We had a slow and relaxing Sunday today, except Téa had a dentist appointment to go to! She’s been dreading this appointment for the last couple of days, but her loose baby canine has been hanging on in there, now being squeezed in by the two adult teeth emerging fully. This tooth has been loose since Japan (!), and needs to be evicted. Today is the day!
But first, Joe heads out for an early morning walk. (He’s been filming his morning thoughts on the beach, so please do go look at his socials to see his perspective. If you need a link, please comment below!) While he’s out, Téa comes into my bed to chat, and then Maylin soon follows. Joe messages “do you want anything on my way home?”, and we reply he should purchase everything Bakeboy has for sale. Two seconds (!) later, his head pops in through the door. He might not have bought EVERYTHING from Bakeboy, but we sure enjoyed the two croissants he bought! They were still warm, so I guess 7.15am is a good time to get to Bakeboy.
After breakfast, Téa and I get ready to leave. We book a Grab taxi, and head to the dentist. There’s a big traffic jam on the narrow bridge leading from here to the city centre, so that delays us a bit. Makes me wish I was on a motorbike instead of in a vehicle, but because Vietnamese roads have very few rules (or so it seems), we’re soon past it, as everything just seems to … flow. It’s weird, there are no stop signs, very few traffic lights, one or two roundabouts, but traffic just somehow seems to figure itself out! I have to say, in the weeks we’ve been here, and how scary the traffic looks, they don’t actually want to hit anyone, and if you walk into traffic, they’ll all just drive around you. Or stop. Whatever works. They know what they’re doing!
We arrive at the dentist at 10am on the dot. Téa is scared, fearing the pain, really worried about the procedure. The dentist paints her gums with red numbing gel, takes his time doing it, and 10 seconds later, the tooth is out. Téa looks at me as if to say “for real?”, and is so grateful the whole ordeal is over! The tooth is finally out, at the total cost of $2.50CA. The secretary asks if it’s ok for them to take a picture of Téa with the dentist, and Téa agrees. I was allowed to take one, too.
On our way out of the dentist office, with it being just after 10am on a Sunday, I give Téa the option. Go get a treat with mom, or head home to Joe and Maylin. She has a wad full of gauze in her mouth, and opts for home. When the taxi lets us off outside our entrance, we do take a detour into the grocery store at least, and she picks up a couple of muffins for later, one for her and one for Maylin.
We have a simple lunch at home, and then we head out to the beach for the afternoon. We pack our sand toys, towels and water bottles, and a little bit of cash in case one of the sales ladies actually brings something tasty past our noses. Usually the vendors walk by with contraptions that hold a pot full of still boiling water with corn cobs in it, and a plate underneath to hold the burning coals. It smells amazing, the smoke from the charcoal, the sweet corn boiling. Other times it’s sweet potatoes, and once I saw it was lobsters!! I’ve never seen the lobster pot again, but the corn lady stops by at least 6 or 7 times each time we come out.
When all four of us are in the mood for swimming, we go out together as a family and bob around in the waves. Today is one of those days, the waves are fun and mostly mellow this close to the beach. The water is beautiful and so clear, we just have to wade in and cross the sandy bit, the part where the waves kick up all the sand and make it murky. Once we’re through the murky and the belt of broken shells and coarser sand, the ocean floor suddenly becomes silky soft and smooth, and THAT’s our sweet spot. Both girls are becoming expert wave bobbers, and we play around in the waves for about an hour. Of course as soon as we get out of the water, both girls are begging to go back in, so I take them back in for a short little while.
The aftermath of an afternoon at the beach is sand. There’s so much sand. There’s sand everywhere! We leave our shoes in the hallway, and tiptoe into our respective bathrooms to rinse off. I even rinse our bath towel, it has so much sand stuck to it! We shower and get into our comfy clothes, and are settling in for the night. Joe doesn’t want to cook, and we don’t have much for ingredients anyways, so he decides it’s a good night for takeout. He and Téa venture out to grab food, while Maylin and I get to chill out at home.
Téa and I had smelled the amazing pizzas when we got out of the taxi this morning, and I think she’d been thinking of pizza ever since then. Téa and I share a pizza for dinner, but this is the last time she gets to choose the toppings…
Maylin loves what she loves, and this week she’s on a steamed bun streak! This one has beef and corn, with cheese. I’d maybe picked a different filling, but you really can’t go wrong with a steamed bun!
Joe picked a Banh Mi for dinner tonight, and doesn’t he just look so excited?
In the end, Joe and I switched half way through, and this at least is a meal where there are no leftovers. There are potato chips in the cupboard and the girls play videogames to end the night, while Joe and I type away at our computers. Tomorrow is Monday, and so another week starts in Nha Trang!
It’s great that both girls now have positive experiences with dentists.
It sure beats their nightmares from home! Well, at least Téa… And then the challenge becomes to find the best one in Vancouver eventually!