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...).

Twin Twos! Happy Birthday Tuck & Jones!!

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 :-).

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...

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

Hang Quat Street: Spiritualism meets Capitalism

This has got to be my favorite street in Hanoi. Most of the Old Quarter of the city is still largely organized by guilds that were formed hundreds of years ago, each focusing on a different trade. On Hang Quat, it's all about outfitting your inner Buddha, serving as what seems to be a cross between a wholesale market for pagoda builders to your go-to street for the ultimate home alter.

In our goal to bring some of the Vietnamese culture into our home, we decided that a home alter, or as it is sometimes called, a butsudan, needed to be acquired. With that mission, I set out to Hang Quat. I have walked this street for weeks, and had carefully evaluated all of the styles, materials, sizes and quality levels that the various butsudan makers had to offer. I settled on No. 62 Hang Quat, one of the smaller shops next to the only pagoda on the street.


Mrs. Ha, the proprietor, spoke no English, nor did her mother or any of the other people in the immediate vicinity. But, she did pull out an English to Vietnamese translation book, used a "call a friend" option to try to get someone to translate via cell phone, and finally found a man several stalls down who knew enough English to get some of my questions answered.

I selected No. 62 because they had nice wood, not heavily lacquered or painted... the simplest design I could find. Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't pimp my alter! This is half the fun, and so, for just 100,000 VND (~$3) I got some sweet pink neon lights installed, some corner railings and a dragon-themed top molding piece. Once we broke the language barrier, I was invited in the back of the shop for tea and they showed me how to fully outfit the alter, with everything from little wine cups, flower vases, a pot to stick insense sticks in and statues representing whatever it was I was interested in enshrining.

What's interesting is that no matter what religion you are, you typically have some sort of home alter in your home to use as a meditation focus point and a place to honor and pray to your ancestors. So, if you are Christian, you might put a statue of the Virgin Mary. If you're Hindu, maybe it's a statue of Ganesha. I opted for the three Hunn Kings, representing Happiness, Prosperity and Longevity.

While they suggested that we pack everything up, load me and my purchases onto Mrs. Ha's moped to get back to Hanoi Towers, I opted for a taxi. We parted company, promising to come back and say hi with the twins before leaving.

Now my only problem is how I am going to get this thing home...!

The Italiano

When we first enrolled Wescott in pre-school many years ago, the school headmaster told us that one of the things they frowned on was nicknames... But, try as we might, nicknames for our kids just popped out of our mouths spontaneously like some awful tick...

And so, in Tuck's first week with us, the first nickname emerged: The Italiano. I'm not quite sure why, but we just thought he looked more like a bambino from Roma then a con gai from Hanoi... As these pictures attest, I think we may have been right... He enjoyed his first spaghetti and sauce a little too much!

THANK YOU EVERYONE...

What a family and friends we have...

We are so grateful to everyone who has worked very hard on our behalf to make this adoption finally get approved. The emails, support, calling, letters, meetings, prayer groups... it's overwhelming, and we can't thank you all enough. We feel sure it made a difference.

As of this week, we have 7 U.S. Senator's offices, 2 Congressman's offices, several contacts at the State Department, USCIS, Embassy Officials, Vietnamese Business Contacts and a few church groups all working on behalf of Tuck and Jones... pretty amazing!

We're not completely done with the process yet, but the breaking of this major log jam was the lynch pin to the road home, and everyone should share in the congratulations.

TUCK & JONES ARE HOMEWARD BOUND!!!

Just like that, on Friday afternoon, an email came from USCIS/Adoption Team, which says:

"Having reviewed the petition and documents submitted, I am pleased to inform you that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has determined that the child identified, Dang Van Chien and Dang Van Thang do qualify as orphans, as defined by section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.

I was just today mentally preparing for a much longer stay in Vietnam... Emotions are running high... I think Tuck and Jones thought there was something seriously wrong with me, because I couldn't stop balling... I don't think I realized how stressed I was about the potential of more months away from home and separated from the rest of my family.

But, through this whole odyssey, we knew we were all meant for each other and that finally these two amazing boys would find their way home.

Mac & Cheese

What would we do without it? I'm down to 2 boxes and I'm terrified at the prospect of running out...

A Walk in the Park

In the steamy heat of the morning, we set out for adventures in Lenin Park. Comparing it to Central Park would be an insult to New Yorkers, but it's the closest thing we have. Here are some images from our morning:













There were about 2oo bikes and volunteers assembling for a ride from Hanoi to Hue this summer. They're working on environmental projects, at orphanages and other community projects. These are a few of the students we hung out with, asking each other lots of questions and having a great time!














Ballroom Dancing, anyone? This couple, oblivious to the world, had their boom box, their moves and a perfect stage by the lake.










































Jones & Tuck's very first roller coaster ride! They loved it (and as you can see in the last picture, wouldn't leave!) Chien-Thang Disney!






















Flood gates: open! They are officially thrill-ride seekers!

Sunrise to Sunset at Angkor Wat

We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Easter Sunday than watching the sun rise and fall over one of the world’s most amazing marvels – Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Armed with bunny ears, every conceivable piece of camera equipment we could carry and a Cambodian guide who also doubled as our family photographer, we set out at 4:45am. Even at this early hour, the “hair dryer hot” air laden with as much humidity as it could carry before bursting forth with rain immediately reminds you of the jungle that had claimed Angkor of centuries before being discovered in the late 1800s.


Not to be missed, the sunrise was spectacular, not as much for the opportunity for a photo trophy as the world party environment of people from all over the globe sharing in the experience. After sun up, we escaped the crowds and arrived at an other-worldly, dreamy jungle temple called Ta Prohm. At such an early hour, we had the entire 900-year old temple ruins and the huge jungle trees that are slowly devouring it to ourselves. Think Indiana Jones or Tomb Raiders and you’ll begin to get an inkling as to just how cool this place is.
Later in the day, we saddled up elephants (see Otto's post) who took us to the mountain-top temple of Phnom Bakheng for front-row seats to the magnificent sunset over Angkor Wat. The world party continued, with 30 or so fellow sunset worshippers taking particular delight in me donning the bunny ears for a photo as payback for making the kids do the same! With collective awe and peace, we watched our beautiful day come to an end, feeling so lucky and fortunate for the experience.
If you have not been to Cambodia, you absolutely MUST go. After only 10 or so years of peace, this is one of the world’s fastest changing places. Already, fantastic hotels and restaurants are open to make your stay as comfortable as anywhere. And, while clearly there is a growing effort to protect the treasures of Angkor, the runis and temples are still absurdly accessible and open to your unfettered exploration. This should clearly change, but in the meantime, make haste to visit Cambodia!