Vine, we decided to try it for dinner. The food was delicious and the service was wonderful. Linh had a high chair and the waitstaff brought her some toys. John and I tried to hurry up our meal before Linh became fussy- but it never happened- she was so quiet the entire meal. I think she enjoyed the music.

We went to Halong Bay on Sunday with another Holt family. They headed home this morning. Hope your flights are uneventful Ben and Elizabeth! The boatride was very nice and the bay was beautiful. I will post some pics when we get home tomorrow.

Another humid day in Hanoi

It is humid during the summer in Michigan but I think it is more humid here. Or maybe its because we are walking around carrying a 20 pound little girl. On average, John is taking 3 showers a day. Mostly because he is the one carrying Linh in the Baby Bjorn.

This morning John, Linh and I went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We had to take turns going in because Linh was too little. So John went first while me and Linh sat on the steps with about 5 or 6 men who talked to us. They were very friendly. Unfortunately my Vietnamese has not improved much since our drive from the airport 13 days ago. I know they asked our names and I told them. And I told them I was American and that Linh's father is American (they asked about her bo).

We had pizza from Jaspas for lunch. I never expected that I would be eating so much pizza in Vietnam. (I am not complaining) Then off to the U.S. Embassy. We had our interview and then were told to come back about one hour later to pick up visa. The woman interviewer did say that Linh looked like a very happy little girl and she was glad to see that. We walked down the street to a cafe and had some soft drinks and a hot sandwich of butter and sugar. Then we went back at 4pm and picked up Linh's passport with the visa in it. Yay! We can bring Linh home! Looks like we are staying until Tuesday as originally planned. No available flights from Seoul to Chicago.

Here are some pics-

Linh finishing breakfast.

Sound asleep Linh. Do the pj's look familiar Laura? Thanks cousin Emma.

Hanging out on the boat waiting for lunch.

Playing in the room with Daddy.

Happy Wednesday!

Today a second Holt family left for home. We are so happy for you Sheri and David! It has been such a fun week! I am so glad our travel overlapped.

We picked up Linh's passport today! Yay. One step closer to coming home. We also went back to the clinic for her health check. She did good. We saw the French doctor again and I think it helped to see a familiar face. Tomorrow is visa interview! Looking forward to that appointment!


Here are some random pics:

Linh posing with some police cadets at Ho Chi Minh museum


Me and Linh in front of Uncle Ho statue
Splashing in the water at a "park" by the lake.

The 4 moms and kids. Boy it is hard to get little kids to smile at the same time and look towards the camera.

Linh playing Supergirl one afternoon. I wish I could post the video of her laughing. It is adorable.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I sat down to check email I realized that today is a holiday! Hope everyone is wearing their green back home!

Right now John and Linh are both taking naps. John has a sore throat and Linh is just sleepy. She had a long day yesterday. We went to the Pottery Village this morning after breakfast. It was a fun trip- about 20 minute cab ride from the city but definitely worth it. We couldn't find it in the guide book, but the manager at Al Fresco's who is extremely nice told John and me about it the first night we went for dinner. I picked up a number of souvenirs. Beautiful pieces all hand painted.

This afternoon we are going to have a pizza party for one of the families that is heading home tomorrow. We pick up Linh's passport tomorrow morning, then hopefully her visa on Thursday. At this point, it looks like we will be in Hanoi until next Tuesday unless seats become available on an earlier flight. That is ok- we still have places to visit.

Yesterday morning we went to old quarter and walked around. That was our first time in that area. We went to dinner with the 3 other Holt families for a traditional Vietnamese meal. The day before we went to war museum and visited the most prestigious hotel in Hanoi- Metropole Hotel. I think that was the same day John went for weazel coffee. I was not brave enough to try it. He of course will try anything- yesterday he had street food and some street beer. Oh yeah- one day he convinced me to ride on a motorbike too. That was a scary 5 minutes. Those that have been in Hanoi traffic would understand.

We did buy Linh the infamous squeky shoes! Thank you Jackie for reminding me! The first pair of shoes lasted only a couple of days (we lost the one on the motor bike). So we went back to the little shop downstairs and I looked for a size 3 (yes the footprint we were sent by agency was not correct size- so the size 6 I bought back at home are huge) and I found a cute pair, tried them on and Linh started walking and squeeking. I said those are the squeeky shoes! She loves putting them on in the morning. Sometimes when she is fussy about getting dressed, I hurry up and put her socks on and then her shoes and she calms down.

I know- everyone is waiting for pics. Here are a couple. One of the other families here emailed these to me. We went to Cafe Smile (a restaurant/ cooking school for former street children) and John ordered creme caramel. I believe he had one bite and our little Linh gobbled up the rest.

I will try to download some more later. I know I'm supposed to be the electronic whiz in the Austin household but not when it comes to downloading from my camera. We have a lot of camcorder video too. At night we review the day of Linh laughing. It is fun!

Update Day!!

We received our update for Linh yesterday or maybe Tuesday (Obviously I have been a very poor blogger these days). I posted a couple of the pics (last 2). I didn't expect the update, but it is great to have more pics of Linh!
John has been claiming to see a smirk here and there from Linh but this morning at breakfast we both saw real, honest to goodness smiles! She even laughed. It was wonderful. Today is the third full day with us.

She has not been feeling well- we took her to the SOS clinic yesterday. Holt VN staff set up appointment and brought us there. She had a cold which we had been treating with meds from orphanage, but it turned into bronchitis. So now we have new meds which we started last night. She seems to be feeling better today which may be why we finally saw a smile. There are 3 other Holt families here. It is great to meet after communicating online for so long. We are going to get a group picture of the kids tomorrow morning.

We did go to Hoam Kiem Lake one day and to the prison aka Hanoi Hilton on Sunday. We hope to get out a bit more once Linh is a little better. The last 2 days we have really kept a low profile and spent lots of time around hotel. We are really adjusting to being parents. I have to say, by the end of the day, John and I are both exhausted. Last night we stayed up until 9pm. Woohoo!

We have gone to Al Fresco's 2 times - they have really good pizza which I keep bringing back to hotel- it is a great snack. Sunday we also went to Big C. It was overwhelming- so many people. I will try to be better about updating blog. Here are some pics- I know that's what everyone is looking for-

Its Wednesday

We went to apply for Linh's passport this morning. We are doing well. Trying to adjust to each other. Linh eats a lot and sleeps without any problem. She is wobbly walking but she seems to like it. I have some pics below- I know everyone has been waiting. Sorry it took me so long.

We are here!

We arrived in Hanoi last night. Today we met another Holt family at breakfast and then went to the Big C to do some shopping. We took it easy this afternoon and walked around a bit to familiarize ourselves with the city.
Tomorrow morning- we meet Linh!! I will do my best to post some pics.