Hitting 100 degrees in Seattle this week!!

Texas comes to Seattle... We are having an amazing summer out here indeed!
The older kids and I took off to the mountains yesterday for a hike and cold river plunge. While it was hot and sunny all around us, we had some bouts of rain showers cooling us off while the sun streamed through the huge sequoias and fir trees... so beautiful.

Wescott's First Rock Band...

After a week of DayJams Camp, Wescott had his first gig in his band The Road Trip Warriors. He's on electric guitar, and the song they are performing, Traveling, was written by the band all week.

Enjoy!

Annual Sharpstoriza Camp Out

This year's camp out was on the Olympic Peninsula at the Hood Canal, in the Dosewallips State Park. Lucie, Tyler and Leyla flew in from New Mexico, and were joined with Lucie's family: Carolyn, Todd & Vivian; Kristen, Hugh, Thomas and Mason.

Camping with our two new additions, Tuck & Jones, was doable for one night! Pictures attached in this slide show! (Remember, you can click on the slide show to see a bigger version of it on the Slide site...).

Waiting in Ferry line

Off to spend the night at Camp Parsons in Olympic National Park and then camping with the Pastorizas and our gang for the 4th of July!

The weather in Seattle continues to be amazing! Perfect weather since mid-May... what a summer!


-- mobile posting from the field!!

I'm A Honeybee!....BUZZZZZZ!

Today, Tuck and I went to our first day of Country Village Day School! It is a really cool daycare and the same one that Otto and Yvie went to. I am a honeybee. Tuck is a honeybee. Otto was a honeybee too. Here is a picture of Tuck and me at the end of the day going home with our lunchboxes. We can't wait to go back tomorrow! Yipeeeeee!

DESTROY!

For our birthday, it was so cool! We got something called a pinata and we got to smash it until all this candy fell out!!

We got our first car(s)!!

Jones and I got our own sweet rides for our birthday! It's even better than the ones we used at our apartment in that really noisy place we used to live :-).

Happy Motoring!
Tuck

Twin Twos! Happy Birthday Tuck & Jones!!

Noo Doo!

For almost all my life I have had long, awesome, proud, trustworthy , cool, sweet, sick and allot of other things I'm to lazy to write, about my hair!

But anyways for years I have had long hair but after a long life of troubles such as not being able to see and being mistaken for a girl I decided a new look should dawn: ladies and gentleman I give you the Mohawk! My old long hair just lies in the shadow cast by my awesome new hair! So what I'm really after hear is that I have a new look that I like and am proud of so when you come over or I come to visit you don't ask questions because I just gave you all the answers!

3 day weekend

I spent all week counting the seconds that went by. Then, it finally came...our three day weekend had come. I already knew what I was going to do all weekend. My plan was to kick back and relax but my parents had other plans! #1 on their list was the Iris garden! I was really pumped when I heard this news because it's so much fun to look at plants with two screaming babies. And when I heard how long the drive was I was jumping for joy!

After a day of driving and looking at Irises I figured the rest of the weekend could go according to MY schedule. But no. Instead of watching TV and soaking to a prune in the hot tub it turns out we were having "lunch" with some friends. You are probably wondering why "lunch" is in quotation marks. Well that is because I'm pretty sure lunch and dinner were planned. Either that or that was the longest lunch I have ever had!

In the end, when I didn't have steam coming out of my ears, I figured that going to the Iris garden was kinda fun and having lunch at the beach wasn't bad either. All I can say is that the weekend was definitely not wasted!

rainbow park with the TWINS!

On Saterday we brang the twins to rainbow park. they liked it. we went on the slide with the twins and on the dinosour with the twins and we climbd up the slide with out the twins and when we left they cride.

I Got A Snail His Names KIng KEVIN!

Okay so in class we are learning about Organisaims, the animals we are leaning about are bettle, Patato Bug, snail, Guppy. So we have a trarium for the bettles and Patato bugs and aquraruim for the snails and guppies. My teacher Mrs. G said we get to take home our animals on May 22 right after my mom's B-Day and Celebrate Learning night! Our table group deicided who was getting who but sience all our guppies died, I know it is sad, so anyway sience al our guppies dies no one could have them. We had 3 snails and on the day we got to take them hoe one of our bess bettles dies so now we have 1 bess bettle and 1 patato bug although we used to have two.

On May 22 I ot a snail I named him King Kevin because the named just seemed grand like him. When I brought him home he was only in a little cup. than one day my mom bought him a new home that was a total upgrade. Wescott of course not a surprise said "It's just a snail! You pampor it too much."

You may think it's boring and not cool but to me he's the perfect pet!

King Kevin's first house

His new castle!

American As It Gets!

