Packing, fixing, organizing, getting ready

As tomorrow we are off for our first visit to our new hometown - Metro Manila - and country - the Philippines. All excited and all hoping for some sun and warm weather, as lately Hanoi has turned into a kind of grey aquarium. As humid as can be and floors just wont dry, walking into the bathroom feels like slipping around a recently emptied swimming pool. Everything else is mouldy.
We'll be back April 9th, for sure with loads of news!
Then spring should be here as well...

Almost, not yet really...

Laundry day at the pagoda

Apparently.

Bye bye Keisuke...

Yesterday we waived off daddy, who officially left Hanoi and Vietnam for Mainla and the Philippines, starting his new job today already. It is empty for sure and especially for the kids I can see they find it a bit strange. But - in less than two weeks we'll go pay our first visit!

Last chance for all family street snack on our way home from the park.

Kai's count down calendar. Obviously sad to see daddy go yesterday, an happy to go see him on the 23rd!

Ha Noi Boogie

More nostalgia. Sweet song, funny video. Or maybe less so if you've never been to a Hanoian park at dawn? Anyway, I will miss all this craziness!

Family photos

On my rather looooong to-do-before-we-leave list is "go through all photos and sort and deleate and save and organize and print and make photo albums". And we're not talking a couple of hundreds of photos, we're talking thousands. Little by little, and it is kinda nice to reliving our time here in Hanoi through the pictures. Incredilbe to think about that Hana was a tiny baby of six months when we arrived, and Kai almost a year younger than Hana will be when we leave. I thought he was such a big boy.

Also, since I left Tvååker and my parents place when I was ninteen (soon to be twentyone years ago!) I have never lived in the same apartment or house as long as I have here on 81A Xuan Dieu!

From the archives...

Party and play

Sunday this weekend followed the steps of the Saturday - completely child focused! We went to Vihaans four years party and then, as if it wasn't enough, Rebecka and Elisabeth, including daddy Mattias and baby brother David came home with us to play for the rest of the day.

Hana with Swedish-Vietnamese friends Rebecka and Elisabeth.

And - it is getting warmer. But also veeeery much more humid. And mosquitos are waking up.

Walls

After more than three years in Hanoi, I am still fascinated by the aesthetics of this dirty place. I mean, just the walls...

Above average

Research shows that on the question "do you think - really, seriously, objectively - that your child is cuter than average?" more than seventy (or if it was ninetynine) percent answers "obejctively, YES".

Without doubt, I belong to that same category. But do understand that not all would agree - on the (real, serious, objective) answer for my kids, that is...

Festival and sleepover

Yesterday Keisuke and I went out for dinner with Kai's best friend Hosea's parents, leaving Hana and the two boys at home with Thoa, our nanny. Today we had a fun day with the three kids, checking out the festival around the pagoda next to the park (unknown reason, but who cares), having a huge Japanese lunch at the place next door and hanging out at home.

No real sleep-over without popcorn and a movie.

And no real festival without dragon dancers.

Or rice paste figures.

Or merry-go-round.

- - -

Brief note on safety: Note the gas tube for the rice cooker in the centre, next to the taped electric wires criss-crossing the wet ground. Apparently there is also a cheaper substitute for the helium balloons in the background, some kind of flammable gas... All just adds to the excitement I guess.