We left Hoi An this morning - it was a beautiful place to be. The shopping was fun and we stayed in a villa with the ocean on one side and the river on the other. We said good bye to Sophie's birth family yesterday afternoon at poolside....they came one last time to give our family gifts and to talk. They are so thankful that Sophie has us as a family (of course, we are too!) and we tape recorded a message for Sophie to save - first in Vietnamese, then translated, from her birth mother. It was an odd feeling as they drove away on their motorbikes and we went back in the entrance of our little bit of paradise.

We are now at the Oscar Saigon hotel for the nite. We are going to eat linner (lunch+dinner) at a restaurant here, the Brodard, we found when we were here adopting Sophie. It is as close to American as this town offers (or at least we have found!) and right now with my stomach doing the flip flops and all of us having just about enough Pho, noodles, rice...it's time for this.

I feel bad that we were not able to post for days - the hotel in Hoi An just wouldn't connect to the internet site. But, I plan on posting a day by day glimpse into our trip when we get back.

Before I go, I do want to share our experience in Hoi An when we went with Sophie's birth family to a local restaurant. This place looked nothing like a restaurant. They served the drinks in a old beat up bucket filled with cold water to chill them. We told them that Steve could not have seafood because he was allergic.....so they said, we get him chicken. After a bit the girls think it is soooo cute hearing the chicken in the back making noises - and lots of noise - and then silent. Then, there was chicken on a plate brought to Steve - with the head, and feet still there! The look on our faces must have been priceless.....I thought Sophie was going to hurl. Sadie and I just tried to turn away. Steve shuffled that stuff around as much as possible to make it lo0ok as though he ate it - and then there were the shrimps with eyes that the girls and I were suppose to eat - and the clams that were , oh, I cannot describe the look - however Sadie and I did try them and they were pretty good - the first time, if ya get my drift.

Our flight back to the U.S. leaves at 7am tomorrow morning - we all had a very good time, wonderful experiences - but we are ready to go home. Sleep in our own beds and eat our own food and have a big glass of milk, or better yet water/drink with ICE CUBES!!!

I will also post lots of awesome photos when I get back since that also didn't work after Danang. See ya all soon!