We had a lovely weekend. Did some last minute Christmas shopping, finally decorated the Christmas tree, made Scandinavian cardamom bread, took a family photo for Christmas cards and started the annual Christmas card writing marathon. And we only had two social events--one of which (the funner but less required one, unfortunately) I bailed on.
This morning, I thought, why did last weekend feel so good? Then I looked at our calendar. The last weekend Nathan and I were both in country without house guests was the weekend of Oct. 7--and that was the weekend of Ellie's birthday party. Too get a truly free weekend, I think you'd have to go back to September. I'm not really complaining. We've been busy with so many wonderful things--Nathan's trip to Kuala Lumpur, my trips to Bangkok and DC, family vacation in Vietnam, and lots of dear family and friends who have travelled long ways to see us. But I am glad that we'll have a couple free weekends in a row in January!
Photos from Thanksgiving with Jess and Andy and my trip to DC to come as time permits! Now we're trying to finish Christmas cards (so expect yours to be late) and get ready for the arrival of my parents, Liz, and Liz's boyfriend David on Saturday night.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Our Vietnam trip
About a month ago we took a trip to northern Vietnam, mostly Hanoi but also including a trip to Halong Bay. We had a great time, and took some great photos. Here are a few.
We started out the trip in Hanoi, where Nathan got to have some wonderful Tex-Mex cuisine.
Hanoi is also home to a zoo, which really felt like a southeast asian zoo. They did have one ride we deemed safe enough for the kids to go on, so we rode on a train.
One of the many museums in Hanoi is the Ethnography museum. The main feature of this museum, at least from the perpsective of those with kids, is that they have a bunch of houses that kids (and grownups too, for that matter) are allowed to run around inside. Some of them are familiar looking buildings, but the one pictured here is the tallest single level house I've ever seen.
The second part of our trip was to Halong Bay, an area on the Gulf of Tonkin that is known for some unusual geological features, pictured here.
We were on a Chinese Junk, and old style of sailing ship. Ours was one of the biggest on the water, which made for smooth sailing and nice dining.
We stopped by a cave to walk through it, and the kids found one of the most memorable moments to be when we threw something away.
Finally we got out of the cave, and were able to look out over the area of the bay we were in, including several of the boats full of tourists.
It was a lovely and mostly relaxing trip. Not at all the Vietnam that I grew up thinking of, in fact there are very few remnants of the war left, it seems. Those that are still around have been commercialized. Ironic, huh?
We started out the trip in Hanoi, where Nathan got to have some wonderful Tex-Mex cuisine.
Hanoi is also home to a zoo, which really felt like a southeast asian zoo. They did have one ride we deemed safe enough for the kids to go on, so we rode on a train.
One of the many museums in Hanoi is the Ethnography museum. The main feature of this museum, at least from the perpsective of those with kids, is that they have a bunch of houses that kids (and grownups too, for that matter) are allowed to run around inside. Some of them are familiar looking buildings, but the one pictured here is the tallest single level house I've ever seen.
The second part of our trip was to Halong Bay, an area on the Gulf of Tonkin that is known for some unusual geological features, pictured here.
We stopped by a cave to walk through it, and the kids found one of the most memorable moments to be when we threw something away.
Finally we got out of the cave, and were able to look out over the area of the bay we were in, including several of the boats full of tourists.
It was a lovely and mostly relaxing trip. Not at all the Vietnam that I grew up thinking of, in fact there are very few remnants of the war left, it seems. Those that are still around have been commercialized. Ironic, huh?
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