Visit Home

My list of things I'm going to do during our first visit home.

1. Buy 20 lbs of bacon and eat some every day we are in the USA.
2. Buy 10 jars of peanut butter and repeat #1.
3. Go to Target and Somerset Mall with the express purpose of buying nothing. I simply want to walk around in awe of all the things I could buy if I wanted to.
4. Drive anywhere with no fear of having to maneuver the Hill of Death.
5. Wash dishes in a dishwasher.
6. Enjoy all the land and space we have in Michigan where there is nothing except wildlife and flora and fauna.
7. Make it 30 lbs of bacon.
8. Starbucks House coffee. Grande. Black.
9. Recycle something.
10. Enjoy the smell of Michigan.
11. Seeing options for underwear that are NOT thong related.
12. Speak English without folks staring at me.

Kids lists to follow....

Go for it kid...

Before reading any further, I'm behind in posting pics of all the wonderful things we've done in May and June. I apologize...but only a little.

See, we are busy living it all and doing it all so that we can capture the video and the pictures. So, I'm truly too busy having fun and making memories to post it all.

HOWEVER, I promise to do better. I've actually developed a plan and carved some time out that isn't at the end of the day (when I'm about to fall over from exhaustion!) when it'll be effective to put up the photos and articles. :)

Today's post is a little different though.

I try to answer the elusive question "Why?"

1. Why did you leave all your family and friends?
2. Why Brazil?
3. Why leave your job?
4. Why leave your house?
5. Why uproot your children like that?

My answer is simple. 

Why not?

This usually gives people a smooshed up face and then out comes the avalanche of additional questions. 

1. Well, er, ah...I mean, isn't hard? 
2. Aren't your children sad and confused?
3. Aren't you tired?
4. What will you do when you get back to The States?
5. Don't you miss everyone?
6. What DO YOU DO all day?
7. How do you get around? I mean, you don't speak Portuguese right?

etc. etc. etc.

So then I ride their wave of confusion a little bit with them. Almost like I imagine a surfing coach rides on the same board with you. Helping you to try and get the feel of the balance needed.

I begin to provide some easy answers to the questions above.

1. Yes. It's been very hard.

2. Sometimes the kids are sad. Sometimes the kids are confused. We have amazing conversations though. And I am learning so much about being in tune with my little nuggets. It's really cool how much they are teaching me!

3. I'm exhausted. Like a "Newborn-Baby-At-Home" exhausted times 100.

4. I haven't thought about what we'll do when we get back to The States. After all, we are living in Brazil and I'm just starting to figure that all out.

5. We totally miss our family and friends.

6. If I gave you a list of all the things I do all day, you'd be exhausted too. Suffice it to say I'm currently the walking mortar of our family unit.

7. I don't speak Portuguese, this is true. Currently I'm using A LOT of charades and Portu-English to communicate. [See #3 above].

Feeling a bit peevish about providing these basic answers I started thinking about why we did move to Brazil. First, the obvious answers popped up.

1. Great career option for Hubby.
2. Great sabbatical for me.
3. Fiat provides some wonderful financial incentives for this type of experience.
4. Brazilian weather = fabulous!

After these initial answers, I have to go a bit deeper into my mind (soul, third eye?). The next level really looks a bit more selfish, but after conferring with Aaron, he's definitely in the same space. I feel confident listing them here.

1. Avoid "Groundhogs Day" in previous lifestyle.
2. Amazing experience for our family and our children - even the hard parts.
3. Fulfill dreams of travelling.
4. Fulfill dreams of actually LIVING somewhere else, not just vacationing.
5. Exposure to learning and living in another language.
6. So many studies say that people, especially children, who have international experiences are more empathetic, more ambitious, more aware, more _______.

As I dig even deeper for answers, I seem to circle back to the beginning answer of "Why not?"

Finally, this morning I came upon a TEDx talk that provided for me, THE BEST answer. 

As humans, we don't want regret. Or, more specifically, we don't want to have guilt about regret. I know that many times when making a decision I ask myself "When I'm 70, how do I want to remember this going down?" That gut reaction of what my future self might say about my current self is where I truly begin to find the answers to my current questions. My future self provides clarity through the quagmire and also says, "Hey, don't fret about the fact that you didn't get the pounded silver handles on your new cabinets. Trust me, when you're 70, you won't care about that anyway." High-five Future Self! Got it!

Larry Smith is the speaker in this TedTalk. I don't know much about him yet. I will be doing some research on him to find out more. I like his style and I like what he says. At the 12:40-ish mark he states:

"Go for it kid, just like I did."

Once you watch this 15 minute video, you will hopefully understand why we decided to come live in Brazil.

