Just One Thing Missing

We have a few more things to do, but for the most part we're ready for Stella's arrival! I'll be nearly 38 weeks when the school year ends (3 weeks from today!) and I am really hoping to have a few weeks to just relax and spend time with our family of four before Stella girl makes her grand entrance. We'll see! I think, all things considered, we were able to put together a pretty sweet nursery for her-my class bought the awesome pink chair for her room. We just need one more addition now!

No excuses

I don't know what it is about blogging these days...well, I'm tired for one-but really, the day to day things that were so exciting last year are so mundane now. What was "our new life" as become "our normal life" and I sometimes have trouble recognizing the unique and special day to day occurrences worthy of blogging about. I really want to be better-especially with Stella girl set to debut in less than two months!

So, what's the latest? I realized I haven't blogged since March so I really have an entire month to fill you in on!

April Highlights:

• Portal Easter and Egg Hunt

This was super fun again this year. The Portal is just such a great place to live-we gathered all the kids together and had two egg hunts going (thanks to the men folk!). One for the toddling crowd and one for the running crowd. I think both groups were pleased. I MUST find a way to get Easter baskets here-Noah and Sophie hunting with plastic grocery bags is just plain ugly. We have ours packed away somewhere but it may be easier to just buy another few. Either that or we can start celebrating Easter Brazilian style where we just give a large chocolate egg to each kiddo. I don't think they'd be disappointed with that option either-especially because some of the other basket goodies-grass, candy, and spring-type toys are hard to find here.

• Sophie's broken arm-not a highlight, but definitely a major part of our month

Sophie was at a playdate one afternoon and she and the other girls were jumping off a trampoline. She had done it quite a few times before the fateful leap-her foot got caught and she landed on her left arm. Poor girl smashed her elbow "como un biscoito" (like a cookie). It required surgery, two pins, and an overnight stay in the hospital. She's in a cast from her upper arm to her wrist and sling for the next month or so (6 weeks total). Poor thing! However, she is really amazing in how she's handled everything. She's happy and pretty much her normal self most of the time. She does get frustrated, but thankfully those moments are few and far between.

Our school was amazingly supportive through that whole ordeal. My principal in particular spent the majority of the evening at the hospital with me (Paul was taxiing home from a far away softball tournament). She translated as needed and generally made me feel much more at ease. Our nanny and neighbors made sure Noah was cared for and got off to school the next day. We live far away from family, but our support system here is really fantastic.

• Noah's 6!!

Poor guy had his sixth birthday a few days after Sophie's accident. We enjoyed Pasta Night at Portal (someday Pasta Night will get its own post!) and cake. We celebrated in his classroom, and this Saturday we're having a Lego Party for ten kiddos. Should be a fun time!

• Plane tickets

We will not coming home in June (something about a woman nine months pregnant and a 10 hour flight makes people nervous) but we bought tickets home in December. We plan on spending three weeks in the States-a week in Colorado with Paul's family, a week in Austin with my dad and family, and a week in Orlando with my mom and family joining us. I am contemplating running the Disney half marathon (its the same weekend) but that may just be my crazy pregnancy brain talking!

So there' s the month of April! May will be spent preparing for baby Stella's arrival (we have LOTS to do!) and wrapping up the school year. Check back soon for a recap of Noah's Lego birthday and pictures!!

What's in a Name?