On my first full day back in the United States, Wescott, Yve, Otto and I went to a Mariners / Red Sox Game at Safeco Field. With crystal clear skies, warm sun, hot dogs and a beer (for me; sorry kids, not in Vietnam anymore!), I can't think of a better way to integrate back into American life!

Home At Last

We made it!! Tuck and Jones burst into the biggest smiles and started giggling upon site of Mom, Wescott, Yve and Otto... Our time in Hanoi really cemented our family, which is now complete. Lisa and I always knew someone was missing, which is why we set out for on this adoption journey several years ago. We just didn't know there were two people missing from the family :-).

Tuck & Jones U.S. Citizens!

We cleared through immigration in Los Angeles this morning, making our two little guys the latest citizens of the United States! The flight from Vietnam was, well, um... Let's just say it had its ups and downs... Though special thanks is due to the American Tokyo to LA flight crew; I would not have made it without them!

Getting ready to board the last flight to Seattle. It's oversold and all I can say is "so sorry" to the poor people sitting near us :-).


-- mobile posting from the field!!

Over the Pacific We Go

It's not my recommendation that anyone travels with twin boys under the age of 2 alone to the other side of the planet... But, if you do, then hopefully you'll have as nice of a flight crew as we had on American. They really went the extra mile, spending hours with Tuck and Jones, taking one so I could get the other asleep, making bottles... really awesome. Here's a couple of shots:

Two of the temp nannies on board the Tokyo to LA flight.

Passed out, taking up 4 seats...

Tuck seeing Mt. Rainier for the first time... Tuck, this view will never get old!

Made it to Tokyo!

After a series of ordeals that involved making me run from one end of the terminal to the other 5 times to get tickets and luggage straightened out at the Hanoi airport, resulting in us almost missing our flight (I got there 3 hours ahead of time!), we boarded the plane successfully. Lots of help from the crew, and the kids did really well: Tuck had a worried face for the first 30 minutes, but didn't get overly stressed. Jones just settled in and started throwing stuff around the cabin, so it was pretty much business as usual for him!

Lucky for us, the flight was relatively empty, and the boys actually slept an hour or so. They had a nice bassinet set up for Jones, and then waited an hour into his blissful sleep to tell me he was too big, and woke him up; which of course woke up Tuck... Ah well!

Anyway, we're hanging in a hotel room at the airport, where I have successfully been able to keep Tuck and Jones awake and active... fingers crossed it will pay off in the form of a few hours sleep over the Pacific!

See you on the other side!

Now Boarding...

We're all packed up. Plane reservations are done. Snacks and bottles loaded. Goodbyes complete.

Tuck, Jones and I are leaving Hanoi tonight at 11:30pm, bound for Tokyo. After a day of site seeing and trying hard to keep the boys awake, we then fly to Los Angeles, where Dang Van Thang and Dang Van Chien become United States citizens upon clearing immigration.

Because I am sure flying is going to SO MUCH FUN with these two, we board one more plane and land in Seattle Saturday afternoon, just a mere 33 hours later.

I hope I make it :-)

The Morning Routine

On the morning of our departure, the rain was threatening to come down, but it didn't. Not that it would have stopped the three of us from our morning routing which Tuck, Jones and I have kept up each and every morning for the past month. It is probably the thing I will miss most about Hanoi and my time here.

Wake up call is typically 5:30am; earlier more times than not; later if I am supremely lucky. After a quick bottle, a round of jumping on the trampoline (that would be me), a change and outfit selection, Tuck and Jones climb aboard their chariot and we head out to Ho Kiem Lake.

I estimate that I have looped this lake at least 200 times, and every day greets us with new sights, familiar faces and new friends. We're usually in power-walk mode, easily outpacing almost everyone except the runners. But, we never get very far before someone screams "Vietnam?" or "sinh đôi?" or "photo?"... Almost everyone looks at us; gawks at us more accurately. Most smile and wave at the twins, and then give me a look of sometimes bewilderment, sometimes approval. I've gotten high fives, waves, thumbs up and pats on the back. It amazes me the effect that these two little guys have on people. They hit almost everyone they roll by with a tickle of happiness, causing almost everyone to pause and acknowledge their presence.

Between 5:30a - 6:30a, you can see it all. Classes in fan dancing, aerobics, Tai Chi, sword dancing. People exercising in every conceivable way, with every kind of arm flapping possible. Grandfathers with their grandchildren. Meditation Man, who lays his body on a think metal fence almost every morning, not moving a muscle. A line-up of 25 or so ladies patting and pounding each other on their backs.... I could go on forever!

Below is a slide show of some of the sights...

"Hey Tuck, Let's Jam!"

We finally got our passports today... sweet photos! Me and Tuck are outta here... We're thinking Great Barrier Reef, maybe Maui, before checkin' out our new crib on the Island!

