October 7, 2025
Travel day, though we are staying in Vietnam. We are here for quite a long time, 17 days in total. Our flight kept getting delayed in small increments throughout the day but the warnings came far enough in advance that we didn’t end up sitting at the airport all day. There was heavy rain along with some thunder and lightning on and off that we believe was to blame for the delay.
We did the normal hotel breakfast followed by a light version of home school while Kayleen and I packed. Once our delayed checkout time rolled around at 1PM we brought everything to the lobby and headed to an aquarium that Kayleen found. It feels like we have visited many aquariums but I think the true count is only four; Cape Town, Seville, Bergen, and Hanoi. We hopped in a Grab and were off. The Uber of Asia is called Grab and the cost is so low it feels almost uncomfortable, most rides under 15 minutes cost less than 2 USD.
The aquarium was inside a larger mall but before searching for it we headed for the familiar taste of McDonalds to give the boys an easy meal and us a break. It’s really nice to not always go into a place thinking what will the boys eat and what should we see if they will try. A Happy Meal took that problem away and the toys were all BTS figurines which they were not super into so one less thing to pack. After eating and an unsanctioned arm-wrestling match, where Lenny used a second arm once Ollie started to win, we were off to find the aquarium.
We found it on the lower level of the mall and it must have been on the newer side based on how clean it was. While buying the tickets there was a small add on cost to allow the kids to go to a large play facility on the other side of the mall which we jumped at with the continuing flight delays. There was an amusement park-esque measuring stick at the entrance to the aquarium that I using to get a measurement of Lenny for his upcoming birthday. I also keep forgetting to measure Ollie since he turned seven all those months ago so got one of him too and will just take a few centimeters off.
The exhibits in the aquarium were nice and had a variety of different animals which entertained us all. Definitely on the list of activities that keep us all happy! I’m not sure why but the animals were way more active than you normally see at an aquarium. Maybe it was the lack of crowds but everything you normally struggle to find or is laying in a corner lifeless was on the move today. There was one turtle that was very interested in us, but mainly Lenny. He swam right over and tried to climb up the rocks and wall to get his little face as close to ours as he could. The boys were of course thrilled for a small snake exhibit to make sure Kayleen saw.
On our way out there was a small gift shop, isn’t there always. By this point we cruise through these things like nothing, never even a request from the boys for anything. Today was different though as Ollie spotted the twin of Lenny’s blind box prize capybara, aka Cappy. He has been jealous of Lenny’s stuffed friend for weeks so we had to let him get it. Ollie’s would become known as Oliver Junior, which we told him was a bit narcissistic. He is far from a narcissist but it sparked a conversion to learn a new word.
We headed to the play facility next, not exactly sure what we were going to. It was massive and probably overrun with kids on the weekends but very quiet during our visit. The boys started on the inflatable slide and climbing ropes section. After a while we moved to the main attraction in the center of the space, a large bumper car area. There is a wide variety of bumper car levels of intensity but this one was perfect for them. I rode with Lenny to help him with the peddles and Ollie was on his own. They loved it! The best part, after the ride was over the guy running the ride would just say if you want to keep driving just stay in your car. We stayed on for four times in a row! Ollie’s driving had improved 10X between our first and last session.
By the time we were ready to board it was full meltdown mode after a long day. We had to take a bus from the gate to get to the plane, something we are used to but dread. The bus was packed and there were a lot of people behind us so another was coming. The woman working there told the four of us to squeeze onto the bus. I declined politely at first and then much less politely when she kept telling us to get on. Once back in the line waiting for the next bus to show up Lenny clubbed Ollie with his turtle shell backpack, spinning his whole body around to get as much force as he could. Lenny had been given many warning to stop causing trouble and touching Ollie. This was the last straw and cost him his iPad on the plane which sent him into a spiral.
As we were riding the bus to the plane, I was looking at Instagram and we saw a story from Ollies old school, Elysian Charter. It was showing the upcoming book fair and it was a devastating thing to see for a very tired Ollie. He was crying uncontrollably for the next 15 minutes about how sad he was to miss one of the most fun days at school. Watching a show on his iPad during the flight eventually distracted him enough to forget about it.
We landed around 10:30PM and no one slept on the flight. The boys we somewhat delirious but behaved best when separated from each other. Lenny was tasked with retrieving all four bags from the luggage belt, something Ollie disagreed with very much. He eventually let it go and struck up a conversion with a stranger while laying across a bunch of seats next to her.
The drive to our hotel was just under an hour. Like almost every drive of that length it is not until the last ten minutes that either of the boys fall asleep. They were both out when we arrived just before midnight. There was a combination of stumbling and being carried between the van, hotel lobby, to the room, and into bed.
