Monday, August 18, 2008

Out and About

Yesterday Madeleine looked so American in her shorts and shirt. She mostly wears 9 month clothes (she's 17 months - 19 lbs) but I was able to pull 8 button holes in on her adjustable 12-18 month shorts.
Taking the bow out of her hair. Many think she is a boy so I thought the bows might help but I can't keep one in her hair for more than 20 seconds - it's too much fun taking them out.
We did get sunglasses on her for a few minutes before they came off too.

We have discovered that if we go out after Madeleine's nap (~3 pm), we can walk around a bit, then go to an early dinner (~5 pm) when the restaurants are empty and Madeleine stays in a good mood for the whole trip. Yesterday we took a cab to the Old Quarter on the other side of Hoan Kiem lake.
Then we went to dinner at Garden Vuon (36 Hang Manh). Here's Andrew with the restaurant lion. It looks kind of like an alley from the outside but its really quite nice inside. (FYI - the bathrooms are also nice.) We had tons of very good food including fried noodle dishes, a wonderful sauteed chicken with pears, lots of freshly made juices (tomato, mango) and wonderful spring rolls.
When we walked back to our hotel, St. Joseph's Cathedral was letting out of church (~7:30 pm) from celebrating Feast of the Assumption. The church was just packed full of people. We took a short cut through the church grounds to get back to the hotel. As soon as we exited the church compound, we happened upon a bunch of people (~200) standing singing to the Virgin Mary. It was really quite cool.

This morning, Dad and Madeleine actually sat next to each other. They also passed a hotel key card back and forth. So there's progress on the non-Dad male front.

4 comments:

Rebekah Wilson said...

I love her sunglasses!! What a ham!

I put Kaitlyn in pigtails for the first time yesterday, totally cute but like Madeleine...they were out in less than a minute. One day they will appreciate it, right?

J and J said...

We have loved following your journey. It seems so long up to the travel point and now I look and see you are almost coming home. Thank you for sharing your journey.

Stevens Family said...

Awe, she's such a cutie pie. Love to hear that she's bonding more with Dad. Love all the pics too.

Erin said...

Maria, I'm so happy for you all. Reading the stories and seeing the pictures just makes it so much better (and like its finally for real this time!) I can't wait to see you all sometime in the next year and give both the kids my love! If you need a nanny...i have a good one in mind :)