We're home!

We made it! We've been home a couple of days now. Left Hanoi Friday at noon and arrived at SFO Friday at 4pm. Sure was a long 4 hours ;)

Ginger was great on the two flights. On the 11 hour one she probably slept at least 7 hours, with Momma holding her most of the time, but Daddy getting a couple hours in too. She screamed a little when she woke up, and while we were withholding the bottle until the airplane started to taxi (hoping to avoid popping ears), but we didn't notice any disgruntled staring passengers. There were at least 3 other adopted babies returning to the states on the flight, and maybe 6, though they may have just been regular old infants. All I know is there were 6 bassinets available for 7 infants, and we were the odd men out -- but it didn't matter. We were just happy be to be on our way home and not feeling as horrible as the day before.

Once home our relatively neat abode fell victim to the explosion of the resident and waiting toys and 3 large exploding suitcases. Only now, Sunday evening, does it look remotely like the state we left it in. My parents arrive tomorrow night and hopefully the extra hands will conspire to bring order to our lives of baby chaos.

We are thrilled to be home. The fact that the inspecting immigration officer was himself an African immigrant made even better the "Welcome to America" that he said to Ginger when the short hassle-free process was over. Stepping through those gates though was an unbelievable feeling that merited a little 3-way dance of joy.

First full day warranted a stroll around the block. She didn't like being strapped in the stroller at all. She hadn't been strapped into anything, ever, other than our neighbor's car seat on the way home from the airport (more on that in a minute). She also didn't quite like the ocean air blasting at her about 30 degrees colder than she had ever experienced before. But today's walk down to the cafe on the pier apparently undid those prejudices. The nice woman at the cafe held her and played with her and made beeping sounds with the ATM machine. After that Erin said she didn't mind the cold walk back at all. No doubt she will adopt the uniform of this coastside community pretty soon: black pullover hoodie sweatshirt with some sort of logo, usually NorCal Surfshop.

We were wonderfully surprised to find that BOTH people that offered to pick us up (if my parents were unable to) showed up at the airport -- Rebekah with a big sign greeting us at the baggage claim exit, and Elizabeth to deliver us home safely, with babe in carseat. Apparently neither wanted to give up the opportunity to see Ginger as soon as possible. What wonderful friends we have, all of them. Since we returned 5 days earlier than planned I get to pick my folks up at the airport instead of the other way around.

Ginger is settling in nicely. This morning she slept until close to 11:30am. Our schedules are completely off from the difference in time zones so we're trying to adjust it to "sleep a lot at dark" and "nap plenty during light". So far she has slept a lot, and we've been off and on, trying to unpack and make tidy during some naps, and eat a little too.

I'll stop now and try to find some nice photos, so I can get on a West Coast sleep schedule myself.

Ginger checking out her baby food on the plane:

Retrieving her ball from Casey, a heavyweight to her flyweight.

Our greeting party!

Finally! Some new toys!

Excited Daddy.

Occupied baby.

Not having it.

Why so silent?

We all got sick. First me, it started with a sore throat brought on by the extreme pollution in the air... a few days later the sore throat got infected and I got a 102° fever, every muscle in my body ached, sore throat, cough, exhaustion, etc. I went to the doctor and got on antibiotics, and Chuck and Ginger went and stayed the night at our friends' hotel room so I wouldn't get them sick. Didn't work... With all of us sick, we couldn't manage staying in our little hotel room anymore, so we moved to a nicer place with more space and amenities.

I'm feeling a ton better now, but Ginger had a fever yesterday and some coughing and a very runny nose, and Chuck had pretty much all the symptoms I had except the fever. Ginger's fever is gone now it seems, and is better except that she sounds a little bit hoarse. She didn't sleep much the past two nights, so neither did me and Chuck, so we're all pretty worn out now.

Today was the LAST STEP OF THE PROCESS!!! We went the the US Embassy for the final steps to receive Ginger's visa. Our agency rep stayed behind to wait a couple of hours to pick it up. And approximately 5 minutes ago, the agency rep dropped off the visa with us.

We found out earlier today that we'd probably get the visa this afternoon so we rebooked our flight for tomorrow!!!

FAMILY & FRIENDS--WE ARE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOMORROW!!!!!

Can't wait to see everyone! The three of us just did a happy dance, we're so happy to be coming home!!

(In other news: Ginger's Devil Doll growl has been replaced by a high pitched screech, very similar to a ringwraith from Lord of the Rings. Being sick hasn't diminished her playfulness much at all!)