A Starbucks barrista's attempt to understand the name "Paul" on our order

Picking out baby names is just about my favorite part about having a baby-except for actually having the baby! I look at baby names even when I'm not pregnant and frequent websites like nameberry.com and nymbler.com to follow the baby naming trends. So, of course, I started thinking about baby names about 2 minutes after I got the positive test! However, for two teachers, naming a child is hard! We've had lots of students between us and some names leave us with not so fond associations. This time we've also had to figure what names work decently in both Portuguese and English. Of course, we have no idea how long we'll be here, but we do need to be mindful of how common names can have different associations in other languages. For example, the classics Ruth and Rosie are pronounced hoo-chee and ho-sie respectively in Brazil-not the image we're going for! One of our favorites, Annabel, is a type of wedge heel in Portuguese and that makes us reluctant to use it. So now we're focused on a name that works in both languages easily and I think we've found our winner. Right now (and we've been known to change this at the last minute) we're planning on naming this baby girl Stella. Stella's been one of my favorites since I had Sophie and the fact that it is a known name in English and Portuguese is a bonus. Never mind that Tori Spelling used it-and we're certainly not following Ellen Pompeo's lead and using Stella Luna (a favorite read aloud around here!). We have a middle name picked out but we're still fine tuning a part of it so we'll keep that quiet for now. As of now, come June we'll have Noah, Sophie, and Stella Kasky!

Indulgences

I traveled to Santa Luiza market the other week to gather a few goodies for our family. I'd never been before, but I'd heard the rumors of marshmallows! instant oatmeal! goldfish crackers! so I decided to check it out. It was pretty good-I found everything I'd heard about and more. Of course, I think I paid $9 for a package of instant oatmeal, but for a special treat it was worth it. Just look at his face!

Six Months and Counting!

I am a terrible blogger. I don't know what has stolen my blogging mojo, but clearly it is gone! I don't know if it is the constant nausea (I mean, REALLY...nauseous at 6 months still?), the brain cells that this little girl is zapping, or the fact that things have been awfully low key around here lately-but I have nothing to write about.

I can tell you the pregnancy is going well. I'm 26 weeks so I feel like I can start counting backwards now-14 weeks more or less until we meet this little girl! I am seeing an English speaking midwife and Paul and I are considering all of our birthing options here in Sao Paulo so we can avoid being included in the 90% c-section rate in Brazil. We're starting to get the babe's room ready and I think we've picked a name. I recently started a yoga class twice a week and I'm indulging in a weekly home massage. I can't really complain-other than the nausea, things are more and less great! I'm hoping little to no weight gain so far will help post partum so I don't feel the need to schedule my mommy makeover (that's usually free with the c-section here) right away! Anyway, things are moving along...

The kids are good. Noah's loving the kindergarten program and finally starting to challenge himself with new activities and "work" (a Montessori term) at school. Sophie is about the happiest little girl around and madly in love with her teacher. She's starting to show an interest in writing words like her big brother and is perfecting her baby knowledge. I think she'll be a big help when this little girl arrives.

We don't really have any vacations second semester so we're pretty much vacationing at Club Portal (home!) as the weather permits. Tomorrow's the first day of fall and we're starting to feel a shift in the weather. It's been warm and sunny during the day and cool in the evening. Pretty much perfect.

I have every intention of being a better blogger so keep checking back!

Picture Updates

Valentine's Day Murder Mystery Date (we're in character!)

Toothless Wonder

What? You don't swim with flippers?

Cutie Pie Christmas Concert

Tooth Fairy is getting a workout at this house!

Sophie's fourth birthday celebrated Hawaiian style

The Portal Gang

This and That

So...where we left off:
Paul returned safely from his awesome trip to Greece! The kids were so very excited to see him (me too!) and we all quickly returned to school/work routines more or less peacefully.

We are in our new apartment (same complex, different building). The apartment is larger and the style is more comfortable for us. The kids still share a room leavifng us with a play room, a room for the baby, and our bedroom. We ordered some new living room furniture and we're slowly starting to get things up on the walls. By the time the babe arrives we should have it more or less done.

Soph had a birthday! We celebrated her fourth birthday on January 31st Hawaiian style. She is very proud to be four and is already counting the days until she hits four and a half! She and Noah seem to be playing together more and more frequently and I am constantly amazed at the patience he (mostly) has for teaching her games like Uno or helping her with a puzzle. They've also gotten pretty good and combining their loves creating games like "Let's be pirates on a ship and you can bring your baby along". Most days they are a pretty good team!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today! The baby looked great-everything as it should be-and we determined it is definitely a GIRL! Noah and Sophie were a bit disappointed this morning-they had their hearts set on a little brother-but by this evening they seemed to be okay with a little sister. We think we have a name picked out-something that works well in English and Portuguese-but I think we'll test it out for a few weeks before revealing it!

