Happy Birthday Sophie!

Our sweet girl is three today (actually tomorrow, but I was MOTIVATED tonight)!

I can't believe she went from this:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

to this:

To our Sweet Sophie:
You are such a wonderful part of our little family! Your energy is incredible, your confidence admirable, and your ability to manipulate any situation endearing. You have all of us (especially your daddy and brother) wrapped around your finger-you hardly ever ask permission for anything, you simply add "okay" to the end of any request you have. That makes it hard for us to say no!
At three you:
*love your bunny the most
*requested a "walking, talking, crawling, blinking" baby for your birthday. I should have told you you'd have better luck asking for a unicorn...
*speak Portuguese better than the rest of us
*love school
*play babies all day long
*can polish off any carb in front of you-Pasta Night at the Clubbe is your favorite
*ask for suco de uva every morning
*love Madeline, Berenstein Bears, and Fancy Nancy books
*can argue the importance of any article of clothing if you want to wear it-especially futsbal pants
You are the most exhausting part of our day. In the most wonderful way. We love you baby girl!
Happy 3rd Birthday!

Never Ending Rain

We're not in Rio anymore...

While surfing the internet this morning, trying to figure out just HOW long the "rainy season" would last here, I came across this quote:

There isn’t really a rainy season in Sao Paulo. Rather, there is persistent and abundant rainfall throughout the year. The rains come frequently and in short bursts. A sudden downpour can lead to traffic jams in what is one of the most traffic logged cities in South America. Always budget plenty of time into your schedule, whether you're going shopping or getting ready for a medical tourism procedure. Sao Paulo's unpredictable rainfall has been known to make the entire city stop at times.

Isn't that the truth! While it hasn't been raining ALL day every day, it has been raining every day. Ridiculous thunderstorms, steady rain, or just a drizzle we get it all. The day can look perfectly calm (though not really sunny lately) and out of nowhere the rain begins.

Yesterday I forgot to close my windows at work. This happens pretty frequently-we have guards and custodians there long after us to check doors and windows-but I picked the wrong day to forget. I came in this morning to find my classroom covered with puddles and my computer soaked. It was so wet that even after I cleaned up the mess there was a fresh puddle under my computer an hour later because it wasn't done draining. The IT guy came and took my computer away this morning-I'm not sure it survived. I did learn my lesson though! I'm counting the days until I can see this again.

A Visita dos Pais

So I don't update here often. I've kind of turned those duties over to my very capable wife, as she's a bit more sappy and enjoys the rehashing and reliving of recent memories more than I do...on a regular basis anyway. But last Sunday evening, I drove my parents back to the airport after a great visit, and I've been wanting to share at least a few moment from that visit.

I guess the best place to start is to mention that their visit constituted several "firsts" for me here in Brazil. See, before they came, I envisioned their arrival as an opportunity to display my adeptness at adapting. I thought I might even impress them with my shaky ability to converse in Portuguese and show them how deftly I've adapted to life in a foreign country. So imagine my dismay when, 20 minutes into their arrival, I had my car parked precariously between 6 lanes of 100 km/hr traffic changing a flat tire on our way home from the airport. My first flat in Brazil. Nice start.

We recovered quickly though, and we were able to spend 10 mostly wonderful days in Sao Paulo,
nearby Embu,
coastal Paraty
and infamous Rio de Janeiro (this was the tamest photo that I could find....thanks, Dad).
None of us had been to Rio before, so this was not only a first for me, but an eye-opener for all of us.

We arrived in Rio last Monday, after about 5 hours of driving up the coast from Paraty (thanks again, Dad - for real this time). We drove through about 20 km of slums before entering the city proper, and within 20 minutes of that we found our hotel, the Arpoador Inn, nestled between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. Here's the view from the hotel:
The problem was that there was no parking at the hotel. No parking garage, no lot...not even a place to stop safely in front. So we drove around for another hour. I hadn't planned on that, but eventually we left the car at a nearby hotel garage and forgot about the car for the next 48 hours as we resolved to cab our way around during our stay.

That evening was perfect. We walked on the boardwalk, went to a nearby Churrascaria a few blocks from the beach, and let the kids play in the lapping ocean as we walked back to the hotel.
Like I said, perfect night.

Until my wallet was lost in the ocean.

Another first. I'd never lost my wallet before. At least the ocean took it, and not some criminal. Oh well.

So anyway, we spent the next day touring the historical district of the city in a cab and on an old trolley. But the real highlight was traveling to the top of the Corcovado Mountain - the site of Cristo Redentor, or the Christ the Redeemer statue. The views from the top were amazing, as was the statue itself.
Of course, we went on the hottest day in Rio in over a year, so we didn't last as long as we might've on another day. But the kids were pretty tough and the crowds didn't drive us too crazy....except for Noah at the end.

Inauguration Day

I keep waiting for Paul to post a great update about the wonderful visit from his parents, but no luck yet. Apparently his creative juices aren't yet flowing in that direction. Anyone who knows Paul knows that he will do it when HE is ready, so until that time we'll forge ahead. The fact that everything isn't in chronological order does bug me a bit, but I'll survive.

We've enjoyed our last few days at home before we return to work. The five weeks off was oh so nice. I feel rested, relaxed, and ready to start a new semester. We've had our nanny coming a several hours everyday and the time has been so nice. Paul and I saw a movie, went out to lunch, did some shopping and generally relaxed quite a bit. All the while the kids are playing at the park, the pool, and all around Portal. We should devote an entire post to our nanny Katty soon. She's great!!