Larry Smith - Why you will fail to have a great career

DEFINITELY a great 15 minutes to spend today!

Max Turns 3 - Toy Story Style

Max turned the Big 3 on Tuesday, May 20th this past week.

His Preschool class doesn't really do class birthday parties at school, so we just had a big blow out for him at home...with the family.

We took lots of videos and pics, so enjoy!

Some things to know about Max:
1. He LOVES to be in his PJ's at all times of the day. So you'll see in these videos and pictures, that's what he gets to wear! It is his birthday after all!
2. He has a great habit of grabbing your face by both cheeks, oh so gently, and saying "I'm so glad you are here," then planting a big toddler smooch on your lips. It really is WONDERFUL!
3. His favorite food is anything chocolate and the homemade tortilla chips I make for after-school snack.
4. He loves to jump into the pool (See Pool Time Fun post for videos) and is actually very fast with his Spiderman intertube.
5. He has not gotten over his abject fear of stuffed mascot like people. Think Chuck E. Cheese type costumes. Max is still not a big fan.

Some great photos and videos of our exciting 3rd Birthday party in Brazil! :)


Max Opening Gifts


Celebrate Good Times, COME ON!


Max and his cake and candles




  Max Playing with new toys



  Max montage, Thank you Google!

Festa Junina 2015

What the heck is Festa Junina?

I was asking myself this very question until I sat down and did some 'Googling' to figure it out.

Here's what I found (in summary):
Festa Junina (can be known as festa São João) is a HUGE PARTY celebrating Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Peter for their various parts in The Nativity and in bringing rain and good crops to the farmers. This party originated mostly in the rural and country areas where farming is prevalent. 

There is a lot of emphasis on quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing; and country-western type foods like corn, BBQ, sweets and popcorn.

People dress up in countryside garb, and may blacken a tooth or two to complete the look. Additional costume looks are pigtails, freckles, real cowboy looking clothes and definitely a cowboy hat and boots. One of the quadrilha dances involves a bride and groom, while others are coupled up to dance around the happy couple. 

At the school, it's a BIG party with the PTA having it as their biggest fundraiser of the year. The food was absolutely delicious and worth every minute of waiting in line. Nothing like having your Brazilian Meat on a Stick at a school function! With that beautiful BBQ smell wafting through the air...who could ask for more?!

Each grade has a special dance and works on it for about 2 months before this event. It is a serious deal around here. 

Which is what will make our videos and pictures even more entertaining.

 * One of our kids doesn't move a lick. Just stands and cries.
 * One is in a frilly dress which she hasn't worn since she was old enough to put her own clothes on. AND she nails the dance number too!
 * One is dancing her heart out and waving around a pink cowboy hat like she does this kind of stuff all the time.

In other words, it was a TOTALLY AWESOME DAY!


Charlotte Dancing Wonderfully!
She has on a beautiful purple and teal dress, about center screen.
At the end of the last video, Char is asked to go grab her parent and bring them to the dance floor to dance with them. AARON ROCKED IT OUT! Unfortunately, my phone was full at that point and I couldn't capture the amazing dance moves that Aaron and Char were sporting. :( Suffice to say, the two of them looked AMAZING!


Max NOT Dancing :)
You can see he is the little boy on the far left side.




Izzy's Beautiful Dancing
Izzy is on the center right of your frame with a pink cowboy hat and teal plaid shirt. (The video on my phone is far from ideal. Just another reminder of a purchase I'll be making back in The States this July... :) )





Regular photos for your enjoyment. :)

Homemade Peanut Butter

I know I'm a bit behind on posting pics of the kids...working on it, I SWEAR! 

But I thought I would share this morning's adventures in my kitchen.

Peanut butter, as we Americans know it, is VERY expensive here. Take a look at your jar of Planter's All Natural no-mix peanut butter and imagine paying $12 for it, ON SALE! I'm not exaggerating, that's what we got.

Of course, I've splurged. I mean, we cannot live without peanut butter, we are a family with three small kids after all. But I got to thinking, making your own can't be that hard. And a bag of shelled peanuts is like $1 here...so there has to be a way.

Enter this find : Homemade Peanut Butter

BRILLIANT!

So, my morning went like this:

1. Kids on bus.
2. Yoga
3. Roast 2 cups peanuts on baking sheet for about 8-10 min at 350 F
4. Oven only works in Celsius...wing temperature setting.
5. Sip coffee.
6. Put in peanuts and set timer for 5 min.
7. At 3 minutes in, smell burning.
8. Run to kitchen and pull on oven handle to open door.
9. Break oven handle, complete with interior heat glass coming out and 'broken' screw from handle falling down somewhere into inner oven workings.
10. Finagle way to open door using two pot-holders and a spatula.
11. Find that peanuts now look like coffee beans and house smells..interesting.
12. Trash peanuts.
13. Figure oven is still on and now I can still open/close door - try again.
14. Reduce temperature, significantly.
15. Roast 2 cups peanuts on baking sheet.
16. Stand by oven for about 1 1/2 minutes to roast peanuts.
17. Sip coffee.
18. Take out peanuts and make recipe. Turns out ok, not as smooth as I like, but definitely has the right flavor.

