12 Months in Hanoi: A trip to Ninh Binh just isn't complete until someone goes in the river ...

... yup, that happened.

But first and foremost, I'm an Aunt again! Welcome to the world Charlotte Fern Blauch! She was born on Thursday, October 24th, weighing in at 5 lbs 11 oz. She's just freaking adorable and I can't wait to meet her!

I love this one!

Proud Mommy and Baby Charlotte

Charlotte looks THOROUGHLY entertained that
she's keeping her daddy awake.

So sweet!

Couldn't be happier for the Blauch Family - HUGE CONGRATS DUGS AND RYAN!!!

Had a WONDERFUL weekend away with Daraca, Damien, and Mirzah (Dar's mum) to Ninh Binh. We stayed at the most gorgeous resort (http://www.emeraldaresort.com/) and just CHILLED. I've found heaven, and it's only 1.5 hours away from Hanoi. Amazeballs.

My room! Go big or go home ...

Private outdoor shower. HEAVEN.

Resort view from my doorstep. Dig the mountains in the background.

Saturday was all about relaxation ... some pool time, facials, mani/pedis, dinner, a few drinks ... I was in bed and asleep by 10:30 (rockstar, right??). Highlights from Saturday ... the car ride and getting to know Mirzah - she's absolutely lovely and is more up-to-date on pop culture and the Obama's than I am! ... the Ukranian/Asian Spa Manager who insisted we have a steam bath and sauna before the facial (wish you could've heard the accent - I literally couldn't - and didn't - hold back my giggles) ... laughing at the piss poor mani pedi job us ladies received ... and just RELAXING. It was glorious.

Sunday morning we spent at the pool, then did a day trip - a canoe down the Trang An River (yup, you can see where this is going), then a tour around the Hoa Lu temples.

Ready and excited for our rowboat trip!

Gorgeous, right?

So we get to the place where you organize the rowboat for the trip down the Trang An around 2-ish. All 4 of us climb into the rowboat, start pulling out, and the little lady pulls us back in to the launching area. There's a lot of commotion, but it's all in Vietnamese, but the hand signals lead us to believe that they want 2 of us to transfer boats because the poor little Vietnamese rower wasn't going to be able to row our Western asses around the river. Dames and I decide to make the move so Dar can enjoy the scenery with her mom.

All is going well - Damien leaps like a VERY graceful gazelle into the rowboat next to ours. Oh right - cause they didn't pull in and park and put us on stable footing (i.e. the cement steps where you usually load), so we were expected to just leap over (Damien did it wonderfully - bastard) and be on our way. I have to transfer from the seat on the far left over to the new rowboat (on the far right) ... I stand in my rowboat, get my balance ... then try to gracefully leap over ... end up with all of my weight on one side of the boat ... Damien instinctively leans forward to save me ...

And into the drink I go.

God bless Daraca for basically trying to jump in after me and for screaming at the Vietnamese folks to back off so I could get out of the river. God bless Mirzah for worrying about me like only a mum can. And God bless Dames for understanding why we didn't tip the rowboat lady because her continual laughing at my misfortune was simply unforgivable.

It was neither graceful nor attractive, but it WAS an experience. One that the rowboat ladies will remember forever ... that was evident by the laughter that ensued every time another boat came up behind us or passed us. I was the laughing stock of the river yesterday.

Oh right - cause I didn't change out of my sopping wet clothes (even though my traveling friends were all about me doing so and offered a million times!) ... I knew that if I got out of that boat (once I was back in, of course), the river trip wasn't going to happen. So I powered through ... and was laughed at the entire way.

Yeah, so that happened ....

BTW, I'm totally fine. Have a nasty bruise on my left ass-cheek, but otherwise came out physically unscathed. My ego and dignity - well, this is the 200,000th of many embarrassing falls into a body of water ... nothing lost there!

Enjoy the pics!

Oh, but before you do ... you'll notice that the pictures are super foggy, kinda mimicking the look of the Elizabeth-Taylor-White-Diamond commercials ... on the plus side, I found out my Coach crossbody small bag I use for daytrips is AMAZINGLY (surprisingly) waterproof and my phone still works ... on the minus side, the camera lens on my phone got all watered up with the dip in the drink (of course it's fine today) ... eh, I'll just steal Damien's photos.