Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Our Vietnam trip was amazing but by this time, I was really missing my kids! I asked mom to book me an earlier flight so we could arrive in time for their end of year celebrations and Jared's award ceremony for his science and math grades. I got a phone call at 1am with mom in an urgent voice saying "I have no idea what time it is there but I need you to tell me if you can leave on Tuesday at midnight!" At first I said I needed to talk to Mai Lynn, but after laying in bed thinking it over, I realized that all of the group activities are done by then and the timing would be perfect. I called mom back around 2am and told her to book it. Then I slept for another hour before getting the much-anticipated FaceTime call to watch Lillia's second recital and Gavin's first recital! I love modern technology because I was able to easily see them and watch their amazing performance! I was so very proud of both of them!!
Such determination and focus on their faces!
Lillia and her BFSBWWB (best friends since before we were born) waiting for their moment to shine!
The next morning (after a very disrupted night of sleep!), we boarded the bus for Halong Bay. The 4 hour bus ride allowed me a little time for catchup rest. Alisia also slept pretty much the entire trip!
We boarded our personal cruise ship which only held the Brittany's Hope crew. Alisia loved the freedom she had on the boat because I didn't make her stay by my side the entire time! (Although we still stuck together for most of it!)
Here is a picture of some of the amazing views on our cruise!
First up on our cruise was a boat tour to visit the fishing village:
That's the north side of town. And here's the south side of town:
I'm not exaggerating! That's it!! They fish and eat off of what they catch. It's incredible!
Then we had a chance to swim off the side of the boat and go kayaking:
I couldn't take my camera but we kayaked over to this huge, tall rock jutting out of the water: 
See the shadow to the right of the rocks? We paddled into that small cove and found a treasure of a beach! It was only about 30 feet wide and the sand was the softest sand I have ever felt in my life! We parked the boat in the sand and collected some seashells and coral for Alisia to take home as souvenirs.
We were excited to get back and tell everyone about the beach, but by the time we got back we had to return the kayaks and get ready for dinner.
But first, a cooking class! They taught us how to make spring rolls. Then they made it into a competition for the nicest looking spring roll. Of course, I love a competition! Especially when I win!!
Alisia learned how to make cool carrot flowers:
We had our farewell dinner that night. Complete with gifts and certificates of thanks! Have I mentioned how much I love Brittanys Hope? They truly appreciated each and every member of our service trip. They made us feel special and reminded us how important our work was in Vietnam! Thank you for being awesome, Mai-Lynn, Carrie, Hong and all of Brittany's Hope!!
The beautiful and kind Mai Lynn, who has the biggest heart of anyone I know!
Me and my travel buddy, Liana! This girl knows how to have fun and always has a huge smile on her face! She added a lot of joy and laughter to our trip!
At the end of the night, Alisia did a little squid fishing. The cook told us if we didn't catch anything we wouldn't have anything for breakfast. We didn't mind skipping the squid!
But Alisia did take the challenge to eat a fish eyeball with Shane, the lone male on our trip. Does swallowing the eyeball count if she couldn't even taste it??
And with that, it's off to bed!
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