We're off this week Carnaval. We decided to stay around this week (barring any last minute trips to the beach) and spend the time enjoying "Club Portal"-the pools, the restaurant, and the lack of traffic and crowds makes it a good option! This way we can spend a little extra on the baby's room and our apartment :)

Pictures of all the latest happenings coming tomorrow! The heat has worn me out for the day!

Perks of the job

So when we came to Sao Paulo, we figured we'd get a great international experience. Little did I know how international the experience would be.

At the end of last school year, I decided that the history portion of my Humanities class was a little bit shortchanged. Not that the curriculum is bad (it's not great...), but more to the point, it's pretty difficult to make 2000 year old history relevant sometimes. So I approached my principal about creating an international trip. The discussions started innocently enough (we were actually poolside at the club, sipping caiparinhas at the time), but culminated in a 9-day trip to Greece that I just returned from. For me, the trip was in many ways a dream-come-true. As a history guy, seeing sites that are more than 3500 years old... artifacts over 8000 years old... it was amazing. But it was so much more than I bargained for. While we didn't go island-hopping or visit the northern peninsulas of Greece, we did spend 8 days primarily in Athens and the Peloponnese. Sure, we headed up to Delphi and down to Cape Sounion for the Temple of Poseidon, but every stop along the way was an amazing, beautiful and rewarding experience. To be sure, Greece is among the most beautiful places I've ever been. As we all know, photos hardly do justice to beauty. But in this case, it's particularly true.
The Parthenon in Athens
With my fellow teachers in Delphi
In Corinth

Paul's Coming Home

Cost of replacing the car battery (that died while Paul was gone): R$300
Cost of replacing the kids' bedroom rug (that mildewed in the flood while Paul was gone): R$150
Cost of running the fan (to dry the mattress that was soaked while Paul was gone): R$86
Cost of paying the babysitter (for 2 hours of sanity while Paul was gone): R$20
Cost of internet groceries (to avoid the store with two kiddos while Paul was gone): R$250

Paul coming home tomorrow: PRICELESS

So...um, the update from Friday was really optimistic. Things WERE going well. Then Saturday came. During a bad rainstorm (that came on suddenly) the kids and I ended up getting stuck in not one, but two elevators when the power went out. It wasn't for long, but scary nonetheless. When we made it home we found the kids room was flooded with water-Noah's mattress was soaked, his quilt, the floor, even Sophie's clothes in her closet-which had been left open when I came home to fetch bathing suits (see, the rain really did come on suddenly!)-were drenched. Oh, it was a mess! I spent most of the afternoon drying water off the floor and rearranging furniture to let everything dry out. Bedtime couldn't come soon enough!

This morning, our first day back to school with students, I found the car battery dead. I managed to get a ride with friends and make it to school just in time to greet my new students and kiss the sea of parents outside my door. We knew the car was acting funny, but we thought it would make it until Paul returned. Almost...

Anyway, despite the chaos of the last few days we survived. But we're definitely ready for Paul to come home! He'll be home late tomorrow night and we'll all be waiting!

**On a side note, after all of my whining, please pray for my good friend Diane's husband Mark. He is works for the Fairfax County Police Department and they are working in Haiti right now. Last weekend Mark fell onto a pipe sticking out of a wall and broke his rib. He's been on the USS Comfort so they can run tests and rule out any internal injuries. So far, it looks like he'll be able to stay with his team and continue working in Haiti. You can see an great video on the work they are doing here.

Paul's adventures

For those interested in keeping up with Paul's adventures in Greece check out Graded Goes Greece

We've heard from Paul a few times via email. Noah's written him a sweet email back while Sophie is content to tell daddy about her ballet leotard in great detail and kindly ask if we can buy yet another next time we're back in Virginia. True to their personalities!

