Home to 47 Park Avenue

and it feels good...strange...nice....good...strange.

Our house felt enormous and ornate when we first walked in, and it certainly is compared to where we lived in Can Tho. The jet lag lingers...we cannot seem to sleep a full night and keep getting up at all crazy hours. But it's so blissfully chilly here! I can wear flannel ps! Jeans! Long sleeved shirts! And I got to eat my beloved Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast. We celebrated the 4th with some good friends in Rochester and had burgers on the grill, potato salad, beer--true American fare, and it was so good.

Our main noticing is how quiet it is here. The street we live on seems so bucolic and serene. The traffic is so organized and sane. There is a veneer of calm everywhere. It almost makes my ears ring it's so quiet.

The kids are loving it, especially Hudson. He's got his pink Christmas tree up and flashing in his bedroom. Lily is trying to get reacquainted to her new life. She can't seem to find her way around our big house. "Is this my bedroom?" she asked, touching Hudson's door. We have to keep telling her where the bathroom is. But they're happy and thrilled to have a swingset in the backyard and lots of little buddies to play with who speak English!

What we miss: swimming almost every day. Lily asked where the pool was and we had to say, "Sorry, honey. We don't have a pool."

What we don't miss: sweating like pigs in hell every second of the day!

Today we have to go to Target for some clothes for the kids, as they have outgrown EVERYTHING. We are also going to buy them new bikes, helmets, and a scooter--the grand payback for all that hard living in Nam!

We decided to keep the blog going as a way of staying in touch with all of those far away. I guess we may have to retitle it though. Mark and anne in brockport? Or 47parkavenue? Hmmm.

love, Anne