Yesterday, Inauguration Day, we laid low. Our school showed the inauguration ceremony on a live feed in the auditorium, but Paul has been a little under the weather so we just stayed here and watched it on our computer. I'm a bit of a political junkie (thanks Dad!) so I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the coverage. Noah even watched for a bit. Noah's friend Liam was over and kept calling for him to come and play, but Noah kept telling him "No! I'm looking for Obama!". No matter which side of the political fence you fall on, the historical significance was so great. I loved every second of it. Really. I'm that much of a dork. After dinner we even made Inauguration Sundaes. Yes we did (make sundaes). Yes we did.

Bun Bun enjoying some Inauguration Day excitement

Inauguration Day sundaes-vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and blueberries

The kids are recovering from the loss of the Grandma and Grandpa's attention. They head back to school on the 26th so I think that will help them get back to some normalcy. Sophie still sleeps with the horse that Grandma bought her (creatively named Sophia).

The weather here has been cool-nothing the like the hot, hot weather we had in Rio last week. Noah actually went to the store like this yesterday:

No joke. Of course, when he came back we discovered he had a 101 degree fever-but really, it is cool here. That's why we leave the house in layers every single day. You never know about the weather here in Sao Paulo!
Hopefully Paul will give an update soon-the visit was fun and much needed!!

Busy!

We are enjoying a visit from family! The chatting, game playing (and cheating), and general good timing is keeping us quite busy. We'll report back soon...in the mean time, enjoy a few pictures from our latest adventure-Rio!

Craving

The food is here is pretty good. Pao de quiejo, feijoada, coxinhas, moqueca...all of it is tasty. Sometimes, though, you just want some of the favorites from home.

Exhibit A: Chips and Salsa

Paul made these from flour "wraps" (not tortillas-then they would be imported and cost an arm and a leg) and the salsa amounts to chopped tomatoes with balsamic vinegar. Not the same, but close enough.

Other favorites that are no where to be found:

Mac and Cheese

Bagels

Morningstar Farms Veggie Nuggets and Corn Dogs

Peanut Butter (you can get it, but it will cost you!)

Good Spaghetti Sauce

Pretzels

Coffee Creamer

Fruit Snacks (Noah and Sophie's vote)

I think overall we eat much healthier-less processed food and more fruits and veggies. Sometimes, though, you just have the craving...

Here's a peek...

We finally got our apartment painted! I really love our space, but it was white, white, white! It desperately needed color. I'm really happy with the end results-I would have never chosen these colors before, but in a small space in Brazil I think they work. Here are a few pictures:

Our entry way. It is very cool how the elevator just drops you at your door, and your door only!
Our living room-the room actually looks darker than it is here. The whole left side is windows!
Dining "room"-we chose a cafe au lait color for the accent wall.
This is one of two pieces of furniture we've bought. I really love it!

Our bedroom. For some reason, I love the orange and robin's egg blue together!

Our apartment certainly isn't perfect, but it is beginning to feel like home!

The end of the season

No, not football season, although I'm broken up about that too. But I'm thinking about Christmas now. As unfulfilling as this holiday season was and has been, I'm having a hard time letting it go. Maybe it's because we haven't been going to church here...lots of excuses being gringos in a foreign-speaking country, but the reality is that we now have a car and there is a "church" where people get together and watch a video series from some pastor from the states. They have a Sunday school for kids, so we could be there. I guess now that Abby's joined me in the 30s and the kids are starting to become of age where church might make sense, I'm soul-searching and realizing that we should be going.

So maybe that's it... the root cause for my holiday discontent: church guilt. Easy enough to remedy though.

On a positive note, my parents arrive in a few days. Five, to be exact, as indicated by the kids' countdown calendar.


We've got downtime for a few days at the beginning and end of their visit, but in the middle we're off to Paraty and Rio. We'll visit Pao de Acucar - the mountaintop in Rio harbor, and of course the Christ the Redeemer statue.


We can't wait for them to get here so we can share our life here with the family that we've always been able to share our lives with. And my parents are worried that the kids are forgetting them, so they can't get here soon enough (the truth is that the kids haven't forgotten so much as a stranger's face from Virginia, let alone any of their grandparents!).

In the meantime, our tv broke a few weeks ago.... something with the tube. Brand new tv. So Abby and I are back to reading a book every 3 days instead of 4 and the kids are back to...well...it hasn't really changed much for them either. The bottom line is that we don't miss it that much. That doesn't mean I won't be happy if and when we get it back, fixed. There's a whole world of Brazilian tv out there to be explored.

Now that's probably enough for me. I've not posted here for quite a while, but I wish a Happy 2009 to all of our friends and family who check in on us here. Knowing that you're reading is the reason that we (ok, Abby) keep writing.

Birthday Fun!

Despite the fact that I'm dealing with a quite a bit of homesickness right now, I had a great day yesterday! Paul promised I wouldn't have to do any dishes (though warned me I'd have a large pile waiting today), any laundry, or any cleaning up. Such a Prince Charming. I can't say I totally controlled my cleaning urges, but I did have a super relaxing day.

We played a few games of Orchard-I love that game!I opened a love note from my sweet boy.Paul made this delicious cake. Or bought it. Either way, it was good!I scored these most beautifulest shoes (in Sophie's words!).

The best gift of all...three more weeks of vacation!

Recipe for a fun New Year's Eve

Start with a little swimming...some of us have adapted more Brazilian ways than others-note the sunga Noah insists on wearing!











Add a late afternoon nap...













Stir in some fancy white clothes and bright night
lights...













Swirl cutie pie dancing girls...

with a fun Brazilian band...













Don't forget the midnight (apple juice) toast...













but watch carefully so the night is not overdone!

Feliz Ano Novo!