We're home!!!

After 3 fairly long flights, we made it back home at 5 pm yesterday. WHO HOOOOO!!!! It was WONDERFUL to see Isabella (and Todd :) again!! My MIL took very good care of both of them! We checked out of the hotel on Monday at 10 am and spent the rest of the time on the beach. By 2 pm, I had had it with the sun, surf, and wind! I took a shower OUTSIDE under a stream of cold water but I could have cared less! I had sand everywhere!!! It was still stuck to my eyelids when I got on the plane later that night. Rebekah took off at 9 and we left 30 minutes later. Elisabeth, in true Elisabeth fashion, bawled her eyes out when her aunt left. Seven more months of waiting to see her is hard :( I crawled into bed last night with both girls and fell sound asleep by 8:30. Heavenly!!!

Pictures from today

Rebekah and Elisabeth outside of the lagoon.
Elisabeth in the lagoon right outside Magnum PI's house.
Us at the Blue Water Grill on Sunday night.

Day 4 in Hawaii is much......

BETTER!!!!! YEAH!!! No more puking :) I went to bed last night at 4 while Rebekah and Elisabeth hit the town. I slept until 7 am this morning and then the 3 of us hit the beach by Magnum PI's house for a few hours and then back to our own beach for the rest of the day. We are running to Costco now and then to have a really nice dinner at the Blue Water Grill :) We have one more day in the sun tomorrow but have to be out of our cottage by 10 am. Not sure what we are going to do about rinsing the sand off of our bodies before we leave tomorrow night. Guess we will figure it out :) I will post pictures soon!!

Day 3 in Hawaii sucks because....

I have food poisoning. It is awful. Horrible. Terrible. Both ends are going at the same time and now I have a fever. I am laying in bed while Rebekah and Elisabeth are out looking at Magnum PI's house. The Hawaiian music is playing and it is sunny out. I want to die....not really but I feel like dying. No pictures to post. I look too awful. I am not a happy, Hawaiian camper right now.

Day 2 in Hawaii

We had a terrific day today:) We got up at 6 am to watch the sunrise and were out laying in the sun by 7:30. By 9, we were ready for lunch! I dined on M&Ms, Chocolate Chex Mix, and fresh fruit until we went to a local restaurant for chicken and fries. We, or I should say, I had a nap for 2 hours and woke up to it pouring rain outside. We went to a nearby town, did some shopping, and had dinner. Now I am ready for bed!

We made it!!!

After 11 hours on the plane, we made it to Hawaii!!!! We got in at 3:30 and were swimming by 5:) The water is beautiful and the cottage is awesome!!! We have a 30 second walk to the beach...the weather was a little cloudy tonight but it should be sunny and hot tomorrow. Rebekah looks great!!! We went for a swim, had showers, then went to dinner in our pjs. We have been up for 24 hours so we are on our way to bed-in fact, Elisabeth is already asleep!

PS The crew from Vietnam is safe and sound at home in Canada:)

We are off!!

It is 3:40 am and we are getting ready for the drive to Harrisburg :) I am a little nervous-I am not a huge fan of flying AND I have to keep Elisabeth grounded....I like to call her "little me". We leave from Harrisburg and fly to Minneapolis with a 2 hour layover there. From MN to Honolulu, it should take 7 hours. I can't believe in 16 short hours, we will be on the beach!!!

Jacqueline, Jim, and Sadie are in the air as we speak. Maybe we will pass eachother in the sky:)

Elephants and Health

After the 2 hour elephant watch :)

Can you find Elisabeth and part of Isabella in this crowd?? This picture was on the front page of section C of our newspaper today:) Yes, my kids are famous!
This is what we waited to see while sitting in the hot sun, on the side of the road, for 2 hours :)
The elephants making their 4 mile walk from the train to the Bryce Jordan Center where they will perform for the next 4 days.

Guess who is healthy, or almost healthy, again??? Isabella is back at daycare for the first time in 1 1/2 weeks!!! WHOOO HOOOO!!!! Bonnie, our sitter, has her hands full. Isabella is used to having her own way since she has been sick and I think she has just met her match in Bonnie.

We went to see the elephants and horses come in on the train last night. The circus is in town:) Hopefully Todd, his mom, and Isabella will get to see it sometime this weekend while Elisabeth and I are in Hawaii. Hmmmmmmmmm.....circus or Hawaii?? What would you choose??

Sadie is coming home!!!

Jacqueline, Jim, and Sadie are leaving Hanoi on Thursday at 11 am (Hanoi time). They are beyond excited!!!! Here are some recent pictures of their darling baby girl.

2 more days.....

until we leave for Hawaii!!!! YEAH!!! My sister will be there in about an hour and will come and get us at the airport in Honolulu on Thursday afternoon. We will have 4 full days together laying in the sun and eating junk food.

Isabella is feeling much better-she is back to her usual happy then nasty then happy self :) She still can't eat anything above mush, though. When I think of how much a canker sore hurts, I can't imagine having more than one in my mouth let alone 10+. She hasn't been to her babysitter's house for 6 days and it looks like she will be staying home again tomorrow. I hate to send her until she is at least able to handle more food.

On another great note, J and J should be home by the end of this week!!! They got Sadie's Canadian passport today and will get her Vietnamese one tomorrow. Hopefully they will exchange their plane tickets and be home by Friday:) It seems so effortless-the Canadian/Vietnam adoptions. Nothing, at all, like the US!!!

Still Sick!!!

Isabella is still sick :( She now has impetigo on her chin-not pretty to say the least. And, as gross as it sounds, she won't stop picking at it which makes it look 100 times worse. The sores in her mouth are still there and we are on day 5 of not eating. She will drink a yogurt and eat a small bowl of ice cream but cries when she tries any kind of liquid. She is miserable. Her fever, thankfully, is gone. She also hasn't spoken in 5 days-she just keeps in lips together/mouth closed and mimes everything she wants while grunting. Did I mention Elisabeth and I are leaving for Hawaii in 4 days?? My wonderful sister Rebekah offered me a trip to Hawaii to meet up with her for 5 days-which will be a much needed break right about now. I pray Bella is better by then-I will have a very tough time leaving her if she is still sick :(

Isabella Update

My sweet nephew Liam-who used to have legs like his baby sister:)
My sick angel/hellish devil :)
Falling on the grass (aka dog poop land).
Elisabeth with her new bubble blower.
Notice the new summer dress and pretty socks that are supposed to be folded down but are pulled up to her knees because she demands that her legs be covered :)

Isabella went to the doctors for the second time yesterday. She refused to eat (but still will drink) and had sores on her lips. She continued to have a high fever. The doctor told us she had Coxsackie Virus.....mainly affecting her mouth. She had at least 3 ulcer-like sores on her soft palate that were causing so much pain, she couldn't swallow anything. There is no medicine to take because it is viral (go figure!).

I would say the main symptom (which the doctors forgot to mention) of this is TESTINESS!! OHHHHHHHHHHHH....does she get mad!!!! Elisabeth is ready to ship her off to the nearest grandparent (that would be you, Mom!). We got in the car to go to a park last night and she kept screaming, "Mommy...LEGS!!" over and over and over....she hates having her legs bare and wanted her dress pulled down and her socks up. At one point, Isabella was screaming and crying "LEGS!!! Mommy, LEGS!!!" and Elisabeth is sitting beside her, ears plugged, eye closed, doing her deep breathing exercises. I wanted to take a picture because it was quite funny but I got a not-so-nice glare from E. I didn't think I should push it.

Hopefully, things will be back to normal next week :)