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What's on the agenda for today? Na explains to us at breakfast that today we'll first bicycle over to the local village fruit and vegetable market, then head over to see a very old and original wooden house, meet the rice alcohol maker, and watch a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show …all before driving back…

10 November 2015 – Yahoo!  Tonight is the night! Ava and her classmates have been working for the past several weeks working on their various art pieces – including their pièce de résistance.  What kinds of treats do you make for a kids art exhibition?  I made these funny carrot and cucumber flowers (Mark said they…

July 2015 – Every summer that we've managed a trip back to the good old USA we do a short hop & skip over to Dubuque, IA.  Well, it's about a 7-hour drive from Mark's parents which isn't too bad in the scheme of things. This summer we're lucky!  Mark is joining us – he'll…

July 2015 – Let's go to Washington state!  We can visit Oma, Mittens, and Tante Kirstin. And we can go on a family driving trip around Olympic National Park…see Pike's Market in downtown Seattle….and maybe see Mount Rainier.  Sounds like an excellent plan, right? First things first – our rental car this week: a hybrid…

28 September 2015 – It's 2pm and we just arrived at Yen Duc.  A lady, named Na, dressed in a purple shirt and black pants greeted us and led us to our home-stay location:    This will be our home tonight.  Mr. San is the home owner.  Na acted as a translator as Mr. San…

Good morning from Halong Bay! Mark (yes, Mark!) and I got up early to participate in a Tai Chi session to be  held on the upper deck of the boat.  Actually, here:  While we're waiting for the lesson to begin, we're admiring the gorgeous scenery and taking numerous photos ….of basically the same thing. Can…

16 May 2015 – Several friends invited us to join their family picnic/BBQ at a pretty park in TEDA.     I like the narrow grills the Chinese use – they're perfect for grilling skewered tasty treats – such as various meats and mushrooms.  I really love the mushroom and meat rolls.  I don't think…

27 September 2015 – Today we're heading from Hanoi to Halong Bay.  After doing a fair bit of research I settled on the Dragon Legend overnight cruise.  The fee for the cruise conveniently also included transportation from Hanoi to HaLong Bay. So here are a few photos of us passing through Hanoi: Busy, frenetic, and…

31 October 2015 – Who's ready to dance with a skeleton and go trick-or-treating with me???? Yep!  It's Halloween!!! I think Halloween might just be my favorite holiday. [and while I'm at it, I should admit that I'm STILL not finished with the Vietnam post!  Whoops.] This year the girls took charge of some of…

Hey, hi!   I think it's about time I get on the ball and share with you our trip to northern Vietnam.  (Especially considering that our trip was at the beginning of October and it's now almost Halloween. Whoops!) …side note: Oh, how cute.  I'm listening to our Ayi hum a song while she's vacuuming.…