Return to Patrick's Mission

As every return missionary knows, you always think about when you can go back. You just can't help but wonder if everything matches the chrystal clear memories you have in your mind. Will the smells, streets, food, people, bus routes, etc. be the same? I was lucky enough to go back to Argentina while Patrick was in Iraq, but we finally made the trip back to Houston were Patrick served among the Vietnemese people. I hadn't really pushed it earlier because Patrick never made Houston itself sound very interesting; He only remembers it as miserably humid and very ghetto. And, I "knew" it would just be a week of me sitting on random people's couches for hours and hours trying to keep Anne from destroying their homes and not understanding any of their Asian gibberish. But we wanted to take a trip to a warm place and I figured I may as well "get it out of the way" because it would never be easier or cheaper than now. So we planned it. And it was a blast!!!

The start was a little rocky. We piggy backed off the weekend Patrick had to be to drill in SLC valley and stayed with my Uncle Charles and Aunt Diane for the weekend. We flew out at 6am Monday which means we had to wake Anne up at 4am. When I was booking the flights, I was so worried about landing in time for her nap that I didn't really think it all the way through. Anne was a pretty good sport though for a tired 22-month-old. She colored and looked out the window on the planes and pushed the stroller around the airport during our layover. She got a broken 45 minutes of sleep and I thought that was fine but hoped to get to our hotel room for a proper nap. However, what I had thought was just hay fever now had my sinuses hurting so bad I knew it had to be a sinus infection. Great. Jut once I would like to have a family vacation that didn't start with Anne or I going to an urgent care for a sinus infection. After about 3 hours wait, the doctor loaded me up with steroids and antibiotics and gave Anne a little chocolate because whe was reaching her melting point.

 We spent our first 2 nights in Galveston. Loved it!!!! I highly recommend it to everyone. We stayed in a 4 star hotel 2 block from the beach for $47 per night!!! Awesome! Anne saw the pool as we were checking and had her face plastered to the window saying "water, water, water." We figured she had put up with us all day so we humored her and spend an hour in the hot tub before bed.

Tuesday morning we walked along the beach and just enjoyed the smells and warm humid air. Galveston has a perfect blend of Caribbean, Mexican, American Western and Victorian styles. The water was more like California water as opposed to the clear Jamaican blue, but the beaches were very nice. Anne zonked in the stroller about 10am so we carried her back to the hotel. She is such a sweet kissable sleeping baby girl.

Soan (Swang) and An (ung) met us at the hotel just as Anne was waking up from her nap, so we went to lunch together.  I had the best beef fajita I ever, and it was modestly priced, too. An was the president of the Viet branch the whole time Patrick was serving. Soan fed Patrick and his companion a lot; Patrick claims he got so big because he was victim of her delicious cooking. : ) I met them at our wedding and another breif time before, but it was nice to really talk with them. We spent a little over an hour in the pool for Anne's sake after lunch. An slept by the pool and Soan just oogled over Anne. How can you not? She's so adorable. After we changed, we went through an old WWII ship and submarine. Anne was crazy over the stairs, and we could hardly keep her away from them long enough to enjoy the ship. She also started this think where she walks with her hand on her hip. Do I do that? She also kept saying, "Good girl! Good girl!" if we ever slacked on praising her at anytime. She definately does not have a self-esteem problem.

 

There was no formal tour, just a few plaques next to door ways with a brief explanation of who used the rooms. We wished there had been more info about the specific ships' histories. We kept thinking it would be so fun to have my dad or Uncle Charles here to share their knowledge. The most interesting part to me was the bathroom and sleeping . . . .  situation. I don't have pictures but everyone had to be up close and personal at all times. There are definatley reasons why woman are only allowed in certain areas of the military.

We had dinner in the historical district of Galveston. It was so awesome. We walked around an old school icecream parlor/candy store. Anne was really excited too, and in a mad dash away from us, she smacked straight into the corner of a table and had a very nice bruise on her cheek. We had dinner outside on a patio. It was awesome to be outside and 7pm with no jacket and the breeze was delicious. Loved it!

