Well, somehow its already June! We've been calling Saigon for eight months and can't believe how quickly time is passing. As much fun as we are having, we also have hard days, miss home and are so excited to squeeze everyone we love in just 50 days! Our trip home this summer seems to be coming at a perfect time, a time where we feel established enough here but also missing comforts of home. Madelyn can't wait to play and laugh with her sweet nephew, Hunter, and Kevin is looking forward to spending uninterrupted time with family and friends in preparation for Bernadette's wedding. 

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Saigon doesn't mess around with happy hour deals and offers great deals that we are taking full advantage of. 

We got a new book called "Saigon Street Food" and Kevin has taken the joy of reading about all the different types of foods and the best places to get them. We try to go once a week to a new street food spot, which can sometimes turn into quite an adventure.  

This is a popular Vietnamese snack called bánh tráng trộn. It's pretty much Vietnamese trail mix, made with little bits of rice paper mixed with a bunch of other stuff like beef jerky, green mango, dried shrimp, peanuts, quail eggs, and more! It's sooo good.

A classic bowl of phở bò. 

After about 5 weeks of being pretty confined to our apartment on the weekends due to our injuries from the crash, we took full advantage of being mobile again and went on two weekend trips. The first was to a place, just down the river from our apartment. We took the water taxi there which always reminds us of Seattle and enjoyed a stormy (but still ridiculously hot) weekend swimming, eating and relaxing in the jungle.

It's not secret when a storm is rolling in. 

We stayed in little huts that were all woven amongst these bridges in the jungle. 

Autism awareness and acceptance in Vietnam is still much farther behind than the United States but "Step up for Autism" was one of the first charitable walks for autism in Vietnam. We joined as a Learning Strategies team to contribute to the step goal count of 10 million steps to unlock a donation of $25,000USD to help support children with autism living in Vietnam. 

Some of the Learning Strategies and a few clients ready for the walk to begin!

We walked with Alex and Brad- 5 laps around a building.... 

Kevin planned an unforgettable weekend in Hoi An and Da Nang (central Vietnam) to celebrate Madelyn's birthday. The change of scenery from a bustling crazy city to a mountainous city and quaint beach town was welcomed, and we didn't realize how much we missed nature until we were in it. We kept ourselves SO busy - parasailing, kayaking, swimming, exploring and eating our way through these new places.

An Bang Beach 

Spur of the moment decision to parasail over the south china sea

Paradise 

Old Town Hoi An

Such bright, beautiful colors fill the streets

Old Town Hoi An 

Surprise kayak adventure on the Thu Bồn River.

We visited a boat-shaped temple - a place of good luck for fishermen. 

Inside the temple, there are shrines dedicated for worship to the gods of the sea, adorned with bones of whales and dolphins. 

We learned about the traditional process of mat weaving, and got to practice the art with a 99-year-old woman who has been making mats in this area since she was six years old! 

Paddling into the sunset

Kevin found the sweetest rental spot complete with a private infinity pool! You can imagine how sad we were saying goodbye to this place.

We went to Ba Na Hills in Da Nang. There is a wonderfully strange theme park on the top of a mountain, but the best part was the views from the cable car ride.

The Golden Bridge. Pretty incredible, but honestly, it's more impressive in photos than real-life - the entire Ba Na Hills park seems to have been made solely for Instagram and selfie-sticks. Super fun nonetheless!   

Cheers to a great weekend away, complete with a rooftop view of the famous Dragon Bridge in Da Nang.