Cyclo Ride and Coconut Ice Cream

Hi Friends,

Today in Hanoi I went on a cyclo ride. A cyclo is like a bicycle, but it has a small bench in the front. I sat on the bench (with my Auntie Heather) and a man sat on the back and pedaled and steered the cyclo. It was fun. We went through a lot of traffic with motor scooters and taxis.

During my cyclo ride our cyclo ran in to the cyclo in front of us. My grandpa K was inside the other scooter. That was funny. Also, during the cyclo ride we saw a man putting his kickstand down on his scooter. It didn't work and the man's shoe fell off. That was funny, too.

After the cyclo ride we went to a restaurant. I had cheese pizza and coconut ice cream. The ice cream was kind of weird and medium good. I ate it all, anyway.

I am having fun in Vietnam with my family (including my new sister). I hope to hear from you all tomorrow!

Goodbye,
Thomas

The Boat

Well, first I want to say that we went on a boat ride. It was kind of fun. It was eight hours and that's weird. It was on the Red River in Vietnam. Dad and I got to go to the top of the boat.

We stopped at three places. One was a market and two other places were temples. At the market I got a souvenir of a ceramic vietnamese fisherman. At the other two temples they were neat. I even got to touch gold and I got to see a gold chair. It had a mirror on it.

Well, do as many comments as you can because I love reading them. Try to do one after you read this blog. So...goodbye.

Thomas

Hi friends,

Today we spent the day in Hanoi. We had peanut butter and honey sandwiches at the hotel for lunch, and for supper, we had chicken nuggets and french fries! It was a good food day for me.

Some vegetables came with my chicken nuggets. Julia ate some of my broccoli. She even seemed to like it! That was funny.

Last night and this night I am sleeping in my Auntie Heather's hotel room so that there is more room in the beds in my family's room. I kind of miss sleeping with my family, but my auntie does funny exercises and that is funny.

Tomorrow we are going on a boat ride on the Red River. We have to get up early to go, and we will be gone all day. I hope it is a good trip.

Today Julia played more with Helen and me than she did the other days. She also learned to give me five.

Bye bye for now!

Thomas

When Julia starts playing with cups

Me and Dad taught Julia how to play with toy cups. She loves the stacking cups.

We finally found a park with sculptures and fountains and even a playground which was really fun! At the playground I went down slides (lots) and mostly fell down in the sand. The sand stuck to me because I had bug lotion on me so mosquitoes don't bite me.

We take a pill every day so that we don't get malaria. I take my pill by putting it in my mouth and swallowing a drink of water.


Goodbye and stay healthy!

Thomas

Picture of me and my new sister

Picture of me in my Vietnamese hat

Julia

Today Julia Binh An Atkins became my sister! I will be very special to her because I am her big brother and I can teach her things. I will teach her words, mostly common and proper nouns.

After the adoption ceremony, we rode on a bus back to Ho Chi Minh City. On the way we stopped at a place that sells coconut candy that they make in Ben Tre. It was kind of good.

For supper tonight I had peanut butter and honey on a yummy type of french bread that they make in Vietnam. It is called banh mi. I love it.

Bye for now.

Thomas

Happy Thanksgiving From Thomas

Hello friends,

Today I got to meet my new sister two times. We are in the province of Ben Tre. We went to the orphanage to meet her and I got to help rock her to sleep. She is pretty afraid of my family and me. Tomorrow we will visit her in the morning and in the afternoon she will become my sister.

I am very excited that today I got to get a Vietnamese hat. It is made of straw and is in the shape of a cone. I will show it to you when I get home. I also hope to get a paper lantern when we go back to Ho Chi Minh City (after the adoption ceremony tomorrow).

Goodbye!

Thomas

When I ate dragonfruit

Today's my second day in Vietnam and I tried dragonfruit for breakfast. I tastes kind of like weird watermelon. It is white with little black spots.

In the airports there were moving sidewalks and I loved them.

There are a lot of motorcycles in the streets here in Vietnam.

Today we are going to go to Julia's town, Ben Tre, and then tomorrow on Thanksgiving we get to meet her.

I am having a good time. Goodbye.

Thomas

Thomas is in Vietnam!

Hi,

I'm Thomas' dad. Thomas made it to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (formerly called Saigon) today as planned! Because it is a really long, tiring trip, Thomas went to bed early to try and catch up on his sleep so that he is ready to travel to Ben Tre province tomorrow. When he wakes up, I'll ask him if he has anything to say.

Thomas' Dad

We left and now we're in Taiwan

We found a Hello Kitty store in the airport. My sister, Helen, loves it! I'm never going to like Hello Kitty.

I stayed up until midnight Minnesota time while I was in Los Angeles. We were on a plane for 14.5 hours and it was dark the whole time. I got a Leapster game on the plan to pass the time!! It's fun!

We're going to Ho Chi Minh City next. I'm curious about how it will be. I'll try to write when we get to Vietnam.

Goodbye!

Thomas

Before we leave

It's Saturday. We're packing. We had pizza for lunch. I can't wait to go. We don't know much information. After we leave it will take us 29 hours to get to Vietnam I am so excited because I will get some surprises during the trip. That's all. Good bye.

I'll try to write something when we get to Ho Chi Min City

Thomas

I'm going to go to Vietnam!

I'm going to Vietnam to get a new sister! I will leave on Sunday, November 18 and I will get back to school after Christmas vacation. On this blog I will tell you what is happening in Vietnam during our trip and I will share pictures so you can see what Vietnam is like and what my new sister looks like. Check back soon to see what is happening!

Thomas