November Pics

November's photos

Sorry been a bit slack lately with the blog but the camera hasn't stopped snapping.

We're Walking

What can we say, we now have our hands well and truly full. The sprites are mobile. Tom has been on the cusp for about six weeks, but after a few stacks he lost his nerve and reverted to crawling. But now they are both up and going. Claire seemed to not want to miss out on anything and just popped up and went.



Claire is still a little unsteady on the move, but very stable when standing around and has worked out a way to counter attack Tom's additional weight when they are both vying for the same position.

Terry Fox Run

As soon as I heard about the Terry Fox Run I had the whole family on the donation sheet and we were all set to attend.  Yesterday afternoon's festivities that led into last night festivities meant the early rise for a fun run, was not all that 'fun'.  We still made it Thien Quang Lake for an 8am start and joined the crowd to raise money for cancer research here in Vietnam.

So now the kids have another first to rack up, their first fun run and I tell you I would have much preferred been in the chariot than being the pusher.

House Warming

Yes we may have been here for 3 months, but in that time a lot has happened and Trev hasn't been here the whole time either.  So yesterday we had our house warming.  The party started around 2ish and besides a small ice drama, that being the lack of ice and the ice factory having closed, we with the help of Helen's maid found some ice in an old dumpster looking thing covered in doonas and old pillows.  Drama over, the drinks were chilled and the party began in force.

About 40 people came by during the day and evening and the new BBQ had a workout.

It was going to be themed in bad taste to go with the current equine flu back home and the thought that Tuesday's big race may be cancelled, but with that all going ahead we just had a BBQ.

The photo is of Claire and Park a spouse of one of Jo's workmates and there are plenty more photos are in Tom and Claire's webalbum.

Playing Tourist

It's been a while since we have been able to enjoy playing tourist in Hanoi.  In fact since starting the new job at the same time Trev left for work it seems we have been doing the same ol' ritual of work and home.  Trev arrived home on Saturday and on Sunday we were off on a day of sight seeing and long brunches.

First stop as Trev had never been there before was KOTO and a walk by the temple of literature, we did the non touristy route via bathroom street to get a longer shower hose, then from breaky it was on to the Military Museum on Dien Bien Phu.  We had an interesting look around here and the number of conflicts the Vietnamese have been involved is endless.  They had a good display of relics with some English and French scripts to help get the gist of what they were of.

We then jumped across the road to see Lenin.  This statue is apparantly the last statue of Lenin in situe, all others have been removed to places various for preservation ie museums.

From Dien Bien Phu we headed in to the old quarter, past St. Joseph's Church and around Hoan Kiem Lake.  It was then decided to head home and we decided to continue the walking way we had started and meandered through back streets, getting slightly lost while enjoying the sounds and sights.