GREAT! I'm going to try this with cashews, but not roast them. Clearly I need to turn off the oven to cool for a bit so I can try and put it back together.

1. 2 cups cashews directly into food processor and follow recipe.
2. Hhhhmmmmm...after adding oil and honey, it's not smooth. Maybe just some water...
3. Blend.
4. BAD IDEA to add water after oil for peanut butter - but this cashew toffee candy is going to be DELICIOUS!
5. Decide this might not be the best morning for peanut butter making and start vacuuming instead. I'll need to wash the floors too in hopes to try and rid the house of burnt peanut smell before anyone gets home.

By the way, it's now 9:30am here.

How's your morning going? :)

Casualty of home economics

Frosted Flakes

A really exciting thing for us in Brazil right now is when we find something that is a little USA with some Brazil.

I was never a big Frosted Flakes fan in the US, but it was nice to see something familiar.

Additionally, we have found that as Max get's older, not only is he working on his Portuguese here in Brazil, but we will still have to help him out with his English too.

Have you had your Frosted Snakes today? ;)

Moving In Day!

Never have I been so happy to see a vacuum in my whole entire life!

The vacuum signifies:
1. Our air shipment arrived in Brazil and is unloaded in our new condo.
2. I can vacuum! Brazil doesn't really believe in vacuums like we do in the U.S. This is more of a broom/sweep country. To this girl, THAT just don't cut it!
3. I am standing INSIDE my condo and not in THE HOTEL!!!

So whilst it is just a Dyson...it's the most beautiful Dyson I have ever seen.

Now...if I could just figure out the damn electrical conversion stuff and plug it into the right outlet to turn on...ahhh...I'll label that as Phase 2 Moving In activity. ;)

We did receive our sea shipment as well. So everything we packed to come to Brazil has officially made it into our condo! Just about every expat and Brazilian has said the following to us:

"You find a condo in 3 days, the owner accepts the offer, AND your stuff is here before 3 months? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?" Apparently, things NEVER go this quickly in regards to moving and shipping. All I can say is THANK GOD! Because 12 weeks in hotel rooms, eating out every meal - NO CAN DO AMIGO!

Kids did a great job on moving in day given that it was total chaos and lots of stuff. They were great little workers and able to help unpack stuff. Truly, all three of them did a great job. AND Char lost her bottom tooth during the day! It was pretty funny when she came out of her room all bloody and smiling! HA!

So we rewarded them with some major park time at our condo park - YEAH! AND some pool time in the three outdoor pools. Aaron had them all line up and taught them how to dive into a pool correctly. Max had his own version of 'correctly'.

He would line up with the girls.
They would dive in.
He would stutter step around to the stairs and walk down them.
Then, he would jump in from about the second step, which is already in the water.

He was more on the 'wading in' side of things instead of the 'diving in' version.

After School Pics March 19, 2015

Kids came home from school today with smiles, and chocolate, on their faces! Just thought I'd grab some cute photos to share.

His Highness (a.k.a. Max) insists on putting his pajamas BACK ON for nap every day. While there are times when I really wish we didn't have to go through this whole rigmarole, I find my Center and think, "He won't be able to do this much longer. Why not put your PJ's back on in the afternoon?!"

This week he has taken to waking up from nap, and instead of coming into my room, he simply sits up in his own bed and yells "Mommmmmaaaaaa! Where aaarrrreee yyyoooouuu?" so that I am now aware he is awake. Once I enter his room, I open one of the blinds a little bit and say "Are you ready to wake up?" Today his reply was, "NO Mommaa! Me still sleeping! Too bright, TOO BRIGHT!"

For a moment I considered throwing water on him to see what would happen...then I realized I could only do that after midnight to fully prove the theory. :)

Mangabeiras Park

We went on a local adventure in one of the city's great parks, Mangabeiras Park. It is HUGE and the trails go in all directions. Lots of great forest and water trails, neat streams, AND a giant park for the kids! YEAH!!

So, we see on our Garmin that there are two entrances for the park. I just pick one and Aaron starts driving. We head through town and get to the parking area. 

COOL! We made it! 

AND it's a park entrance! EVEN BETTER! (Garmin has a habit of taking us the wrong place, which is an adventure in itself).

