Two big events today......

Adventure Camp continues.... Earlier this week, we started Adventure Camp.. which is a one month "camp" on Monday and Wednesday mornings where the kids do alot of art and science projects. There are little stations set up all over the room with magnets, plants, etc. On Monday, they planted beans... which are already starting to sprout, and today they made collages and kaleidescopes.... among other things.

Later in the day, we went to "meet the teacher day" at pre-school. We had a little party for Jasmine.... hence the purple crown that she got to decorate with Jewels.. as well as even more cupcakes and sugar today. Jazzy will officially start pre-school with Mrs. Slama as the teacher... on September 1st after her other summer classes are over. Since it was Jasmine's official day to bring a snack, she also got to be the first one to do "show and tell". She chose the "jewelry set" sent by Grandma and Grandpa to share with the other kids. The kids also painted their bags which will serve as "backpacks".

Listening to a story with Adam
Cupcakes with her classmates
Collage made by Jasmine

Jasmine's 4th birthday....

Can't believe Jazzy is 4 years old already. The teacher for the ABC class didn't believe it either! She asked me when I came to pick Jazzy up if she was really 4:) because she is so small for her age. She also says that Jasmine never stops talking the entire time during the 2 hour class. I could have told her that before we even started!!

So, we started off the day by opening some of the many presents sent by Grandma and Grandpa- sticker book, crayons and Hello Kitty notepad, and Hello Kitty bingo game. Then we had to go to the grocery store to pick up the multicolored cupcakes with little heart rings on them for Jazzy's ABC123 class. They had a party for Jazzy... but parents are not allowed to attend. All I know is that there was a huge mess with cupcake crumbs everywhere in the room when I went to pick Jazzy up:)) Ha... that's what they get for not letting us in.

Later in the afternoon, we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant - Pho Van- for a late lunch/early dinner before tap/ballet lessons. Jazzy had her usual bowl of Pho... which she really loves. Then off to dancing lessons with little Dora bracelets filled with lip gloss for the girls in the class. We came home and opened more presents. Jazzy really loves the remote controlled bee and the Sid the Science Kid microphone so that she can perform her songs :)

opening presents
waiting for ABC123 class with her store bought cupcakes... since Mommy is not talented enough to make any
dance class thru a window
.

Phoenix Mercury Game

Today we went to the Phoenix Mercury game against Indiana Fever at US Airways Center- home of the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix Mercury are WNBA champions. AzFAP (Arizona Foster and Adoptive Parents), who are masters at getting things for free, somehow got 300 tickets for members of the group. At halftime, they had a ceremony for some of the foster parents. There was a cute little boy sitting next to Jazzy. At halftime, he got all excited because his foster parents were getting an award. Apparently the entire row... except us... were his brothers and sisters:)

Before the game started, the kids were allowed to play at the Gorilla Greenhouse play area on the 4th floor of the US Airways Center. Apparently, it is not usually open. Why they have the play area and never open it? Jazzy enjoyed playing little miniature basketball there with all the other kids. Many other games too. There were Suns Gorillas everywhere- which Jazzy was very afraid of at first.

For lunch we had popcorn! and a yukky looking hot dog! I smuggled two bottled waters, gummy bears and crackers and didn't even get caught! They look in your purse, but they don't move anything around..... so, I didn't have to pay 4.00 for a dinky water.

Jasmine was very funny. She yelled "Defense" "Defense" "Defense" when everyone else was yelling.... plus she clapped and cheered when everyone else did.... and she had no idea what she was clapping for. I don't know if we won or lost because we left at the end of the 3rd quarter when we were tied. Jazzy was getting very restless and grumpy.

Annoyingly enough, there are no restaurants or places to go in downtown Phoenix right around the arena. Very strange. So, we went to a brand new pizza place right next to our house. We had alot of fun.... and I was really expecting not to enjoy it!

Pre-game basketball
Eating the yukky hot dog
At the pizza place

ABC/123 Class and Storybook Kitchen

Jazzy joined a ABC/123 class for the month of August. They use various tools for learning the ABCs and counting, but since parents are not allowed in... I am not sure exactly what they do.

Today we went to our first cooking class with Storybook Kitchen. It was cute to see all the kids sitting at the table chopping vegetables with the little butter knives. The letter of the day was "I" , so they made iceberg lettuce wedges (whoo hoo!) with a homemade dressing. Each child got to measure out some mayonnaise, sour cream, various spices, and ingredients in the dressing. Then they each got to press the food processor button according to how old they were. The Italian parsley (another "I") was chopped into some melted butter for the garlic bread. Then they got to eat it. We were all supposed to take at least one bite, which I reluctantly did. I know they all washed their hands before class.... but I just couldn't make myself eat my portion. I left the camera in the trunk of the car and just didn't want to walk out into the 112 degree (or probably hotter) parking lot to get it... so no pictures until next week.


