Monday night, PopPop and Teetee (Lisa's parents) headed back to the US after 10 action packed days of sight-seeing combined with quality kid time! We all had an awesome time and the 10 days went by WAY too fast. For Teetee, it was the end to her 6 weeks in Vietnam as she flew here to help Cliff when he was alone with the kids and then stayed for Lisa's solo mission as well. For PopPop, it was a quick trip to Asia to meet two new grandson's and spend some quality time with the whole Sharples gang, especially the kids.
Hanoi is an amazing city, and with over two months of living here under their belts, Wescott, Yve and Otto could now be professional tour guides. We built a list of the 20 most important "must dos" for Hanoi on PopPop's first day here and proceeded to wake up every morning and do something on the list. From the Temple of Art and Literature to "The Hanoi Hilton" to crazy night markets, Wescott, Yve and Otto were the best of tour guides and managed to show PopPop everything.
Most importantly, there is nothing like a 3 bedroom apt in downtown Hanoi to facilitate quality bonding with your new grandchildren :) Without the distractions of daily life back in the USA for all of us, Hanoi has provided an amazing opportunity for us all to get to know the twins and for the twins to get to know each and everyone of us. Teetee and PopPop experienced this as well and left Hanoi with new found insight into the unique personalities and characteristics of Tuck and Jones.
Thank you so much PopPop and Teetee for trekking to Vietnam and for all the support, help and fun you added to the trip! Can't wait to continue it all stateside when we finally get approval from the US to bring Tuck and Jones back!
I think that the big kids know all that there is to know about Hanoi and saunter through the sidewalks and traffic like they were born there, oblivious to the amazing noise, and bustle of this incredible city. If you want to be safe crossing the street, stick with them!
ReplyDeleteThe trip to Halong Bay was something out of a mystical story and the boat we were on, the ports of call and the passing boats of all kinds were so varied that one wasn't sure which century you were in from one moment to the next.
One second you are looking at a flat barge filled with coal and the next there is a woman in a basket boat about six feet across. I guess the most memorable boats are those with families living on them with conical tents, fishing lines, dogs and a stove cooking away.