All is well here. I'll be the first to admit I've had Katty here most of the day (I went back to work on Thursday) only leaving me with the 4-8 shift. The kids have been really good, and thankfully, very tired! I'm heading into the difficult stretch now-a 3 day weekend with rain predicted for all three days. I checked out 12 books from our school library this afternoon and I've already started my lists of fun activities to fill the time. I've also made peace with the fact that the kiddos may watch a little more television this weekend.

I am already a little worried about what could happen next year if I am faced with 10 days and three kids! My two seem pretty easy by that comparison. Oh well, I'll start strategizing next year. For now, things are good!

Jumping Back on the Blogging Wagon

Well, by now most of you have read my excuses for not posting...mostly horrible morning sickness that kept my in the fetal position October-December. However, it's a new year, a new trimester, and we are safely back in Sao Paulo so I feel ready to begin posting again. I'm sure you all are relieved *wink, wink*.

We had a great visit with family in December. We flew to Bogota, Columbia for two days before heading onto D.C. Bogota is pretty much the half way point between Sao Paulo and D.C. so it broke our ten hour flight more or less into two five hour flights which was way more manageable with the kids. Plus, the Columbia's national airline Avianca is great to fly on! The seats were spacious (by comparison), the flights arrived on time or early, the staff pleasant, and the kids had a touch screen in front of them that played movies, television, and video games-a welcome distraction! While in Columbia we visited The Gold Museum and hired a driver to take us around Bogota. We visited Montserrat via trolley and could see the entire city of Bogota from there and drove through La Candalaria.

It was a fun detour. Sophie enjoyed the drug sniffing dogs that were EVERYWHERE. The people were friendly (minus our friends at the immigration counter) and the hotel was new, clean, and comfortable. We may book this route another time.

We flew into D.C. amazingly just 24 hours after the huge snow storm hit. Another round of applause for Avianca airlines! We even arrived early. It was only after the baggage carousel broke with our luggage down below that we were delayed!

Seeing family and friends was, of course, wonderful. So was speaking English everywhere we went...I felt so smart and capable! Target, too, was no disappointment. It was hard to leave after three weeks. The kids are getting more vocal about wanting to stay in Virginia and visit family in Austin and Colorado...we'll see what the next few years hold.

We arrived back in Sao Paulo last Friday after a one day layover in Bogota. The kids are happy to be back. Their friends have all returned and they are enjoying spending long hours outside in the sunshine-something that was unthinkable in frigid D.C. After five weeks off they head back to school on the 26th. We are getting back into the swing of early bedtimes and household routines.

Paul left for Greece today. He's taking 31 middle schoolers on a 9 day tour of the country...nice job, right?! He's worked hard to make this trip happen and I know he will have a great time.

As for me, I'm approaching my 18th week of pregnancy though I am, for the most part, still wearing my normal clothing. I thought the second I saw the positive line I'd have to move into maternity by baby number three...I think the morning sickness has helped everything fit a bit longer! We believe we are having a girl by the last ultrasound we had, but should know for sure in the next few weeks.

Carnaval is only three short weeks away, but I think we're staying put. Instead of traveling we plan to rest, relax, and continue working on making our new apartment home. I have pictures I want to share, but our computer isn't cooperating and without Paul I'm not sure how to get them onto here any other way. Pictures to follow!

I promise more regular updates from now on!

Paul wrote this a month ago, but it is better than nothing!! I'm finally starting to feel human again, so I will get some posts up....but for now, here's a short update!


Ok, so it's been almost a month since our last post. That's not good. But really, life's been moving along at a pretty normal pace lately, so I guess we just haven't felt the need to share so much.

Ok, I lied. Life is not moving along normally. Since our beach weekend, the following events have occurred:

1) I went to Nosso Recanto for the second time - the mountain camp retreat where the Brazilian international private schools all go to play their season-ending tournaments. It's really what we gear up for all year long. For our sports fans out there, I'll tell you how the tourney went for my boys basketball team. It was an 8-team tournament that was divided into two 4-team brackets. We had a round-robin within the bracket and went 2-1, losing only to the gigantic St. Paul's Lions. It was a nine point loss, but in many ways it was closer than that.