Wednesday was checkout day, despite the debate of whether or not we should ask for another night. We figured it would leave Patrick too short to do what he wanted to in Houston. So, we packed and then spent as much time as possible in the hot tub per Anne's request. She is definately a water baby but the ocean waves scare her. After checking out, we drove around the island seeing what we could see. We saw some georgeous beach front lots for only $10k. The houses were really beautiful.  

  After we got to Soan and An's house, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. I love the humidity and it was so warm.  Soan made us dinner and Anne ate four bowls. She loves vietnemese food. She did learn to say "spicey" though, instead of hot. It is so cute!

I could visit Houston in March any year. Houston is a very nice place. It wasn't as awesome as Galveston, but the weather and vegetation reminded me of Buenos Aires. When you consider it is the 4th largest city in the US, is it very clean and well kept. I also learned the cost of living is pretty cheap. Homes are only a little higher than Logan, food was much cheaper, and employment opportunities are exponentially better and greater in number.

 Thursday we took Anne to the aquarium. She loves Finding Nemo so we knew she would like it.  One of the first tanks had two Nemos and a Dori, so she made us sit there for about 45 minutes watching those little fish. She made sure everyone knew who they were looking at. There were other cool sea creatures, including an octopus that was seriously showing off his stuff, but he couldn't hold a candle to "Dowi." After she finally let us pull her away from Nemo, she became mesmerized by a Macaw they had. She sat and stared at him for about another 30 minutes. 

Anne played in the water at the aquarium and got pretty wet. Her shirt dried before we were ready to go, so she just hung around in her diaper and shirt. We went to the mall in China town for Patrick's favorite food, Pho (fu). It was Anne's first non-milk food when she was a baby and she loves it. At the mall we decided to buy her an Ao dai (ow ya-I), the Viet traditional dress. Everyone in the mall thought she was adorable. Because she was!

Friday we visited a lady who Patrick contacted and was baptised while he was on the mission. She greeted us warmly and brought us bottled water and cookies in her pretty sitting room. It was practically deja vu. She and Patrick chattered for over an hour, and I was suprised at how much I could follow. Anne played with the daughter on the stairs. There was a time when the little Viet girl said something to Anne and Anne stared blankly like, "What did you just say to me? All I hear is oon bach duke da." Anne finally just nodded her head yes. I almost died!

 

 That evening we went to the Budist temple for some sort of Spring prayer festival. Patrick calls it "idolitry at its best." There were huge statues and flea market/fair booths everywhere. It stunk of incense; I never have like the smell of that stuff. But it was very colorful and the drums were cool. When ever patrick started speaking Viet, the Asians initially would always laugh because they were so surprised. Then they were impressed by how well he spoke. I guess a brawly white guy isn't the most likely Viet translator. We ate Pho for dinner, and Anne ate a whole bowl by herself. If any one as had a bowl, you know a bowl is pretty dang big. The Vietes all got a kick out of how much a little white girl could eat.

We went boot shopping Saturday morning for Patrick, and then after Anne's nap we had lunch with the old ward mission leader who is now inactive. We had dinner at an awesome steak house with Soan and An and The Molines, a couple who served a stake mission while Patrick was there. You know the food is going to be good when the restaurant owner is willing to pay you $1000 if you can find a better steak for the price anywhere, and they take you back into the kitchen to pick your own steak. Anne was obsessed with the moose head and bear they had. She kept pointing and saying, "moose. Bear, Roar! Bear. Moose. Roar!" She still mentions the moose and Bear, she was so impressed.

On Sunday we went to the Viet Branch. Everyone there remembered Patrick and he was very happy to see it is muh bigger than when he left. He said it was all more fullfilling than he had even hoped it would be. It was so fun to see the people and places that Patrick loves so much and remembers so fondly. We flew out at 7pm Sunday and didn't get back to Logan until 2:30am. We had to do the later flight to make it to the 12:30-3:30pm church block and still get us home in time for Patrick to head to North Dakota again Monday morning. It was a very long night so the trip didn't exactly end with a bang, but luckily you only remember the good parts of the past. It was a great trip.