June 29 Friday - Hanoi

We ARRIVED!!! We lost a day and suddenly it was Friday morning, the 29th. Whoot! A picked us up (yay!) and took us to breakfast. Pho!

We arrived at her house, and went downstairs to the mall and walked through the art installation that was down there, as well. This is what it looked like.

Before lunch M & K had a nap, and then we woke them when they'd asked. And then they fell back asleep, and we woke them up again for lunch for real this time. SO worth getting up for lunch, the food was so so so so so so good. Yum. There are going to be a lot of food pictures. This is the first of many. This is M to the left, A's grandmother at the head of the table, her grandfather behind on the sofa, A, and last her mom.

And ... part of lunch!

After lunch we drove to downtown Hanoi. My first experience of the traffice was shocking, it was unfathomable. There seemed to be no rules. You could pass whenever, wherever, and as many deep as you wanted. But the traffic moved slow enough so it always worked out.

We went to a mid-town lake and a red bridge that I guess A had given M a picture of, or painted a picture of at some point in the past. I couldn't get anybody else to pose, so selfie.

And once on the bridge K decided she COULD pose after all. She looks tired.

And all of us!!

We walked around some, went to the Bach Ma Temple. (the white horse temple)

And we went to the "Traditional House" which was a series of rooms with courtyards or open rooms in the middle.

 Sneaky picture of K & A before K knew she was being photographed by me.

 This was another temple, I think.

We kept walking, came to a ... church in the middle of Hanoi. It was some church, not sure what or why.

 And then dinner. Bahn My.

We took a Grab (the not Uber service in Hanoi) home. M & K fell asleep, but both of them said they didn't (they did). We went up on the roof of the apartment building and looked out, took some panorama photos, and then to bed around 11 pm.

June 27 Travel

Traveling to Vietnam. I met M & K at JFK. That airport is BIG. And when people tell you to get the AirTram you can't always hear what they say and you have NO IDEA where you are going. But you get there anyway.

Met M & K at Terminal 8 for Qatar Airways. I had about 30 minutes to wait, but all was good. M&K showed up, and we got in line. When they finally opened the line to check in it turned out your carry on bag wasn't supposed to be over 7 kg.  - about 15 pound! K was under, M was over a smidge and I was over a lot. I stuffed a bunch of junk in a second bag I had, and decided to carry both on. They said that was OK. By the time I got to the gate I just repacked my original bag and didn't give it another thought until 2 weeks later when we had to travel back.

This is us waiting in line. AND my hand because I haven't mastered the selfie.

And then we got to Quatar. Walking through the terminal we passed a giant teddy bear an odd headlamp. Loved that thing.

We were tired. It was the middle of the night. They don't open the gate until right before it is to boarded we (and everybody else) had to sit on the floor.

Just before I went on Vacation ...

Just before I went on vacation without the rest of the family, I made the family go downtown. And we went to a place I'd taken a photo of C& Q when they were little, and I tried to recreate the photo. It wasn't entirely successful, but it did result in some nice pictures.

Father's Day

We took TCR to a Greek Fest on Father's day. I took 1,000 pictures ... and ended up with not a single one that looked good.

Here we are, then. I think C13 looks great in this photo.

End of the school year

C13 had a dance on a boat, and SHE went, which is a first and last for middle school (Going to a dance). Although she tells me she went for the buffet. Here she is.

AND, school awards. C13 had a promotion ceremony. She earned some awards for creative writing and the presidential excellence award or something or other. Which we all agreed we should burn if it says "Trump" on it.

This is her getting the presidential excellence award. The award for creative writing was equally exciting!

Q12 had a middle school dance.  She went! First time this year. Actually, to say she went is an understatement. She and her friends planned and organized it. There wasn't going to be a dance, but they wanted one, and they made it happen. There were some angsty moments, but who doesn't have those when planning a big event?

Buying a mattress

We neeeeeeeded a new mattress. We've needed one for a while. So Q12 has been after us to buy a Purple. So we put it on our list. We did the regular mattress stores, and then to a store way down in VIRGINIA to try a Purple Mattress.

Which we liked. I think I liked one other mattress better, but this was right up there, and TCR could agree on it as well. So we bought it. We are now the proud owner of a Purple Mattress, a Purple Seat Cushion (free, with purchase!), Purple Sheets (in white! That I haven't taken out of the box yet!) a Purple Mattress Frame (not free, but it holds the mattress!), and a Purple Pillow (way too expensive but I loved it in the store and am less enthused about now. It weighs TEN (10!!) pounds. It doesn't leave the bed.)

Anyway, the point of that exciting monologue was to introduce the fact that on the way home we stopped by the big ferris wheel at the National Harbor.

Q12 was happy and then quite anxious on the ferris wheel whenever TCR or I moved. Now, she was fine moving back and forth and standing up and taking selfies, but not when I'd shift my seat to get more comfortable. I won't show the angry "STOP MOVING!" face. Or all the selfies. Just the happy face.

 And we saw the Peeps car! And the Ben & Jerry's Trailer.

And now, we are sleeping better. Not just because our bellies are full of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, We are laying on a lovely, cool Purple Mattress.

Doing Stuff: A sticker book, a button maker, arm art, odd photos, and selfies

Those things don't go together, but I'm not sure how else to frame them. THIS is what the girls have been doing lately.

First, making a coloring/sticker book. C13 has been babysitting for a girl who has a serious heart defect ... she's in for a heart transplant. So the C13 created a special story/coloring book for her, and then they made stickers. One, I love this. Two. I love this. Three, I love this. I don't have a copy of the final book, but this is them working together in the kitchen on this endeavor. The story was about I6 who went under the sea and met all these animals. Or something!

Let's start with weird photos. I have a lot of these on my phone. Don't know how or why.

And move onto button making. C13 made buttons today with this very expentive and cool looking tool. And who wants to bet that this giant, expensive button maker won't be used again after this week?

Arm Art. I don't know. Q12 has been drawing on her arm. I anticipate this trend will last well into and maybe past the summer.

And finally, selfies. Lots of them. On her phone. My phone. TCR's phone. Whereever she can take them.