As the #2 seed, we had to play the undefeated #1 seed from the other bracket - Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro. We beat them by a few in a very close game.

That victory put us in the final against... that same St. Paul's Team that beat us before. Well, they beat us again. It was a bit of a disappointment, as we'd beaten them during the regular season and really felt like we could win the championship. But they have a 6'5" big guy who just dominated inside and we didn't have an answer for that. So we came home with 2nd place.

2) We signed a lease to move into a new apartment in less than two weeks. When we moved the kids into separate rooms a few months ago, we lost the playroom in our relatively small 3-bedroom apartment. Coupled with the fact that it's been colder and rainier this year than it was last year, keeping us inside a bit more and infecting us with a bit of cabin fever, we decided that we needed more space. So we're moving up the hill in the same complex (Portal do Morumbi) into a building with larger, 4-bedroom apartments. We'll be going from less than 1500 square feet to over 2100. This will definitely be more comfortable for us.

3) If moving into a new apartment in December of our 2nd year wasn't enough of an indication, we've decided to stay in Sao Paulo and at Escola Graduada for another year. The intial contract was for two years, but now we can go year-to-year. There are so many good reasons to stay here at this point. It's a great place to live for the kids.... they have a nanny and a gigantic park as their backyard. They can take swimming lessons, soccer class (Noah), ballet (Sophie) and play with their friends all day every day. After school, of course. The kids are getting a top-notch education. Abby and I have excellent jobs where we feel appreciated and valued (most of the time, anyway). Not to mention...

4) We're having another one.

No, not another caipirinha (although that's generally not a bad idea). Abby's pregnant! #3. The last one.

She's been to the doctor and we've seen it on ultrasound. We're obviously very excited and can't wait to meet the new little one. The only question now is whether or not we find out what we're having. Abby says yes, I say no. We found out with both Noah and Sophie ahead of time. The only experience we haven't had is not finding out. Abby's approaching this very practically and just wants to be able to shop in the States. But seriously... it's much more fun to wait and see, right?

So there you have it. We haven't posted anything in almost a month because, let's face it, Abby is the primary poster around here. And frankly, she's felt too sick to sit in front of a computer screen and write. She's been much more nauseous and throw-uppy with this one. Gross for me, but really unpleasant and uncomfortable for her. So while your tendency might be to feel sorry for me.... ok, not at all. But you should send her an email or give her a call and make her feel better.

Now we're getting ready to head off to Buenos Aires for a 4-day holiday (as they say in this part of the world. Or do they?). We're excited to get out of Sao Paulo for a few days and make some memories as a family. We'll let you know how it goes once we get back. Hopefully not a month after we get back.

Beach Weekend

Sorry for the delays in posting...the blog has just been at the end of a very long to-do list lately. Things have been rather quiet around these parts-work, school, and just life in general have led to full days.

Last Thursday afternoon I found a little inspiration when I checked the weekend forecast and discovered a large yellow ball (I almost didn't recognize it!) posted next to Saturday. Paul and I did a quick email exchange (since walking across the courtyard would have been difficult ;) ) and decided to take a last minute weekend getaway. We headed back to Guaruja but this time stayed at THE. BEST. HOTEL. Casa Grande was amazing! We arrived Friday evening and stayed through mid day Sunday. The grounds were beautiful, we were right across the street from the ocean, and the room comfortable. They also had a Casa de Criancas (Kids' House) that was filled with toys, a kids' pool, a dinner buffet for the kids, and monitors (babysitters) for the kids. We tested it out Friday evening and the kids couldn't have been happier! They stayed at the Casa de Criancas and we headed to the Thai Restaurant across the street. Saturday, after a full day of sun, the kids swam at the kids' pool and hung out for dinner. Paul and AGAIN enjoyed a slow, quiet dinner at the hotel's restaurant. It was so relaxing and the kids were so happy hanging out with other kids. Sunday, after breakfast and a few hours at the beach, we headed home. We were back in Sao Paulo by early afternoon. We will definitely head there again-we all had the best time!