We start walking on the big path/road...GREAT! Beautiful!

Up a mountain we start to hike. And we are really hiking up - it's pretty steep. And it's humid as can be. I had borrowed Izzy's back pack and grabbed some water and snacks for us (a spare diaper or two, as we are still in that phase with Mr. Max) and we just keep going. 

We don't understand the signs and we don't really know where we are going.

But, we are NOT IN OUR HOTEL and we are getting some exercise, so DOUBLE BONUS!

We see some pretty cool looking spiders and webs, hummingbirds, other birds, some small monkeys and these GIANT ant hills (see slideshow). Along our trek we also run into these cute little guys - a whole herd of them. They are all along the trail and do not seem to be bothered by us one bit. One of them is even running with a juice box! (I looked them up and they are actually Coati, and indigenous to this area. They come from the raccoon family; hence the ability to scavenge so well.

As we approach, the kids say, "Let's go see them!" and start to walk very energetically toward these little animals. 

A FLASH and suddenly I have a vision of these little animals biting my kids ankles and jumping on our heads! Trying to gnaw our ankles as we climb to safety. I'm trying to recall all the shots we had for our trip..."Would any of these shots save us from weird animal bites?" I wonder.

"WAIT!" I yell. 

Too late. We are surrounded.

I honestly started thinking of escape plans and what the best way would be to kill one of these things...then I realized they all backed away as the kids came towards them. 

Never mind. :)

When we finally made it to the playground park area, you would have thought our children have never seen a slide. Especially Max. He wouldn't leave to go further up the mountain with Aaron and the girls. Max and I stayed behind to continue climbing and sliding. Well, he did all that. I just stayed on the ground and made sure he was safe. 

Let's talk about playground slides in Brazil for a quick second.

Not that far off the real thing.

What is UP with the incredibly steep slides around here? Not only are these slides more of a DROP than a slide, but people must grease these suckers up at night. Every slide we have been on in this country is lightening fast! National Lampoons Xmas vacation style! I haven't figured out if it is some sort of joke or what the deal is...

So really what I was doing with Max was serving as a speed bump for him about 2/3 of the way down the slide. The first time he went down I didn't realize the speed and he literally catapulted off the end and landed butt down (THANK GOD) on this big pile of sand. He avoided THAT slide the rest of the time we were there, but I learned the lesson.

Meanwhile, Aaron and the girls had continued their trek upward and found the secret! 

Essentially, when Garmin gave us two options - we picked the wrong one. 

At the top of this trail is a huge parking lot, restaurants, ice cream, lots of shade, a bus that takes you up and down the mountain...!

UGH!!!

Well, next time we know. But, truthfully, I think the kids really needed the hiking and to stretch their legs. I know I did for sure!

Enjoy our photo album of our first hiking adventure in Brazil! :)

Travelling for Business

There was a time, a long long time ago, that I traveled for business. 

I was a Monday through Friday airport jockey. I would be able to tell you where the best smoothie place was in the Denver airport or the best coffee spot was at Heathrow (yes, there was one. Just one. Before Starbucks people!).

This time was WAY before kids and was even before this husband of mine and I re-met.

I loved it. Relished it. Enjoyed packing up and meeting new people, seeing new places. Or even heading to a client site where I had been a hundred times before just to see how everyone was doing, maybe take some folks out to lunch and chit chat. 

There was plenty of work involved for sure. I never really got to do any site-seeing in any of these cities. Every once in a while I might fly in a night early or stay a day late to go do a touristy thing or two. But I never had this full day of sites to see or places to go other than meetings and a designated office. 

I think, somewhere in the back of my head, I knew there would be a time when I wouldn't be able to travel around so freely. I may have kids, a job change, get married and not want to 'be away'. I knew that I would someday have real responsibilities and that being able to pack a bag at night and leave the next morning with little concern would not always be an option. I also realized that this travelling lifestyle would grow old and I would probably not have fun doing it forever.

Aaron has never had that kind of travelling job before. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on the day and how you look at things - he has that kind of job now. Even while in Brazil he will be travelling a lot and he's none to happy about it.

We talked extensively about what this relocation would bring for our family. A LOT of changes definitely, but a very big job change for him as well. And the biggest issue he has is that he won't be able to see me and the kids as much as he had in Royal Oak.

I told him that the travelling and such won't be every day and it won't be forever. The evenings and weekends here in Brazil are sacred. There is no work email going on at 9pm and no Sunday morning conference calls, so we will make the best of our weekends. We will miss him for sure, but that he should make the most of it. Enjoy your trips. Enjoy meeting new people and seeing new places. Enjoy a full night's sleep without any kid interruption; being able to have a hot meal and drinks with some co-workers (again, no kid interruptions or stress while eating); take some photos and ask around to see what kind of local attractions there are to go see.