Fish Store on a Bike - finally!

He has eluded me for weeks... this guy on an ancient bicycle serves as the Old Quarter's mobile fish store. I have been trying to get a shot of him ever since I first saw him from a taxi a couple months back. I was in a bike taxi with the twins this morning, and there he was! I really want a turtle, but I don't think they'll let me take it through customs...

OK, I can now leave Hanoi a happy man... :-)

It's Official: Tuck & Jones Become Part of the Sharples-Aufranc Family!

There is no turning back - today was Giving & Receiving Ceremony Day at the Hanoi Ministry of Justice! After 3.5 months since we arrived, 8.5 months since we got matched, and over 3 years since we embarked on this journey, Tucker Dang Van Thang Sharples & Jones Dang Van Chien Sharples are now officially ours.

The ceremony was kind of like getting married at the County Courthouse: very proper and official, pretty much business, and relatively short. My friend Kathy Ramsey who lives in Hanoi Towers came along for moral support and be the cameraman. Also present was Thang, the twins' part-time nanny for the past 3.5 months, Loan who is with our agency, and a representative from the Dong Anh Orphanage. The Director of the Orphanage also came, but for some reason did not come to the actual ceremony. A very official woman from the Ministry of Justice conducted the procedings, in Vietnamese, and we had English and French translators (there was another couple with a baby from France joining in the G&R).

Under the watchful eye of Ho Chi Minh's golden bust in the corner of the room, I signed lots of papers, a huge log book with mug shots of the twins pasted in taken probably a year or so ago, stood up to receive the hand-off from the official, who at the end made it a point to say "they are now officially yours!"

Kind of hard to describe the feelings... it might be a little like the day you find out your baby can come out of the ICU after a premature birth perhaps. They became ours in all of our hearts a while ago, but there has been a big conditional hanging over us for so long. It's a relief, only to be bested by the visas to enter the United States in hand, which hopefully will be at the end of the week if all goes according to plan...

Lisa, Wescott, Yve & Otto - Tuck, Jones and I really missed you today, but we have a video you can see, and more importantly, we'll be coming home very soon!!

Here are some pics of the day:

Waiting for the Ceremony to begin (L to R: representative from Dong Anh, Cliff, Tuck, Jones, Thang)

Ministry of Justice Official with The Boys right after the ceremony

Tuck, Thang, Kathy and Jones outside Minitry of Justice


Jones outside Ministry of Justice: "Yeah, I'm a Sharples!"


Tuck outside the Ministry of Justice: "Wait, I'm a what?!"


Twins Tag Team for the past month: "Thang, I would NOT have survived without you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you."


The Gang: from L-R: Random Woman, Random Woman's Baby (they just got into the picture), Loan from PLAN, Thang, Tuck, Mr. Minh (Orphanage Director), Kathy, Jones, Orphanage Representative

Happy Mother's Day Mom, Love Tuck & Jones

Wish you were here... or actually, wish we were there :-). These flowers we're holding were for you, until we used them as bats and beat each other with them, then tried eating them, but Dad wouldn't let us...


p.s. - the sign says "Thanks Mom!"

We still got it!

Everywhere we go we get our picture taken... I mean, it's crazy! When Dad makes the mistake of letting us out of the stroller, we get mauled by everyone. I'm a little freaked out that I'll get swine flu with all the people touching us and squeezing us. Oh well, I guess that's life with the paparazzi!

This was this morning on our daily walk:

More Celebration at Hanoi's St. Joseph's Cathedral

Here's something I learned: the Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam, which is loyal to the Pope, is the second largest organization in the country after the Communist Party. It explains why there is so much suspicion and harassment of Catholics in the country, based in not having full control over such a large group of people. Though tensions are easing significantly this year, as evidenced by a massive gathering of the faithful on Sunday evening.

Vietnam is one of only a handful of countries that the Vatican does not have official diplomatic relations, though there is a lot of work to change that, and a Papal visit is hoped for this year. The Communist Party very recently lifted a ban on Catholics attending large church gatherings, which makes the sight I saw last Sunday particularly unusual in the city.

Thousands of people crammed the streets around the cathedral, all participating in some sort of festival that centered on the Virgin Mary. There was a massive processional around the church, and the entire crowd sang hyms together. They use the facade of the cathedral as a giant backdrop, decorating its usually drab exterior with banners, insignia and flowers. It is all pretty remarkable when you learn about the history of the church in Vietnam.

For a communist country, where you might expect openly religous gestures of any faith to be discouraged or muted, it actually seems entirely the opposite. Pagodas, temples, cathedrals, alters in every shop... it's all part fo the amazing texture of this place. Here's a couple of shots from the evening: