JSICIS posted this announcement on their site today. If you have a referral, and the child originated from Tu Du Hospital, this is a must read for you.
On a personal note, my son was born in this hospital in 2001. I do not know how I can ever share this information with him. I also know I cannot keep it from him.
Joint Council (on international children’s services) is asking all families currently in the adoption process with Vietnam to complete the Vietnam survey by Friday, August 22, 2008. Please pass this on to others you know who are waiting families.
You can see the entire announcement by clicking on “Joint Council” above.
Families waiting for a Vietnam Adoption are hoping official referrals arrive prior to September 1st. The “long shot” plan “B” for many was to hope that the current Memo of Understanding (MOU) would be extended allowing families with dossiers in the system to complete their adoptions despite the program closure. This letter posted by JCICS indicates that hope for a plan “B” is dead, but there is encouraging progress for the future of Vietnamese Adoptions. Please have a look.
Here is how things went for me.
I slowly melted 14 oz. of candy disks, and then stirred in 1/3 cup corn syrup. The disk were initially very smooth and creamy with a matte surface after melting. I noticed a change in the quality of the disks as soon as I added the syrup. It became gooier and much more shinny. At first I thought this was the effect of the cool syrup lowering the temperature but the texture change persisted even after the syrup was fully incorporated and warmed.
Candy Clay Cooling on Silicone Mat
I then poured the mixture out onto a silicone mat to cool. Waxed paper would also be suitable. You can see the clay is very shiny. There seemed to be a layer of oil on the surface of the clay. Most of the oil was pulled back into the clay as it cooled. I then covered the clay with waxed paper to avoid cat prints from my very curious pets.
Candy Clay Bear Made With Melting Disk Recipe
After three hours of cooling, I made bear in the picture above.
Here is how the clay rated against my criterion.
Red: "Frosting" Clay, White: Melting Disk Clay
Over all I think I liked the melting disk clay better. A disadvantage of this clay is that you need to use the stove to melt the disks; clearly this can’t just be handed to young kids for an “on their own” project. Since I will prep this clay in advance, the use of the stove is not an issue, and the active prep time for this clay was less than the frosting clay. The white clay seemed to handle much better, and held shapes much better. As you can see in the photo above, the frosting like clay continued to slump even more after I took the first photo. I am also considering just leaving the melting disk clay white and letting the kids color their creations with food coloring markers. I will probably chill them in the fridge for a while before coloring. I know some kids will love sculpting with the clay, some will just eat it and some will head straight for the sand box. But everyone will be busy.
Plans for our party are going well and I’m really looking forward to the day. I will post some photos of the kid’s sculptures (and maybe mine) after the party next month.
BTW, I finished the invites yesterday. I think they will be a hit!
Candy Birthday Party Invites. The invitation is printed on the reverse of the wrapper.
Birthday parties are a big deal at our house. We get a little crazy and always try to do something out of the ordinary. Last year we had a Pokemon party. Since the characters in Pokemon frequently are on the road and camp out a lot, we did too. I borrowed a digital projector and we showed Pokemon movies on the back of the house while the kids roasted marshmallows. Later they all retired to tents. You can see the cake I made on the Photos page.
This year S has requested a “candy” party. As an activity, I thought we should make some sort of edible candy craft. Candy clay seems the perfect thing. Many of the guests bring younger siblings and pleasing them all is sometimes problematic. If they are not interested in sculpting with it, they can still eat it.
I started hunting around the net looking for recipes and found lots of variations of one that used candy melting disks and one other that was frosting like. I decided it might be a good idea to test the recipes first. The potential for disaster seems pretty high. (Our party will be outside and I can just see 8 children covered in sticky goo that leaves brightly covered stains on everything after we turn the hose on them!) I would like a candy clay is not too sticky, is relatively color fast, has a consistency similar to playdoh, and would taste good. I decided to try the frosting like recipe first. Here it is:
1. Combine powdered sugar, corn syrup, salt, margarine, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
2. Mix until the dough doesn’t feel sticky. You may add more powdered sugar to make it less sticky 1/4 to 1/3 cup. be sure to add it slowly and stop when the dough feels dry.
3. Divide the dough into smaller balls and put each ball into a separate bowl.
4. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl. Make the dough in each bowl a different color.
5. Mix the food coloring into the dough with a spoon so you don’t stain your hands. Once the food coloring starts ti blend in, use your hands to knead it in.
6. Sculpt a creation. Eat them soon as they will become rock hard over time.
THE RESULTS:
I made a 1/2 recipe all in the same color to keep things simple. The clay took a lot of mixing to get it to come together. I did have to add the extra 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, ABOUT THREE TIMES! The clay was very sticky for a long time. I added about 1 teaspoon of red paste color. When I got to the point of kneading the clay, I added MORE powdered sugar, maybe a cup. I stopped when the surface of the clay would crack a little when I pushed down on it. Despite all the extra sugar this clay still gets sticky when your hands get warm. It is sugar after all. So, here is how it rates on my criterion.
Candy Clay Bear made with the "Frosting" Recipe
and the laundry and email are pretty much dealt with. About half of the weeds remain, and the dust will wait until tomorrow.
Where to start? My hectic week went quite smoothly despite several additional tasks. I had to clean the fish tank twice. The first time because it really needed it, the second time because of an overly zealous feeding by S that completely covered the gravel with food. I had to take the car for an oil change because the dealer discovered the source of the mysterious hissing, but could not get the part and then forgot to do the requested oil change. I shouldn’t complain, I even got to do two visits with grandma.
The boys enjoyed Boy Scout camp despite being underfed and J was asked to remove his “T” shirt at the pool because the rule was no shirts. J burns very easily, and the 30 min. in the noon sun was enough to get a burn that lasted three days. They got home hours before I expected them, and I spent the rest of the day trying to fill the void created by skimpy portions. Honestly, who ever heard of a camp fire with no snacks. (Seems pretty un-American for the B.S.A. to me.)
The next morning we set off for Virginia. Our schedule turned out to work pretty well and we had a really good vacation. Instead of slogging through all the details, I’ll just give you the highs and lows.
Highlights:
Day 1: Massanutten Resort,
wonderful! The rooms were clean, nicely decorated, lots of little touches that made it a really comfortable place to stay. The water park was really nice, immaculately clean and really fun. The room was very affordably priced especially considering all of the activities that were available. I would totally go back here for an entire vacation!
Day 2: Arrive Virginia Beach.
Another really nice hotel: Virginia Beach Resort Hotel We were able to get a great deal on one of the online travel sites. We had a suite (with actual separate rooms) right on the water for just over $100 a night. Now, I will have to say, the water we were on was the Chesapeake Bay. Which is lovely to look at . . . . More on that in the “Low-lights” section. Oh, can’t forget, an excellent indoor/outdoor pool!
Day 3: Nauticus and The Victory Rover.
Nauticus is a kind of “all things water” museum, but concentrates heavily on Naval history. The battle ship Wisconsin is also on display here as a free exhibit. The Victory Rover gave tours of the Naval Shipyards. J enjoyed showing S which ships he worked on, but S was pooped and spent most of the tour laying with his head in my lap.
Day 4: Virginia Beach and Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.
Virginia Beach is GLORIOUS! S and I played for hours in the surf. Teaching him to body surf was really the best part of the whole trip for me. I love the fact there are some things in life that are just as fun after 40 as they were when you were 10. S loved playing in the waves and I was surprised how bold he was considering how timid he was at the water park just two days before. In the afternoon we went to the Aquarium, we had been there before and it is really a great place to go when a break from the sun is needed. BTW, the cafe at the museum is really good, (The black bean burgers ROCK!) better than most of the restaurants in VA Beach and the best museum cafe food anywhere. (And we are dedicated museum goers!) The one exception might be the cafe at the Carnegie Museum of Art, but it is NOT kid friendly.
Day 5: Mt. Vernon and Winchester, VA
Day 5 found us headed toward home, we stopped at Mt. Vernon as a way to break up the drive. The new education center is wonderful. The displays were really visually stunning and there was so much information displayed in ways to be appreciated by all ages. I wish we had not been so tired (the heat was sucking the life from all of us) so we could’ve enjoyed it more. J and I agreed a return trip would be in our future. We spent the night at a hotel in Winchester that we have used 3 or 4 times now. It is nice to have a place that is dependable stop.
Day 6: Home
We arrived about lunch time and began the task of getting back to real life.
Low-Lights, or what I learned on vacation:
1. Reduced rates for children are becoming a thing of the past. Remember when 12 and under always meant a reduced rate? I do! My father had me lie about my age the whole year I was 13. Since I was tall for my age I was frequently scowled at by cashiers. On two occasions my 6 year old son had to pay adult rates. The water park and at a seafood buffet. I kind of get it for the water park; he was tall enough to enjoy all the attractions so he should pay for all the attractions. (Too bad he doesn’t have the nerve of an adult, he stuck to the shallow pools and could not be coxed to try something more adventurous.) I also think this park is catering to families that don’t have budget restrictions. But the restaurant!?! Come on folks! The worst part was that the prices for the buffet were not “revealed” to you until AFTER you were seated at your table salivating over all the goodies you had seen on the steam tables already.
2. Route I-95 is the vacation killer! Every time we have set wheels on this road we loose a minimum of two hours. Avoid this road, go via West Virginia, take a bicycle, walk, but don’t use this road!
3. The Chesapeake Bay is stinky. We had a great hotel, but a beach on the Chesapeake is great for the view and not for swimming. The beach is littered with the carcasses of crabs, enough so that you really have to watch your step when you walk. The shallow water is full of plants and has that “fishy” smell. I thought that our relative closeness to the ocean would provide us with a bit of surf, but there was none. Occasionally a passing ship would cause a few waves and help tidy the beach a bit. If you swam out a bit you can normally find shallow areas on sand bars that are far cleaner for swimming. However, getting little ones out there requires a raft and an adult who is a strong swimmer. After J watched S and I swim at Virginia Beach he mentioned to me he would pay twice as much for an inferior hotel so we would have better swimming the next time we went there on vacation. ( I hope I can get that in writing.)
4. After 20 years of marriage I still have things to learn about my husband. Our definitions of fun are farther apart than I would like to admit. As we age there are somethings that require more discussion than they used to.
5. Beware of revisionist history. It is everywhere and quite prevalent at Mt. Vernon. J and I discussed the image of George Washington portrayed by the museum. We agreed that we would prefer that our child(ren) learn that he was a guy who made mistakes like the rest of us, but was still really a marvelous person. What the exhibits at Mt. Vernon showed us was bordering on historical fiction.
6. If you are depending on an attraction to be a major part of your vacation it would be worth your time to call ahead and ask, “Is there any construction or changes from your brochure I should know about?”. The restaurant at Nauticus is closed, pretty permanently it seemed. The only clue we had was when we walked up to the entrance and found it utterly vacant. We then had to walk three blocks with a tired and hungry child in the mid-afternoon heat, sun and humidity of Norfolk to a food court in a lame tourist mall. This definitely ate up more time and energy than we would’ve chosen. At the Virginia Aquarium about 1/2 of the exhibit space is under major renovation. Not only did it mean that there was a lot less museum to see, but that the same number of people were crammed into 1/2 the space. Fortunately, they have retained the most popular exhibits such as the sting ray touch tank.
7. The deck of a battle ship is very hot!
Returning home is always a let down. Additionally, I am disappointed that we have not had any adoption news, but not surprised. There are only 3 weeks left until school starts and I am grateful to be busy. Work and family have always been comforting distractions, and it seems both will be more distracting than usual. I will need it.
