Today is Luke’s third birthday!  Happy Birthday, little guy!  We miss you.  I’m sure that Brittany will show this to you.

Our paperwork is supposed to be filed with the US INS today.  After that, they have a day or so to call and check on the investigation into Mia’s adoption just to insure that everything is legitimate.  Their concern is child trafficing.  Hopefully, we will get an interview with INS early next week.  This is the part of the process that causes the most problems and can have the longest wait associated with it. 

Last night we went for a little walk through some of the parks on our way to an area called De Tham.  It is a street that is popular with a lot of tourists and has a bunch of different restaurants.  HCMC is interesting because you have all this congestion, motorcycles, scooters, cars, people, and then these really pretty, peaceful parks everywhere.  In the evening people gather in the parks to play games,

exercise,

or just go for a walk.  You can walk through these parks all evening and feel very secure.  Most of the parks are closed to motorcycles and scooters, so it gives you a break from dodging them all day.

We chose a restaurant on the corner of De Tham because it had Heinz Ketchup at every table.  After awhile, you start to recognize the signs of the finer eating establishment.  The ketchup and the fact that there were a lot of Westerners in the joint.  Kelly ordered rice with pineapple, crab, and shrimp served in a pineapple boat.  I was slightly jealous because this was MY birthday meal and that was what I was going to order.  But, I had some Vietnamese food and she let me taste some of hers.  I guess that was OK. 

While at the restaurant, Mia tried her hand at a little more rice.

She seems to be less and less interested in her bottle and more interested in real food.  Who could blame her?

As we walked back to our hotel, we passed by the market that we have visited oh so frequently this week.  What we didn’t realize is the place totally transforms at night into a gathering place for people.  They close off parts of the street around it and then they bring out these large tents.  The tents are actually mobile restaurants, complete with full kitchens.  The smell was wonderful.  I think we may try eating down there one of these nights.  Some of the things they were offering didn’t look too appetizing, but most looked delicious.

We stopped at a little cafe called the Blue Cafe just up the street from our hotel.  There, Kelly and I shared a banana split for my birthday. Not your traditional birthday sweets, but nice on a warm HCMC evening.

Note to travelers … milk products are some of the riskiest things for travelers to eat when trying to avoid travelers diarrhea.  We read that this morning … after we had the banana split.  Some information is timely.

This morning I shot a picture of Mia while she was still asleep. While it may LOOK like a homicide scene, this is her position of comfort.  Go figure?

Today’s fashion picture:

After breakfast, we went out to another local park just to walk around and enjoy the sites.

Mia thought it was fun to pick up food and leaves from the ground and eat them.  It kept us busy trying to stop her from ingesting something that she shouldn’t.

Father and daughter bonding picture.  Don’t you love my posture?  I fixed it right AFTER Kelly took the picture.

Back at the hotel room, Kelly tried to catch up on e-mails while Mia indicated that she did NOT like the attention directed away from her. 

Kelly finally gave in and spent some quality time with the little princess.

Before I close this thread, I wanted to show everyone that it isn’t just me that Mia doesn’t like to go to.  She is very selective in who she will spend her time with.

OK, maybe it is just me.  Have a great day!

Cameron