making memories

When you decide to move overseas at the age of 24, you don't think about what it is like for the family you leave thousands of miles away. Last week my parents came to visit us. It was the first time they had come since we moved overseas 7 years ago. I loved watching Preston make memories with them. 

 We took them to all of our favorite local places. They enjoyed the food and touring around our great big city.

 Mom and dad got to be the first grandparent to meet Isabella.

 I was so proud of them for eating anything we introduced them to. They even said they would eat it again. :)

 I think their favorite fruit was the dragon fruit. I only wished I had introduced them to it on the first day instead of half way through the visit.

It was always interesting to see if dad could fit in the tiny chairs at coffee shops or noodle places. I loved that my mom and dad got to see a little piece of our life in Hanoi. It was so much fun having them. There just isn't anything like your parents telling you how proud they are of the person you have become! I only wish we could see each other more often.  The hardest part about family visiting is having to say good bye.

Mom and Dad thanks for a GREAT visit! We miss you already!

famous in Hanoi

The other day Tim came home and said that a lady told him she saw Preston on tv. Tim just thought his Vietnamese was rusty from being away and dismissed what she said. When he told me what she said I reminded him that the week we moved to Hanoi in August of 2010 we walked into an ice cream shop and they were filming something. We searched for the shop on google and found what they were filming. At 3:10 in the video you can see our family enjoying our ice cream and Preston with his thumbs up.

3 weeks and counting

Tim's mom, step-dad, and niece will all be visiting us in Hanoi in 3 weeks. We are so excited for them to come. I'm so excited that they are willing to bring all of the stuff that people have sent to baby girl Edwards. Karolyn for sure is the queen of packing. When Preston was born she bought a hockey bag and fit the stroller, car seat and base into it, then stuffed 10 lbs of baby clothes in it until it was exactly at max weight. She even traveled with a Boppy pillow as her airline pillow. AMAZING! Please don't feel pressure to buy us anything, but if you are planning on doing so we want to save you on shipping it to Thailand. All things that you want to send to us via Tim's mom needs to arrive at FL address by July 4th. Again we are in NEED for nothing it is all just a blessing.

And because a post is always more fun with pictures I leave you with this random Vietnamese sight. A guy snoozing on his motor bike.

hungry...got milk?

just another daily sight you see in Hanoi. 

Seeing the Sites

Today was the first time in a month that it was both sunny and warm. So we went on an adventure. Behind our house is a river and many orchards. It is like we are in the city, but can get away from the noise. This is also a time when the river is dry, so we took advantage and went exploring. These were some of our sites.

Others taking advantage of todays nice weather.  

This is Preston and I trying to cross the dry river, but It was muddy so we tried to step on the broken pottery that was around us until we reached the sand. 

Can you tell we were excited for 60 degree weather? What a great day and Im thankful we were outside to enjoy it.

Hanoi's 1000th Birthday!

What is that you say, "1000 YEARS" WOW! Then Preston points to his shirt which says good morning Vietnam.
People were very patriotic with red banners that read I love Hanoi and stickers on their cheeks. The lakes in Hanoi always have people around walking, taking pictures, and just relaxing. However, on 10-10-10 there were more people then normal. Thousands of people were out to celebrate the special anniversary of their beloved city.

We had a lot of fun walking around, but if we stayed in one place for long, massive amounts of people would close in on us wanting to take pictures of Preston. If you ever want to know what it feels like to have paparazzi follow you then come to Vietnam or China with a small child. Getting your picture taken will become a daily occurrence. Preston has started putting his hands up by his eyes and pretending to take pictures of other people.