Aaron is on his first business trip of our Brazil relocation this week. He left very early Tuesday morning (be back Friday afternoon) in a cab to the Belo Horizonte airport. After arriving at the airport and getting ready to board I received the following text:

'Made it to the airport and getting ready to board. Forgot to get some coffee this morning on the way out, but after my cab ride here, I feel like I won't need any coffee for the rest of the day. I'm sure I almost died about 10 times. Have a great day!'

About 6 hours later when he arrived in Recife, Pernambuco and got to his hotel, I received these photos and message:

"Ahhh. Pretty nice here."

Other than the long hours he's working, I think he IS enjoying some travelling for business this week. Me and the kids are definitely looking forward to his return too!

:)

The WALL of Exhaustion

I was completely hit by the WALL of EXHAUSTION last week; hence, no posts. So sorry! I know some of you may have had trouble sleeping, not being able to read my incredibly amazing posts and all. I am truly sorry. ;)

The WALL of EXHAUSTION is a common expat family event. It usually comes 2nd/3rd week of your arrival, and according to my expat friends, will come back every 2 to 3 months until about 1 year into your stay. 

What is this crazy WALL of EXHAUSTION you ask?

Well, it's basically your brains way of trying to compensate for the overwhelming amount of new information it is trying to process. 

New language, new driving routes, new walking routes, trying to discern what food looks like and what it might really be. Where to shop, where NOT to shop. What clothes to wear, which ones NOT to wear, and if you really care about what you are wearing at 5:30 in the morning anyway. How to get children from Point A to Point B in one piece and at the correct time, in their uniforms, with school work completed and intact. Keeping your toddler from running into the street and simultaneously giving the biggest B*&CH stare you can muster to the dude that just drove his motorcycle up on the sidewalk about 2 feet away from said toddler. Reminding children that hotel beds are not trampolines, but actual beds, and that I don't know where the nearest hospital is so 'Please don't jump on those beds anymore or I will break your legs!'

Seriously. I said that. Out loud. LOUDLY.

Doesn't make any sense, I know. But right after I said it, I locked myself in the bathroom for a timeout. One of my friends reminded me to stash chocolate and wine in there for next time. DUH! How could I have not thought about that before?! GENIUS!

Needless to say, last week, ALL of us were in bed a tad earlier than usual. When I say 'tad' I really mean that I was falling asleep with the kids about 8:30-9:00. 

Again, my apologies on the lack of posts. I promise to make up for it in the next few days! :)

Meanwhile, enjoy these videos of over tired kids at the Belo Horizonte Applebee's. There was some seriously great 80's music playing and Izzy and Max felt the need for dance. Char was in the toy room watching Brave. She was D-U-N with all of us.

Dancing Fun 1 and Dancing Fun 2

Backyardigans Say Whhhaaaatt?

Max is enjoying the language too! He is so worldly...at 2 1/2.
Little does he realize that as he watches kid shows to learn the language, so am I ! :) Check out his version of the language we are learning at the link below.

Max, how are they talking?

I DID not expect Max to be the first one with homesickness. :( After watching a video of everyone in the snowy backyard of Royal Oak, he began asking where Zoe is at, and that he wants to go see her.

Then he said it.

"Momma, I want to go home."

Pay no mind to the crazy nap time PJ's he's wearing. The kid's all about comfort.

Dining Out in Brasil

I loved eating out as a single or DINK adult.

I enjoyed the no-prep, no clean-up option of it. Another person bringing me a warm (or cold) meal and some wine...YUM! Chit chatting about the day, or enjoying the silence of a meal alone. It was a little slice of Heaven on earth. You could eat as fast or as slow as you wanted. JOY!

Nowadays, I am pretty much over it.

Why, you ask? What could possible eliminate the joys of eating out?

1. Three kids 7 and under cannot act like regular humans in a restaurant setting.

2. A single parent trying to manage this situation is completely overwhelmed.

3. When trying to herd the above mentioned cats...er, uh...I mean children, the adult really doesn't get a hot OR cold meal. Typically the adult gets some sips of someone else's water and a bite of someone else's dinner.

4. Now do all the above without knowing the language.

5. Now do all the above without knowing your surroundings.

Yeah, I'm complaining about it. I know, this lap of luxury that some of you might dream in your mind is absolutely the best thing EVER.

Let me paint my dinner situation for you tonight.

About 4pm the restaurants start getting busy. Folks start leaving work and heading home or heading out to eat. So my goal, as a single parent to feed the three kids, is to get some where by 4:45 so that I beat the rush, and with any luck we are in and out of there before A TON of people start smashing into the place.

I want to branch out a little bit. So I want to try a new place every other night.

Tonight, me and the brood start walking up the main drag, past our comfort zone and into new neighborhood territory. We pass a couple boutiques, a bank, some other stores that I don't know what they do...and happen upon a pizza place. 

MONEY!

AND - they are practically empty. EVEN BETTER!

We go in.

I try to figure out how to order a vegetarian pizza with basil (napolitano here - AMAZING GOOD!) and then something else with meat. I cannot understand the menu and two of the three kids are arguing about dessert, the third is throwing a tantrum because I don't have the kindle out and operational prior to sitting in a seat at a table.

I get water with bubbles for everyone. 

One kid doesn't want that, they want the non-fizzy water.

Fine.

Order a non-fizzy water please.

Manage to get four pieces of napolitano pizza ordered.

Complaining from the little people begins.

"It takes too long to get food around here."
"No one even gives me paper with crayons. What am I supposed to do while the food is supposedly coming?"
"Why does Max always get my kindle?"
"Why do we have to have pizza?"
"Where is the bathroom?"
Etc.

I can honestly say that at this point we have been in the restaurant a whopping 8 minutes - no joke. I looked at my watch.

The Pizza Man comes and delivers our slices. I promptly beginning cutting up these HUGE slices for two of the kids while simultaneously discussing the meaning of pizza and where it really came from in world history with the other kid. 

One kid wants everything off of the pizza except the cheese, even though she ate the whole thing and loved it the other day at a different pizza joint. 

The third says, "Me can't like this" which is also code for "I'm not taking my eyes off this kindle lady, so you mind as well stop pushing the food."

Everyone also only has regular real glasses half filled with water. So there is THAT to contend with as well. 

What I didn't realize is that this pizza joint is so cool! They cook these giant pizzas in a wood-fired oven then come around to each table and in Portuguese say something that I think means, "Would you like a slice?" You say "Yes please" and they scoop it onto your plate! GREAT!

[Truthfully, by the end of this ordeal, I think the woman was really saying "Would you like to get the hell out of here now please?" but I'm not 100% sure on that.]

So once I realize this - SWEET! When they bring around this pizza that looks like spaghetti meat on top of this cheesy bread thing, we'll grab one!

Spaghetti pizza looking lady comes by and my Meat Eater kid is all over it.

Literally.

Utensils fall to the floor, the slice is placed on her plate and she is full bore! Both elbows on the table, face about 3 centimeters over the plate, all hands involved, CHOMPING on this pizza.

Spaghetti meat is flying everywhere. On her, the floor, the table, her siblings...like Pig Pen, but with pizza. 

Of course, there has to be a bathroom situation as well. This restaurant has a one bathroom room kinda gig so I send both girls in together which promptly causes fighting and thrashing around, so loud that other patrons are looking. Only one comes back to the table.

"Where is your sister?"
"I don't know. She said I had to leave."
"What do you mean you don't know?! Is she still in the bathroom?"
"Well, yeah."

Some time passes before the third kid returns to the table. Finally, she appears.

"Are you ok? Do you need help?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It is just a different kind of bathroom. And it was a little smelly. And I wanted my privacy."
"THIS is why I ask you a thousand times to go to the bathroom before we leave the hotel!!! OK!??!"
"OK! OK!"

Then, I go to try and say that I'd like two pieces of pizza to go so Aaron can have some lukewarm pizza back at the hotel when he returns from work. 

A WHILE later, I've figured it out.

By this time, the little humans have lost all interest in food and are completely done 'behaving'. Too much time has passed and I realize we are now in total meltdown territory. I need to get the check - STAT!

I flag down my waiter and get the check. Give him my credit card to which he gives me the little Cielo machine and I work the numbers all in. Everything prints out and I'm signing. 

Suddenly a clatter.

Whilst playing a game on the kindle, a glass of water has fallen.

The little toilet paper napkins aren't really sopping up much, but all of us are trying. The waiter calmly puts his hand on my shoulder and nods, "We got that. Don't worry about it."

"What a nice man," I think.

...as the second glass goes down.

Awesome.

Here's your signed stuff, grab my box, my little humans, the kindle, and WE ARE OUTTA HERE!

Oh wait...the littlest human has a rock in his shoe and must sit down in the middle of the front door to remove it. The other two decide it is time for their flailing arms and body dance routine, also near the front door.

Great.

We'll never be going back there again.

Bummer.

The half inch x half inch bite of napolitano and spaghetti pizza I tasted was really good.

WE GOT THE CONDO!!!

I think that between our trip in October 2014 and the first 2 days here in Brazil just last week - we have seen 12 different condominium options. It has been a blur! 

Last Thursday night, we landed on one of two options. We went back and saw both of those again on Friday and decided on the more resort-ish of the two. Much to Aaron's dismay, this is also the condo community where Char and Izzy made a friend on the playground. An Italian little boy in 4th grade at the girls' new school! [Literally we left them on the playground for less than 10 min while standing a short distance away talking with the real estate agent.]

We put a bid in on the condo and crossed our fingers.

Today, we found out the condo owners have ACCEPTED our offer! We couldn't be more excited and the girls are ECSTATIC! Everyone gets their own room and bathroom (except when visitors come, as worked out by Izzy and Char while looking at the condo. Visitors will get a bedroom suite and Izzy will bunk up with Char.). The square footage of the place is a bit smaller than we'd like, but the amenities at this place are RIDICULOUS!

The short list:
1. Indoor pool
2. Two outdoor pools
3. Super AWESOME play area for kids!
4. Full fitness center
5. Dog park / that's where kids will ride their bikes park
6. Outdoor tennis courts
7. Indoor tennis court
8. Theater room to use for movie night
9. Kid room
10. Teen room
11. IN HOUSE SALON with full hair, mani and pedi's available!!!
12. Massage area for appointment
13. Party rooms to rent all over the place
14. BBQ areas
15. Wine tasting room

...and the list goes on!

WE ARE THRILLED!!!

That is Phase 1.
Phase 2 is getting our 'stuff' here via air, boat and truck. 

Rejoice in the small victories! :)

Lots of photos and a short video below. It doesn't look like we really took pics of the bedrooms except the one photo with Izzy posing. But Aaron was sure to capture me saying I would use the built in granite ironing board to iron his clothes...well, let's be honest. That's where the housekeeper will iron his clothes once I figure that all out! ;)

Condo Photos Here

Aaron's glorious YouTube video of our place here.

I'm in the process of figuring out all this Picasa3, YouTube, and Google+ garbage. So please bear with me until I learn how to embed the information in the post itself.

If you can't access the links, please post a comment as I have NO IDEA if the stupid sharing stuff is working. I might have to go old school and just put the photos in a long line on the blog post - ugh! So annoying! Google+ and Picasa STINK!

A Day of Firsts

Aaron's first day of work, the girls first day of school, Abby & Max's first day hanging out by the pool while everyone else did work...

It was a big day! :)

Quotes from the Day of Firsts:

Char: Mom. The hot lunch here is way gooder than anything we've eaten in this whole place so far!

Izzy: Mom. The hot lunch is definitely better than any food at the hotel. AND we get dessert! 

Max: It's even MMMOOORRREEE Happy! This is great! [whilst viewing the Happy video by Pharrell for the 100th time.]

Abby: Hey Aaron, what was the best part of your first day?
Aaron: Eating my Lay's potato chips with a knife and fork.

Our Driver, after we all picked up the girls from school at 3pm: I'm sorry. I cannot drive tomorrow, ok?
Abby: Uh, is there someone else coming to drive tomorrow?
Driver: No. You will be ok, ok? Aaron will have a car. You can drive that.
Abby, thinking in head: So how is Aaron supposed to get to work tomorrow? Huh. Guess this is one of those things we'll figure out!

Izzy: Char has more homework than meeeee eeeee! Oh wait, do I have any homework?

Char: Mom. My friend Ethan is going to Karate after school [picture Char giving some stellar karate moves in the air]. Classes are here at the school! How come you didn't sign me up today?
Abby: Wow! That's great! I didn't know they had classes here. I'll look into that tomorrow.
Char: Yeah, but how come you didn't look into that TODAY?!
Abby: Because you just told me and most of today is already done...?
Char: That doesn't seem like a good reason to me.

Max, very loudly across the restaurant: More beer puuullllease!
By the way, Max's beer is the fizzy water. We've come to realize that he loves this stuff and pretty much drinks it non-stop. The belching factor may be one of the reasons he loves it so much...but still to be determined.

Abby: Have you heard anything about the condo?
Aaron: Yes. Fiat HR sent a letter.
Abby: Annnddd.....?
Aaron: I guess when they answer the letter we will know more.
[Later tonight I will try to figure Aaron's answers out with my Secret Orphan Annie decoder ring.]

Most hilarious moment of the day (at least in my opinion) was near the pool. 

Our hotel has a small outdoor-sey area near the pool with some tables and chairs. The gyms and surrounding workout areas are under construction except for one area. I found this little gem of a spot this morning and took Max out there to work on color painting and baseball. After we all got back to the hotel from school, I thought it'd be great for us to go down to the same area and do homework, hang out, and run around a little bit.

Max was on the far deck area maneuvering his cars about and getting ready for my first pitch; Char and I were at one of the pool tables doing her homework; Izzy was on a chair nearby reading. 

All the sudden, every single sprinkler they have in this place rises like a Phoenix out of the ground, hisses, and starts shooting water with pretty amazing force! 

I begin collecting all homework and electronics frantically out of the misting areas near the table. The girls drop what they are doing and run full force INTO the nearest sprinkler area. 

Max stands on the deck, about 12ft. away from me screaming and crying his eyes out while a sprinkler is aimed right at his shins.

If I wasn't so busy getting the darn Kindles out of the way I would've taken a photo. 

All the Portuguese folks working out at the gym (behind glass) are laughing hysterically at us. 

It was quite the funny moment! From that point on the girls were just soaked from head to toe. Eventually Max was convinced that the sprinklers were not sabers of death and he too ran around and got 'damp'. Still not comfortable enough to run through them and get really wet...but misted only. :)

Below are some pics of the day!

First Day of School - Nice

First Day of School Silly

More silly.

Picasso by the pool.

Say 'Cheese!'

What do you do for fun? Portuguese language lessons of course!

Brasil is under our feet!

Long plane rides stink.
No matter how you look at it or what you think, or how you justify it in your mind. At the end of the day, long plane rides are just the pits.

Yes I know, I know. 
It IS amazing that we can fly through the air and within a matter of hours be in a completely different part of the world.

Those hours in a small space, with your knees all cramped up and not really fresh air, and those yuck bathrooms to use, and let's not even talk about the last time anyone actually pulled out a Clorox wipe on ANYTHING inside that airplane!! (GACK!)

The Joy is when you land. And your destination is finally under your feet.

THAT is the reason we endure those long hours in those crazy conditions on that plane. THAT is the reason we work all year or plan for months on end OR clean out your basement and move to another continent. ;)

After a long plane ride with super tired kids, and weird 'food' and lots of germs we are FINALLY in Brazil.

It is HOT. And sunny. There is neigh a snowflake or ice patch in sight. And it is probably one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen!

Thankfully, Aaron and Fiat arranged for a small van to pick up our luggage, and another car to transport us to our hotel. It's about an hour drive from Belo Horizonte Airport to the Belvedere neighborhood where we are staying. 

Let me paint a picture for you readers out there. 

1 week of vacation in Florida.
4 hour drive to Miami Airport.
Midnight boarding to an 8 1/2 hour flight to Brasil.
Minimal sleep occurred on said air flight.
Land in Portuguese speaking country.
Despite not sleeping, neither Aaron nor I learned Portuguese on the plane.
Gather ALL our luggage and children (12 checked bags, 8 carry-ons and 3 VERY tired kids)
Head to customs.
LONG line.
Hunger.
Exhaustion.
Heat.
Tired kids.

Get an idea of where I'm going with this?

Now add an hour ride in a car to our hotel.

Let's just say that the kids were a bit unruly in the car on the way to the hotel, and it is possible that I may have had some words with them. These words may have been very harsh and leaning towards life-threatening if you could imagine such a thing coming from my mouth. ;)

These photos were clearly taken before total craziness started in the car.

You can tell from the blur of the photos, that Aaron is too exhausted to hold the phone steady. :) Izzy and Char are the two little heads wwwwaaayyyy in the back...that's where the first of the fighting erupted. :(

Driving in Belo Horizonte

Navigating around a new city is always exciting. Whether by foot, train, or car you just never know what is going to happen. And of course, you are scared to get into 'the wrong part of town' by accident.

Thankfully with GPS and all that stuff it is a bit easier to get around places. GoogleMaps gives you walking directions for Heaven's Sake so how much more difficult can things be?

Oh - there's barely a street sign visible you say?

Yup, THAT would make it more difficult for certain.

Oh - you want to have the GPS lady say the names of the streets in Portuguese, but she doesn't know Portuguese, and neither does the person following the directions?

Yup, THAT would make things interesting for sure.

Oh - you want to give someone a manual vehicle to drive in a city BUILT IN MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS?

Yup, THAT would surely make for an adventure.

LET'S DO THOSE THINGS! THAT SOUNDS GREAT!

So Saturday, Feb 28th Aaron (who can thankfully drive a stick like a PRO!) drove our whole family to school to view the science fair and hang out with folks in a stick shift vehicle, using GPS, with only me and the GPS Lady trying to guide him. 

We made it safely to the school and back, and had a wonderful time!

...and on Monday, Aaron will be switching out this vehicle for an automatic. Abby doesn't do manual drive. And I'm sure as H-E-double hockey sticks NOT going to learn here!!