So its official - we are going to Vietnam this summer :)

So - our little big family of six are taking a couple of planes and are spending 4 weeks in Vietnam this summer!! Pretty psyched - who am I kidding - I am SOOO excited!!

I have created a Pinterest board for where I want to go and what I want to do while we are there too:
http://www.pinterest.com/racheltiller/vietnam-summer-2014-must-see/

I have also read extensively the blog called the Dropout Diaries - where an expat talks about life with young children in Vietnam - which is cool - since mine will be 13, 9, 6 and 1 when we are there :)  http://www.thedropoutdiaries.com/2013/09/vietnam-with-kids-more-travel-tips/

Hoan and my brothers engagement

We are flying in to Hanoi from Paris - an 11 hour flight (that will be fun with a 1 year old - the rest will become besties with their respective ipads). We will stay a couple of days in Hanoi, just checking it out. After 2-3 nights there, we will take the train to Hai Phong - which is approximately at the top of the right part of the "H" in Hanoi on the

After a summer together in Norway

map there. This is the third (3rd) largest city in Vietnam - but that is not why we are going there - we are going there to see our dearest sweetest HOAN - who was our au pair some years ago and who is now engaged to be married with my brother Ole Andreas (who is flying in from New Orleans around the same time to come see his fiancee while they patiently wait for her to get a visa to come marry him in the US - another time consuming and filled with too much rage story).

This is a picture of Hoan while living with us in Tiller - and meeting my brother for the first time and immediately hitting it off with him. She is back in Hai Phong now - has been for over two years now, patiently waiting for the INS to get itself in gear and let my brother and her move on with their lives and start one together! Shame on the INS...

Hoan in Vietnam at a market - January 2014

Anyways - I am looking so much forward to seeing her again!!! I talk to her on Facebook - and my brother of course talks to her all the time - and she is just as beautiful as always! She has lots of friends - and just works a lot for very little money - but she never complains as she never has. She is patient and loving and just so kind and sweet.

She has also met with our new au pair - who we will also meet while we are in Hai Phong. Her name is Phuong - and she is 22 years old and she actually found me on facebook the other day and added me as a friend there :) And she is also just wonderful. Hoan says she is very sweet and very good with children - she has an 11 month old baby sister and apparantly is just wonderful with her - which is so important to us since she is going to be providing for little Cornelious while she is here!

We are so excited to meet her and her family - I know it is going to be tough on all of them with her being so far away, and I want them to meet us to see what kind of family it is that they are sending their daughter to in Norway to be an au pair for. I want them to feel content with it, and know that we will treat her so well!!

More later on our trip plans for our weeks in Vietnam - just getting so excited to see our extended Vietnamese families!!