The Snap Cafe

Troy is in Thailand this weekend. I woke up this morning in a panic thinking about what to do with my boys today.....all day. We had nothing to do and nothing scheduled. I have really been trying to get Drey out at least once a day so he doesn't turn into a vegetable in our apartment. With a quick text to our friends Betsye and Johnny, we had a little lunch date scheduled at the Snap Cafe. I had heard about this place from a couple sources and knew it would be right up Drey's ally of fun. It did not disappoint!

It really is "more than just a cafe"

Huge tree hut and sand box...this puts McDonalds playland to shame!!

The restaurant portion is under the open grass hut. I love, love, love kid friendly places like this in Vietnam. It's hard to find eating establishments with high chairs let alone places for your kids to run free.

He is in heaven...sand and a shovel.

I found her....Enzo's real mom!

Hello Drey

Focusing on the ride down

How can I resist that face?...he's a keeper.

Betsye....I love meeting friends with  whom you have an instant connection, it's easy to like her. 

Drey jumping off the platform and trying to grab some girl's legs while she was sitting on the monkey bars above...he missed...haha.

Drey playing with Jack

Enzo checking out the slide.

There are cute little toy stores, ice cream shops, jewlery stores , etc. all inside the entrance to the cafe.

We'll be back Snap Cafe, next time with Troy....it's up his ally of fun also :)

What I am missing right now.....

A warm Summer night, a backyard, and a HOSE!

To top it off.....

To close out the opening weekend of NuSkin, Team NSV held a fly-in meeting at the Rex Hotel. This is basically a meeting that will happen once a month with guest speakers and trainings. The guests today included Nathan Ricks, Kenton Worthington, Charlie Patterson (professional wakeboarder), Derek Tillitson (mom & dad are founders of NuSkin), and Dr. Marcus Laux. It was another successful meeting and we couldn't be more grateful.

WOW...we are so cheesy, I'm embarrassed. I only post this because it's a good picture of Kenton Worthington. Please excuse all others in this photo, thank you :)

I think Drey has had more suckers this weekend than a bag of 300 dum dum pops....(thanks again Cochrans).  Suckers are Drey's favorite treat and provide a nice little pacifier for when times get rough as a mom, ie: a business meeting with two crazy wild children.

This child needs the double pacifier.

Troy doing his MC magic.

Getting ready for a product demonstration on an audience member.

LtoR: Charlie Patterson, Drew, Lance, and Troy

Nathan Ricks

That concludes our NuSkin opening weekend events. We really are so grateful to our family and friends who have supported and encouraged us through this experience. There is a lot of hard work still ahead but it's nice to know that it's the real deal now.

WE ARE IN BUSINESS!

                  It is official, NuSkin has arrived in Vietnam!
 Can I get a "Halle FREAKIN 'lujah"! Our days of pre-marketing are over. It has been a long road with a lot of ups and downs so to see NuSkin finally arrive in Vietnam is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  You may have to pinch me to let me know that this is all real:

NuSkin Vietnam Building

Team NSV office building. We finally have our team office where we can hold meetings.

Inside the office, upstairs conference room.

One happy family!

Downstairs lobby.

Congratulations Team NSV! (these flower arrangements take some getting use to....no we are not at a funeral, they are always seen at celebrations)

Congratulations NuSkin!

More to come......

Team NSV

Excuse me while I take a moment to share some business on this blog. Back in July 2010 we joined forces with some great people and became part of Team NSV...NuSkin Vietnam. Yup, that's right, NuSkin is what we are doing here in Vietnam. Troy is a NuSkin distributor and has been traveling to Vietnam over the past 2 years to pre-market his NuSkin business and build a network. I'm sure this may sound crazy and yes at times it feels crazy, but after tonight I could not be more proud of Troy and the person he has become through taking on this business opportunity. We are hours away from the climax of this NuSkin experience thus far. Tonight was a kick-off to bring in the masses.

Team NSV event at the White Palace convention center. The before picture of the room.

Drey posing for the camera against the Team NSV logo banner.

Nathan Ricks. You are not a NuSkin distributor and not know who Nathan Ricks is....he is the #1 NuSkin distributor!!! And he came to Vietnam for us...Team NSV. It is a pretty big deal to have him work with us and our network.
LtoR: Drew, Lance, Troy, me, Nathan, Krystal, Jake.

Kenton Worthington. He is a BIG deal also and we are lucky to have his support in Vietnam.
LtoR: Troy, Kenton, Jake, Nathan, Krystal, Lance, Mel

Jake, Krystal, and Troy with the owner of the White Palace....a close friend in Vietnam.

Troy was the designated MC for the night. When Troy speaks Vietnamese, they love it!

The turn out....

They started removing the partition to the next room for the overflow of people while Nathan was speaking....we liked that :)

Closing remarks....and a little cameo by Drey....no stage fright with this kid.

Loads and loads of photos after the meeting

Having a recap meeting after the event....we were all pretty excited.

More to come........

Drey's Birthday Celebration

We have some important events coming up this week, one being Drey's big 3 year mark in life. Due to Troy's tight schedule we decided to have a little celebration tonight in honor of our first offspring. I think the night was a success:

I was running a little low on baking pans (I have two), so I made dirt cups for dessert in place of a birthday cake.

The menu: watermelon, salad, Mexican rice, and the spiciest enchiladas ever!  Enchiladas are a little difficult to make in Vietnam since tortillas are so expensive. However, as luck would have it, I found a guy from California that moved over here to sell Mexican supplies. I ordered fresh flour tortillas and green enchilada sauce from his company Saigon Tacos. Now if only my taste buds could handle the spice. 

Dinner guests: Krystal Taylor (works with Troy and staying with us this month), Johnny and Betsye Park (friends from the Branch). You should know the rest....

Drey and Jack jumping on Drey's bed. Jack is Johnny and Betsye's  little boy. They have become good buds recently and play really well together. It's  been great for Drey to have a little friend.

Drey blowing out the three candles in his dirt cup.

Opening presents. Gifts included marvel comic pens, a new tractor book, a dump truck matchbox and......

a new scooter! Drey was pretty excited to get his new scooter.  I'm hoping he enjoys  doing laps around the 17th floor since we don't have much of a neighborhood.

Enjoying our dirt cups.....Drey, Melissa, me, Betsye, Jack, Troy & Jake

Drey got a special card today from his Bachan. Our friend Thanh flew into HCM this morning and delivered oatmeal (YES!) and birthday cards. Good timing!

My First Custom Clothing Experience

Something BIG is about to happen in Vietnam. In preparation I decided to try a different approach to shopping and instead have my clothes custom made. There are a gazillion tailors in Vietnam that all make custom clothes with often a 24 hour turn around. We decided to try a little shop called Tricia & Verona's.

Verona taking the measurments.
As for Drey...the sun never sets on cool :) 

Giving a verbal description of what I would like made. These ladies can make any clothing item from drawings, photos, magazines, or descriptions,  it's awesome!

Just a small portion of the materials to choose from.

I'll post some pictures of the end result in a few days...