In Hanoi...

Well here we are in our room in Hanoi, looking for a new hotel... but let me back up.

Trey took an unusual 2 hour nap yesterday in Saigon, in the hours leading up to our trip to the airport. Great that he's sleeping so long, somewhat worrying as Cindy wanted him to sleep on the flight. When the families purchased the tickets, they decided to pay for an upgrade to 'business class' (1st class). When we arrived at the airport, we were able to utilize the business class lounge (nice seating where we could spread out and let the babies play, snacks and drinks). On the flight, you wouldn't believe the seats, we could have put a pack n' play in front of us if we had one. We were given a meal, which was surprisingly good, and covered us for dinner for the day. Warm wash cloths, the whole shebang. Oh, and we forked over a whopping $10 or $20 extra for this upgrade!

Trey was awesome on the flight. He was asleep (again! Yea!) for takeoff and had no ear-popping issues. During the flight Cindy got him giggling like you wouldn't believe, he was in absolute hysterics - his buddy Jonah was in similar hysterics across the isle with his dad. Great amusement for the flight.

Upon arriving in Hanoi, we haven't been quite as lucky. We had a 40 minute drive into the city and by this point all 3 babies were getting a little fed up with enforced enclosure. Hungry and tired too. We stopped at the hotel of the family that has been here since Thanksgiving on the way to our hotel. Other than being able to finally meet this family (which is really unfortunate, they should have been home long ago), the reason for this visit was to discuss the 'hotel situation'.

It turns out we're being way overcharged. Cindy thought she was getting a suite with a crib - at a price that is too much so we figured we'd get a smaller room. But it ends up that cribs don't exist in this hotel (neither does hot water), and she got the smallest room for what we thought was a suite price (and $20/night more than advertised on their website). So right now we're looking for new rooms - the only advantage here is that we have internet access in our room, most likely where we move to will just have a few computers in the lobby, which will be ok as long as we can get on and the access is working. More on this tale later when we know more!

So MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! The 'thanksgiving family' has reserved some tables and ordered some food in their hotel restaurant for this afternoon, and all 6 families are meeting there for a party, that will be fun and festive. As soon as we sort out the room situation, we're going to try to find small gifts for the kids (6 adoptees and 3 or 4 brothers and sisters), we're looking forward to the party! All of the babies are from the same orphanage, so it will be a baby-reunion. The Janssen Clan had a family party this evening, we were able to chat with them through Skype. I'm hoping to talk to Missy, Miles, Ben and hopefully Candace through Skype, but with unknown access we'll see if that works out or not.

An update on Cindy and Trey. Cindy (and the other families) currently have hotel reservations through January 7th. Let's hope that's the worst case scenario. We're hoping to hear on the I-600 as early as tomorrow... and fingers and just about everything else is crossed that they get home next week. Cindy will be fine with the other families while in Hanoi, but I'm not happy that I can't stay to help with the flight home. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming!!! At the end of the day, she'll be home with her gorgeous boy, and he has lots and lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents just waiting to get their hands on him!

More later after we find out where we land, hotel-wise.