The picture is Jasmine at ABC/123 Class.

Last Day

All the kids went to the park for the morning with their counselors. Then we had the closing ceremony. Jazzy and I went out to lunch at a Mexican Cantina and searched for places to stay next year. Strangely enough, the KOA campground cabins look pretty good...fairly close to the Conference and about the same price as the tiny (I am told) Holiday Inn rooms. Good thing they didn't have much planned outside because it has been pouring down sheets of rain all day.

This morning we had breakfast with Mary Tran, as well as her husband and her son Richie. She grew up in Saigon, went to a French school and became a classical pianist. Her family was fairly wealthy... I am guessing, but had to get out of Saigon when the Communists invaded. She came over on a boat in 1975 and has lived in Denver ever since. She is now an interpreter and financial planner. She met her husband Hieu Vo after moving to Denver. He was a pilot for the American army in the Vietnam War. Such an extremely friendly family who took a liking to Jazzy.

Mary Tran and Richie
Jazzy's first ride on a big school bus

Fun day at Heritage Camp...

Long fun day today. In the morning, I went to lectures/discussions with the adult Operation Babylift adoptees. They discussed what they thought their parents did right or wrong in raising them... as well as other adoption issues. Next, we saw a slide show of Dana Sachs extensive travels all over Vietnam. She also discussed the history of Vietnam. This year is the 1000 year anniversary of Vietnam officially being a country after the Chinese invasion.
We went to Stanley Park for a Vietnamese lunch. Jazzy fell off the picnic table and pulled the entire bowl of Pho onto her head.
There were noodles and chicken everywhere. I had to take her back to the hotel room to get a bath and change of clothes, but she still smelled like Pho for the rest of the day.
One of the workshops I attended in the afternoon was called "Vietnamese Names". We discussed all of the kids names. Jasmine's Vietnamese name is Nguyen Thi Tam which means "good heart". I already knew that because last week when we were in Target, we met a Vietnamese lady who worked there... as there are many around where we live. She told me the meaning of Jasmine's name.

Jasmine's pre-school class did all types of crafts and martial arts. They made lanterns, self portraits, Vietnaese hats, and tigers.

Later in the evening there was a "formal dinner" where all the kids wore their traditional "aoi dai" dress. A massive carnival then took place where I worked as a carney for awhile.


Jazzy with her friends
Jazzy next to her self portrait
Jazzy with her favorite counselor Nguyen Duy. She never left the poor guy alone for 10 minutes the entire week!!
With her hat on

First day of Heritage Camp.....

Today was the official first day of the Vietnamese Colorado Heritage Camp. There are about 100 families from all over the country... about 350 people total. Each group of children- according to grade- get to wear a different color of tee shirt with the Heritage Camp logo on it. Jazzy's pre-school color is red.

The morning consisted of a "Opening Ceremony" and Instructions for Volunteers. I get to do something (?) on Saturday night with the Carnival. We'll find out tomorrow night what I will be doing. After a nice Vietnamese lunch of Pho at the Stanley Park, I went to a lecture by Dana Sachs. I had read two of her books prior to going to Vietnam, and now she has a new one "The Life We Were Given". She is a journalist who has travelled for years all over Vietnam, interviewing hundreds of people, and has researched everything from the war.... to Vietnamese adoption..Operation Babylift...to current Vietnamese travel destinations. She talked about the fact that in 1975, there were 800,000 orphans just living in the streets of Vietnam, 20,000 orphans in government run orphanages and 2000 in Western run orphanages. She showed photos of some of the 20,000 starving and dying kids in the government run orphanages. The 2000 in the Western orphanages were not that much better off, but were the infants and children who escaped in Operation Babylift... some of whom are at our Heritage Camp as speakers telling their stories i.e. where they grew up with their adoptive families, what they do now, obstacles they have overcome. The children (now adults) were all from Jasmine's home town area just outside of Danang... where most of the fighting occurred. They are all around 35-38 yrs old now.

Jasmine's pre-school group did Martial Arts, made Tiger posters and Tiger necklaces since this is the year of the tiger, and read the Vietnamese story about how the tiger got his stripes.

Also, today I visited the Vietnamese Market... a little store that was set up to sell Vietnamese imported items to benefit the Blue Dragon Society. Blue Dragon helps homeless Vietnamese kids go to school, buy clothes, etc. I bought Jazzy a little Vietnamese jewelry box.... as if she needed another jewelry box!, a sweatshirt with the Heritage Camp logo, some Vietnamese gummy bears... which she has already eaten, Vietnamese calendars, Dana Sachs book, and a book for Jazzy about different cultures. The middle school kids are running a Vietnamese coffee shop..so I had my extra shot of concentrated caffeine this morning.


Dragon Ceremony
Jasmine meeting her camp counselor
Lunch with the pre-schoolers