Raise Your Hand If You Like Purple Potatoes

I made a super yummy dinner last night for the kids and me. Paul was doing some very serious work with some friends until very late into the evening. Or watching ridiculous amounts of football. Either way, yesterday's menu was salmon pesto burgers and sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes here are purple! Yes, purple! Sophie still didn't eat them. Or the berry ice cream that followed. While I was cooking I said to her, "Sophie, c'mon purple french fries...you're no fun!". She replied, rather confidently, "Yes I am. I just won't eat purple french fries,".

Uh, at least she's cute. And she does eat an astounding amount of broccoli and ketchup.

I've gotten a little lazy about cooking dinner around here...I may use the blog to keep me honest as I've vowed to cook dinner every night this week. We'll see. Tonight? Pesto chicken, whole wheat pasta salad, and roasted zucchini.

Glee

Paul and I downloaded the show Glee from itunes. I totally loved it and was a big fan as well...but have you seen these kids? Incredible!

Spring Has Sprung *at least for one day

The weather here in Sao Paulo has been pretty bad since we arrived back in July. Most weeks are filled with rain with a random absolutely gorgeous day thrown in. Sometimes the day begins with promise only to finish as a soggy mess. And it has been cold. C-O-L-D. I know, people don't believe Brazil is cold, but without heat inside our apartment it can get rather frigid. Last year was apparently a random event, because it was sunny and warm almost every day from the time we arrived. Well, Mother Nature is making up for it this year. We,are though, officially in spring and today was a random beautiful day. I took advantage of the nice weather and snapped pictures for our Christmas card and these awesome shots from around Portal.

Not to Be Outdone...

Noah's definitely NOT the type to put on a song and dance show and let me record it (like another little person I know). So, to capture him on video I need to use secretive tactics and break into his room late at night as evidenced below:

Noah's Reading from Abigail Kasky on Vimeo.

A Sophie Medley

a.k.a. how I attempt to make Sophie speak Portuguese so that our extended family doesn't think I am lying about her skills

Untitled from Abigail Kasky on Vimeo.

We had a Visitor!

Last week we got an email that Paul's buddy Wes was flying into Sao Paulo. Wes and Paul went to high school together, Wes and I went to UVA together, and Wes was a part of our wedding. He's been living in Charlotte and New York for the last few years and finally moved back to D.C. just before we left for Brazil. Needless to say, we were super excited about this visit. Thankfully, the weather cooperated! Paul picked Wes up at his hotel just after noon and Sunday (yeah for Sunday traffic!). The blue sky and warm day dictated spending the afternoon at-where else-the Clubbe! It seemed like the perfect solution since we could lounge and visit and the kids could run free. Much more relaxing than dragging them through the city. Wes may or may not return to Sao Paulo soon, but we discussed meeting him in Buenos Aires in November and definitely catching up in D.C. in January. It was so good to see a familiar face!

Wes and Paul

Enjoying the Clubbe (and the caips!)

Soph and Mama

Another field trip

So I get to go on a few field trips this year. A couple of them are sports trips of 3-4 days each for the big Brazil international school tourneys. Another potential trip this year is a repeat of the trip to Petropolis that I went on last year. Then there's the big one coming up in January that I've planned. Nine days in Greece. I'm really looking forward to that one.

But I just got back from my first trip of the year. A 4-day trip to the Mata Atlantica Rainforest on the northern coast of Brazil with our 8th graders. For most of these kids, this trip would constitute "roughing it", although it really was a comfortable trip for the most part. Here's a recap:

Day 1:
We arrived at a the Quilombo Campinho near Ubatuba, a local beach resort area. Quilombos are runaway slave communities that are, in many ways, frozen in time. They tend to be very, very poor communities that existed for years without even being recognized or identified by the government here. Finally in the late 1980's the lands on which Quilombos existed were legally turned over to those communities. Of course, that hasn't gotten them electricity, roads or government assistance of any sort. But it does get them visits from 8th graders in the private schools in Sao Paulo! What a consolation.
At the Quilombo, we ate a traditional Brazilian feijoada lunch. Then we had a chance to learn from the locals: basket weaving, drumming and dancing were the main activities in which we got to take part. Then, it was off to the pousada for a good night's rest.