Halong Bay

We took an overnight cruise on Halong Bay and got back yesterday -- thus the lack of posts. Right now Ginger in sleeping pleasantly next to me while Erin is out on her first solo jaunt into Hanoi. She's getting some extra socks and other clothes while we put most everything else into quarantine for 48 hours. All the babies in all of the orphanages have scabies. Look it up but take what you find with a grain of salt. It's not as bad as the web makes it out to be. I suppose if you got scabies in the good ole USA it would be pretty traumatic, but over here it's rather to be expected in an institutional home. Kind of like super-lice, but burrowed into the skin rather than living in the hair. We treated her the day we brought her home, but we gaver her another more treatment last night, along with ourselves since we've all been co-sleeping for the last week.

Anyway, this post is about Halong Bay. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I think one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, or however many there are. There's a similar place in China, but other than that there's nothing like it. And of course the photos do it no justice. Like the California coast, it was rather foggy and gray -- but usually only during certain winter months. In three weeks it will be sunny most of the time around here.

Let's see, there's a shot off government billboard, some of a large number of Vietnamese yound women traveling to or from work or school. There's were LOTS that we passed, all wearing white shirts, jeans, and really long hair. That train is on its way to China, another 2-4 hours north, depending on your mode of transportation. That's Ginger peering out the portal looking at the other junks (that's the type of boat, though they don't seem quite like what I remember a junk to be, these are much bigger and slightly more modern, more like Asian ferry boats). Erin and Ginger relaxing topside. Some shots of the mountains, or hillocks depending on the size, I guess.

Guess I should describe the draw of Halong Bay. All different sized and shaped mountains emerging from the bay -- everywhere -- for several hundred square kilometers. They are unbelievably steep and go straight into the water. Sort of like fjords but much more differently shaped and all islands. I think fjords are part of the coast; these are basically mountain islands. There were many caves and opening in them. Years ago the natives lived in the caves, the largest of which we -- and hundreds, or thousands, of other people -- visited that day. It was very cool, temperature-wise and naturalistically (that should be a word if it's not). There were lagoons inside of some of them. The water was very peaceful and calm. I and the guy from Australia took a dip in the water along a maintained tourist beach. The water, due to the constant and incessant tourism was rather dirty. I watched a plastic bag float by while I enjoyed the cool water.

The other guests on the junk absolutely adored Ginger, as did the staff. Just about everyone held her -- and several pretended to steal her. Plus the staff kindly took her away to play whenever meals were served. This was fun for everyone!

Besides how extraordinarily beautiful and unique the place was, just getting away for our room for two days was so nice. We may have to do another long day trip for just that reason.

Despite my intention to severely limit the television watching our little girl is exposed to, it's proving to be a valuable ally in keeping the peace in the tiny hotel room. Erin just got back, but while she was gone Ginger had three separate naps, and between them when the wake-up crying started the Cartoon Network calmed her down and drew her attention immediately. And now I'm getting quite used to the sound of cartoons in the background. Other than the older-aged video game based shows, they are quite pleasant. I just wish they showed more of the toons from my childhood, which were made in the 50's I think, Bugs Bunny and the Loony Toons, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker. So I guess you could say reality hit. When she's 35 she swear off television and just blamer her parents for ruining her life with it (that's not aimed at any one!!).

Signing off to play with baby,
Chuck

The Many Faces of Ginger

Yesterday and today were polar opposites. Yesterday we spent most of the day in the hotel room trying to keep ginger entertained. Kinda hard in a one-room hotel room, with the two prerogatives being to keep her on the bed and to keep her from crying. When we finally went out for food, for the second dinner time the highly recommended place was closed -- this time for renovation. Unable to find an air-conditioned second choice, and realizing it was past the little one's bedtime we went back to the cool-aired room -- and suffered a very difficult bedtime, since her main activity was playing in the room all day.

This morning Ginger and I went for a 3-4 hour stroll through the city to let Mommy catch up on the sleep she lost during the wake-and-cry spells that occurred through the night. Came home and Mommy and Ginger played while Daddy napped. Then we went out again, found a reputable tour agent and booked and overnight junk-boat cruise of Halong Bay, then made our way back to the restaurant that served us the delicious rice-stuffed pineapple, and back home for a little less crying before bed.

Ginger has a kind of growl voice that she lets out and sustains while playing. Sometimes she gets two pitches at once. Shes' the Devil Doll when doing it. Quite cute. I have some on video, if I ever get to edit it.

OK, here's the pix: