Wednesday January 18

We decided we would sleep in again today, as I thought two nights of good sleep would help get me on track!  There is an eyeglass store that is well known as they have good lenses much cheaper than in the US.  Last year, both Mom and I got new lenses and this year Mom wanted to get prescription sunglasses.  Since they need a few days to order them, and our trip is shorter this year, we needed to go this morning to make sure there was enough time before we left.

After some breakfast at the apartment, we took a quick taxi ride to the store.  The women we started off with was quickly replaced as apparently we were speaking too fast, but the next women to help us understood exactly what Mom wanted!  I’m very excited to see her new sunglasses, they are super cute!

After that, we decided to walk around the outside area of Ben Than Market (our old stomping grounds) and not a whole lot has changed.  We also walked by the park and we saw a lot of construction, so will have to ask Long what’s going on in there.  I already had a Vietnamese iced coffee to cool me down (it’s 90 and that sun is HOT) so Mom got a small ice cream at Baskin Robbins before we ventured back out to walk around some more. 

Puzzle time!

As it was getting close to lunch, Mom (who didn’t sleep great last night) put her time to good use and found that 4Ps (our favorite pizza place) opened a new location close to Ben Than Market, so we just had to check it out!

I felt bad as the hostess was saying something to us and neither of us could understand (normally, we work together to figure it out) but we were so lost.  We kind of just shook our heads until another women came over and said she would take us to our table, which is all we wanted, so we figured we were all set.

We ended up sitting at a bar area that was in front of their pizza oven, so we think the woman was maybe saying that’s all they had available? 

Unfortunately it was pretty hot (they didn’t have AC on) but it was awesome to watch the pizzas being made.  We had a delicious lunch, day 2 and it was so nice to have “comfort food”, and then took a taxi back to our apartment. 

The traffic seems extra bad this year.  Mom said she read that it gets worse around Tet (Vietnamese New Year) which starts January 28. 

After loading up our bags with all of our electronics, we were off to the bus!  Everyone was inside the big room once we arrived, and Cap rounded up the troops to get everyone ready to go.  There was some confusion about Dorothy, what to put her in, if she could come, etc. but the local retired barber (who went to school somewhere in Virginia at some point) was able to translate that because we were leaving on Friday, they wouldn’t make Dorothy do her exercises today and she could come in the stroller.  We also took George in the stroller, and he was pumped!

So off we went, George and Dorothy and Cap, Bob and Thoung!  There is a lot of construction going on around the pagoda, so we had to find a new spot to sit.  Everyone was relatively happy with their games, and most of the time we just serve as tech support.  Speaker not working?  Can’t figure out your game?  No worries, we are here to save the day!

We got yelled at again (not really, but someone had to come get us) to come inside to get the kids ready to eat.  Every day the time seems to get earlier and earlier!  While the workers are preparing meals we just kind of hang out and wait.  Mom was chasing Cap and tickling him, which he LOVED.  He loves tapping her and then racing away!  Bob and Thoung aren’t feeling well (colds I think) so they both wanted some cuddling.

I was given the same boy who I had on Monday, and I learned this time and did not blow on his soup.  However, it was a bit warm today, but not too hot so he was a rock star and we were done in no time!

Bob and Thoung (who sit at the big kid table and usually feed themselves) were not really eating, so I went over to feed them.  Mom (after feeding George) came over to help with Thoung, and she was just so great with him because he was knocking under the table and she would act all surprised and say “What?  Who is there?” and he just thought it was the funniest thing, and would then eat another bite! 

We did some clean up, and then apparently Cap had had enough of us and was literally pushing me to where my bag was and was waving goodbye, making it very clear we better hit the road!

Again, it was so nice to come back to the apartment and not have to find food out.  We were both tired and sore, so leftovers it was, and then off to bed!