Day 2:
My group, which was about 1/2 of our 8th graders, headed to a local creche (daycare center). It was a full day of community service; we planted a new vegetable garden to help them to be more self-sustainable, we contributed to a massive cleaning effort to make the daycare more vibrant and attractive for the kids, we helped to make toys out of donated and recycled materials, and we generally had a chance to make life a little better for the young children in the local community. It was a rewarding opportunity for me, but more importantly for our students who don't often have opportunities to give something back to the less privileged in Brazilian society.
When we got back to the pousada, I played some barefoot basketball with a bunch of my kids (NOT recommended) while the rest of them played mud futbol. Nice.

Day 3:
We on a trek up to Saco do Mamangua, a fishing community near Parati that you have to boat into since there are no roads (or any other sign of civilzation) as you approach. In fact, the roads leading to our boat launch were so rough and unmaintained that our charter bus couldn't (or wouldn't) take us. We had to take a rickety old bus down the road to deliverance. Along the way, we passed a man raking his "lawn" with no pants (or anything else) on, which was a bit of a shocker to the right side of the bus.

Anyway, we got a science lesson about the mangroves, canoed around the bay, ate lunch, got a hands-on lesson on net fishing and generally had a chance to find out how this fishing community exists without electricity or any other convenience most of us can imagine. Pretty powerful stuff.

Day 4:
The last day started with a hike through the rainforest. We stopped to swim in the river near waterfalls and learned (in Portuguese, meaning I was educationally challenged) about the ecosystem. Good stuff.
Then it was off on our 4.5 hour drive home that took nearly 8 hours thanks to Sao Paulo rush hour.

Did I mention the food (or water?) poisoning? Six of the eight teachers ended up with some nasty stomach problems starting late on day 2. I was one of the six. Not cool. But the drug stores do sell some pretty hefty meds for that. We stocked up on our way to Saco do Mamangua on the morning of the third day, and started popping pills. We labeled them "big blocker", "slow blocker", "vomit meds", and the like. Big blocker is a miracle pill, although I'm still trying to get back to normal now, 4 days later.

So that's the story. As Abby's pointed out before, traveling with the school is such a nice, peaceful event. The contracted educational tour agency we hire does everything..... EVERY. THING. We teachers just follow along like kids, which is great for rapport with them. It's a chance to interact with them on a different level, and I found it to be very rewarding.

Next stop: Greece.

Paul Comes Home Tomorrow

We've had a good week, just the three of us. We had dinner with friends last night and a quiet night at home Tuesday and tonight. It is certainly easier having them on my own than it was just a year ago! Both kids are desperate for Paul to come home though. Noah's taken to sleeping-no joke-like this all week.



In other exciting news...Noah has his first loose tooth! He's been *thinking* there's been a wiggle for quite some time, but tonight I felt it actually move a bit. Noah predicted it will be out by October 10th. I better load up on some apples, carrots, and other crunchy foods-Noah's a pretty determined little guy. I wonder if the tooth fairy pays American families living in Brazil in dollars or reais?

Sunday Football

It looks a little different...but Paul loves it just the same.

Big Decisions

When we started this international teaching journey two years ago we had visions of taking a little break from the monotony of our life and returning shortly there after. In some ways it seemed like such a short period of time, but in other ways I remember thinking Oh my goodness! I will have a four year old and a six year old when I come home! For some reason the jump from a 2 and 4 year old to a four and six year old seemed huge-much larger than just two years. And suddenly we're almost there. Now, we're approaching the time when we'll have to decide whether to pack up and head home, stay in Brazil, or explore another teaching opportunity. It's a hard choice. Our school forces us to make this decision very early-usually between late October and early November. Definitely before we've had a chance to secure another job. The year flew by-just now, after selling our house and settling in here-are we starting to see the bigger benefits of being overseas. We still have lots of South American traveling we'd like to squeeze in. I love, love, love going to school with the kids (and Paul too!). However, we miss family and the pure ease of being in the United States. Truthfully, I miss Target too. I've always been horribly indecisive which does not bode well for large, looming decisions like the ones in front of us. Paul's super logical and I'm more of a "gut instinct" type girl. I feel like so many other decisions ride on this one...I hope we feel the same when the time comes to commit.

