The day we went to the Presidential Palace (reunification hall) must have been field trip day for all of southers Vietnanam!! There were hundreds of children there and , without fail, every time they caught our eye they would shout 'Hello'. It was so sweet- I occassionally offered back a Xin Chao, but my Vietnamese was nowhere near as good as their English! And all the locals do a double take when they see us together! You can see them staring from accross the road- it's really fun. Every once in awhile they will try to talk to him and he just stares. But twice someone has tried to hold him and he just freaked out! I hated that he was sad, but took it as a good sign that he would rather be with me!! And today he actualy walked the whole 6 or so blocks to the palace. This is still such a big deal- he often throws fits when we don't carry him or, heaven forbid, try to sit down! It's all geting better day by day, but I had to post this milestone!
You can still go up to the very top of the Palace and see where the helicopters evacuated the last of the South Vietnamese politicians- you can't see it from this picture, but the painted-on unit marker has been X-ed out on the back of the helicopter b/c it was from the US! And you can walk through the main gate that the Northern tanks rammed to get at the palace. It's very strange, actually, to be going to all these places I studied from the US perspective. A bit like when we lived in Hawaii and all the Japanese tourists would visit the USS Arizona memorial. I always wondered what that must have been like for them-- now I know.
And here's Branden in front of the Crypto room in the underground bunker at the Palace. They still had a lot of the stuff from that time there- and an ingenious pass-thru between offices. Basically a large hole drilled in the middle of each wall! In case you are wondering what kind of mother lets her son wander around with a bottle all day, we finally realized he can't create any suction to use a sippy cup with the cleft in his pallate, and it's too hot to not get water all the time. Plus, he likes to hold it- like a security blanket. He's going through entirely to much to ask him to give up that, too. And he knows the difference between feeding time and water time and loves to be held for his before-bed bottles. Those are some of my favorite times!
A picture of Branden mailing a letter to our girls- there is an absolutely beautiful post office downtown! And there is a giant ceramic pot of glue used to seal up the letters- I just had to get a picture of that!!
The day we went to the Presidential Palace (reunification hall) must have been field trip day for all of southers Vietnanam!! There were hundreds of children there and , without fail, every time they caught our eye they would shout 'Hello'. It was so sweet- I occassionally offered back a Xin Chao, but my Vietnamese was nowhere near as good as their English! And all the locals do a double take when they see us together! You can see them staring from accross the road- it's really fun. Every once in awhile they will try to talk to him and he just stares. But twice someone has tried to hold him and he just freaked out! I hated that he was sad, but took it as a good sign that he would rather be with me!! And today he actualy walked the whole 6 or so blocks to the palace. This is still such a big deal- he often throws fits when we don't carry him or, heaven forbid, try to sit down! It's all geting better day by day, but I had to post this milestone!
You can still go up to the very top of the Palace and see where the helicopters evacuated the last of the South Vietnamese politicians- you can't see it from this picture, but the painted-on unit marker has been X-ed out on the back of the helicopter b/c it was from the US! And you can walk through the main gate that the Northern tanks rammed to get at the palace. It's very strange, actually, to be going to all these places I studied from the US perspective. A bit like when we lived in Hawaii and all the Japanese tourists would visit the USS Arizona memorial. I always wondered what that must have been like for them-- now I know.
And here's Branden in front of the Crypto room in the underground bunker at the Palace. They still had a lot of the stuff from that time there- and an ingenious pass-thru between offices. Basically a large hole drilled in the middle of each wall! In case you are wondering what kind of mother lets her son wander around with a bottle all day, we finally realized he can't create any suction to use a sippy cup with the cleft in his pallate, and it's too hot to not get water all the time. Plus, he likes to hold it- like a security blanket. He's going through entirely to much to ask him to give up that, too. And he knows the difference between feeding time and water time and loves to be held for his before-bed bottles. Those are some of my favorite times!
A picture of Branden mailing a letter to our girls- there is an absolutely beautiful post office downtown! And there is a giant ceramic pot of glue used to seal up the letters- I just had to get a picture of that!!
1 comment:
Great photos...glad that Isaac is more willing to walk. And, I so remember the fun bottle snuggle time with Micah. That's just the best, isn't it??
Sheri, David, Micah & Noah-in VN
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