This is our last day at Hanoi and can I ask you all to take a moment right now and pray for our safety and sanity during the long trip home.

Now to the fun stuff. Pictures are worth a thousand words so I included more. We loved Hanoi. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Take a close look at the lunch picture with Rachel and Austin...yes heads are on the shrimp.

There is another picture of lunch with our tour group of Hanoi and I think Austin ate a whole octopus!....okay, the best I'll be able to cook for him is fish sticks!

Gotta go finish packing. Hope to see you soon and hope you all had a great Thanksgiving....

Two more days until we are home!!!

Rachel and Tommy made it in safely. We went to Hay Long Bay yesterday - beautiful. We'll need to post a picture or two. They have 1969 Limestone Islands around the bay. We toured two caves that were awesome. We had lunch on the boat - shrimp with the heads on, squid and octopus and a whole fried fish....okay...I ate peanut butter crackers and a JD Powers power bar (thanks Steph and Boomer!) We were on the top deck of this boat and had terrific views...unforgettable experience and hard to describe.

We are going to go on a tour of Hanoi tomorrow and the water puppet show on Friday so staying pretty busy.

We will miss Thanksgiving at home with family and friends, but will be thinking of you. We are planning to eat a Jaspas, which is Bill and I's favorite. I won't be eating the turkey, but the pasta is terrific. Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year is a very, very special year that will hold a special meaning for us for the rest of our days. Thank to each of you for sharing this journey and giving us an unbelievable amount of support. May God continue to blessings to our families, friends,and Farmers family.

Bill and Kim

Waiting for Rachel and Tommy

Waiting on Rachel and Tommy

Bill just left for the airport about an hour ago. We have Austin in his Scooby Doo PJs so hopefully when he meets Rachel and Tommy he will do his Scooby Doo thing...too cute. He also has to answer the phone every 30 minutes or so (its not ringing) with the cutest "yello". He has been doing this since about day two. We only received one or two calls, but he is quick!

We finally got moved to a two bedroom apartment with this huge walkout deck-really huge that over looks the lake - just need to make sure we keep the OFF on because of the mesquitos...and there are lizards too---YIKES! This was an answered prayer because up until 3:00 today we were trying to figure the best sleeping arrangements between two studios. I told Bill I felt like the Jeffersons..."moving on up" and to the penthouse no less. It really gave Bill and I some breathing room. So nice not to be so couped up...it was awful for such a long period of time.

Austin seems to like it a lot. He was even siging this afternoon, which we haven't heard before. Not sure what he is signing about, but Bill is going to try to get it on tape.

Having the extra space will sure help this last week, but it is still not home. Can't wait to see the red dirt of Oklahoma...never thought you'd hear me say that! I can't wait to see my dogs...as always I worry about them when I am away. I think this has finally did me in and Bill is going to have to get a motorhome before I am gone for an extended period of time again. I am getting too old for all this worry.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers for our safety and to be the best parents we can be. This little guy is pretty special!

Bigger pictures, I hope!

Austin discovered a Carousel

We found a small playground that had a carousel. I thought he was going to cry at first, but he didn't indicate he wanted off. Just a new experience for him. I have to keep remembering that he has never had many of the experiences he gets to share now and everything is new to him.

This is the same for food. He definitely like pasta and rice the best...of course ice cream and Oreos too! He loves watermelon and pinapple. He chatters away and I sure wish I knew what he was saying. We are communicating extremely well given the language barrier, just curious as to what is going on his little mind sometimes.

He went swimming yesterday with his Daddy...in his Spiderman swim trunks (finally found a safety pin!). They had a good time together splashing around the kiddie pool.

We bought Austin a pair of sun glasses and when he isn't trying to wear them upside down, I think he thinks he is pretty cool. Bill bought him a braclet the other day and he seems to love it. I can't believe he hasn't lost it. He even sleeps with it on his arm. Some how it worked itself off his arm in the night and that was the first thing he was looking for this morning.

I bought him a comb today because God only knows where he puts my comb when he plays with it...He thought he was going to wear his hair out. Had to take it away from him so he could go to sleep at nap time...didn't go too bad thankfully. Generally, he is easy to redirect.

It is 1:00 in the afternoon and Daddy and Son are out like lights. Bill is going to meet Rachel and Tommy's plane at around 11:30 tonight. He has the taxi all arranged so it should be easy enough to get them here safely.

We are going to take two tours. One of Hay Long Bay, which I believe is a full day trip and you get to go in some rock formations in the bay and caverns, I think. They say it is beautiful. We are also going to take a Hanoi tour that takes out to all the main tourist attraction. Bill and I have seen a few already. It should be fun, but I am really, really ready to come home.

More on Austin

Daddy and Austin are taking a nap so I thought I'd share a little news of the day. Bill sprayed Austin with cologne this morning and he was pretty proud of himself! We went into downtown this morning. Tons of traffic. I think worse than Saigon. Didn't buy a whole lot, but plan to go back tomorrow morning. Still hoping for a change of hotels. It is the same chain, just a different location...more central. This helps a ton with sightseeing since we have to work around nap time.

We came back to the hotel and Austin had spaghetti...three bowls. He is such a funny little guy. He loved the spaghetti and found his own way to eat it...very funny. Apparently, he doesn't like to be messy because he kept wiping his face after every bite or two...it needed it...just very funny. I gave him an uncooked piece of spaghetti and demonstrated that it is okay to eat. He found it more interesting to put it in his water bottle. Somebody should have warned me that little boys will find ways to do things that girls wouldn't think of...or at least I am sure I didn't (ha!ha!)

I introduced him to hard candy which is at the front desk...guess how long it took him to figure that one out...once! Guess who can say 'candy' clearly????