Saturdays

This is the second Saturday in a row that Paul's had to spend the entire day coaching. I think that's hard on both of us. He has a long day on top of an already long week and I have my hands full with the kiddos. The good news is when the weather is good (like it was last week) we can spend the day like this:

The bad news? That was last Saturday. Today is gray and cool and we're trapped in a small apartment waiting for Paul to return this afternoon.

Adventure Recap

We enjoyed a three day weekend in honor of Brazil's independence this week. We weren't sure we were going to travel-traffic is horrible when the whole city is off- and the weather isn't certain enough to risk a beach trip just yet, but Leca and Peter invited us to Campinas for the weekend and that seemed to be the perfect short and sweet trip we needed. So Saturday, after a relaxing breakfast during which Sophie requested broccoli with her french toast rather than any type of fruit I had prepared, we headed out to Campinas. Leca is from Campinas and her entire family (think many, many cousins, aunts, uncles, etc...) pretty much still lives there. Paul traveled there in December, but I was in out of town, so this was my first trip. Campinas is about 90 minutes from Sao Paulo and we arrived mid afternoon Saturday. From the moment we arrived I knew I liked Campinas better than Sao Paulo-it is smaller, cleaner, greener, and people seem to drive normally-not like the maniacs around here! The streets are a bit wider and many are paved with cobblestones, adding to the charm of the city. Saturday night we arranged for a woman to watch Noah and Sophie at the hotel while Peter, Leca, Paul and I headed out to a nice dinner and then to a chopperia (bar) to watch Brazil play Argentina in a big, much anticipated soccer match. The weather was pleasant and it was really relaxing to hang out! Leca's cousin, Caca, joined us later in the night. It is really fun to have everyone together and I find it fascinating to figure out how we all move from English to Portuguese back English without too much thought. Well, Leca and Peter do that. I listen intently to the Portuguese (and understand a fair amount) but nearly always speak in English. Paul's pretty good at going between the two and he gets the award for the best effort of the evening.Hippie fair Sunday morning

Sunday we headed out to the Leca's family sitou (farm) for a chuhasca. Leca's family lives in this little Swiss colony outside of Campanis. It was really beautiful even though the weather was pretty damp and gray. The day was fun, but tiring. Trying to keep up and be personnable in a second language takes a lot of work-I have a renewed respect for what my students do each day! The kids were amazing. The way they interact with new people is so refreshing-they switch from English to Portuguese and back again without a problem. By the afternoon they were playing Brazilian children's games with all the other little cousins running around. Sophie especially feels at ease in these situations, but even Noah was comfortable and making friends. Late in the afternoon we went for a walk-oh, how I wish I had the camera! At one point the kids were walking ahead to look at some roosters (LOTS of roosters) on another piece of property. Suddenly, out of nowhere, these black dogs come charging towards us barking loudly. Leca quickly closed the gate to keep them inside the property and away from us. Just as we were catching our breath we turned to see many cows coming down the road and a bull! There was no gate separating us this time. I started to get really nervous at this point-but over the hill came the man in charge of the animals. I don't know what he would have done had the bull charged-but seeing him made me feel better and they passed by without any further excitement.
Monday Leca's mom invited us over for lunch. We had a fun time and Noah and Sophie had fun playing with Julia. We left midafternoon and made it back without hitting too much traffic.
It was lots of fun-I'm sure we'll head back another time.

Good buddies

For now we have our sights set on our four day weekend in November-we're traveling to Buenos Aires-and our trip back to the U.S. in December-we've built in a short side trip to Bogota, Columbia. Lots of travel to look forward to!

Papaya Boy

Picky Eater Girl

Worn Out