Medical, Photos, Ice Cream and Cuchi

On Tuesday we took Baby Brother to have his medical exam in order to get his visa. No problems that we can tell and the doctor agreed with us. Seems like a normal, healthy 2 year old boy! We still have not been told when our interview with immigration will be. Took the kids out for ice cream after supper and Baby Brother was not very impressed with it. His first bite was promptly spit onto Jody's lap. We are assuming that more than anything it is the temperature of the ice cream. Most likely he has not experienced any type of cold food, at least not that cold. I'm sure that will change with time! Nanny will have to work on fixing this (it's okay though Nanny, he loves chocolate)!

Wednesday the only official item on the schedule is to get his photo taken for his visa. Nothing eventful, quick and easy. We went to visit Cho Lon (Chinatown), yes even Vietnam has a Chinatown! A giant market that has stuff stacked upon stuff and more stuff. It seems to cater a little more to wholesale types of transactions but it is still interesting to walk around and take in the sites and sounds. Visited a pagoda near the market. The kids were really interested in what the pagoda was all about. Quite elaborate in its' decorations. The smells are a little different due to all of te incense sticks that a burning. Yanic and Sophie were mostly interested in lighting up a few incense sticks. We bought a couple and offered them in the memory of Pop Pop, Grammy Gigs and Pepere. Around noontime we decided to go visit the Cuchi tunnels, which are about 2 hours drive from the center of Saigon. The tunnels were used during various wars by the Viet Cong. Most notably they were used during the American (Vietnam) war. It was quite amazing to see what the tunnels were like and imagine that people lived in these in order to hide from the enemy. We were told by our guide that over 8000 people lived in the tunnels. They even had tunnels that would lead to the river. You could actually enter or exit the tunnel system from under water!
Baby Brother had his 2nd taste of ice cream and this one was more to his liking. I figured that it would only be a matter of time!
The drive back to Saigon was quite interesting due to all of the traffic. we were caught in rush hour traffic. The pictures honestly don't do any justice to what it is really like. Completely amazing to watch the almost poetry like movement of scooters, people and cars. Amazing that more accidents don't happen.
On Thursday we finally have our interview with Immigration. Hopefully everything goes well, no reason that it should not.
That's really all to report from here. The whole family fell asleep just after 8 pm so I have been trusted with reporting the Boulet news from Vietnam. Enjoy the new photos! Love,Mike and the 4 others navigating the adoption trials and tribulations in Vietnam. Have a great day!