Thanksgiving in Phoenix - Part 2

Pics from Aunt Maggie's camera.

Dylan and Steele - hair was styled by their respective sisters.

First sleepover for both Maddie and Sienna.  Up a bit later than usual...

...but they did manage to fall asleep in the same room.  Next - sleepover with Chelsea for Christmas.



Thanksgiving in Phoenix

Maddie and Dylan visited their cousins (Sienna and Steele) in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, a fun week that went too fast!



 

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Kicking off the day

Here's Maddie and Dylan at breakfast time yesterday.  A smooth morning if I do say so myself.  I took this pic before we headed out on our routine visit to the local coffee shop.  On the way there in the car we're at a light and Maddie chimes in:  "Hellllo!  The light's green!" 

I wonder where she picked that up?  hmmmmm.

Look who's walking too

It's just under 2 months since his spica cast came off and he's really getting his butt in gear -- this little guy is non-stop!  He'll climb just about everything and now Dylan's to the point where he can take a couple of unassisted steps before dropping down. 

Time Savings

Too many times I have been witness to, or guilty of, spending way too much time searching for that one last piece to go with a child's toy set.  I've pretty much seen every parent I know do it.  Their kid asks for a piece to a toy that's typically smaller than a quarter, and the parent spends 30 minutes trying to find it!  I've actually seen parents combing the house -- without request from their kids -- trying to find that elusive last piece.  The best part, if your kid did ask where that last blue ducky magnet was AND you actually rediscover it -- they only use it for one minute and move on.  Let's stop wasting our time here!  I'm declaring today,  I will not spend more than one minute searching for a useless toy piece that only satisfies my childrens' toy hunger for 30 seconds or less.  I have written about my efficiency gains when it comes to snapping a picture of my children, now it's on to improving issues that involve (time) waste management. 

Step by step

Dylan has been getting much more comfortable on his feet.  In fact today, he stood up unassisted and even took a step!  That's right, at approximately 1.5 months since the spica cast was removed, the 1Y2M9d old actually took a step!  We were not prepared with camera in hand, it really came out of nowhere -- we'll see if we can catch him in the act with the camera for his next step!

Buy now or cry later

Ok, maybe this is a forced photo -- but it is the first time the two of them shared a cart together.  Tonight we went to Costco in preparation for our move in under 2 months.  Why you ask?  Let's see, currently $1 USD buys you 1.68 BRL (Brazilian Reals).  We snapped this pic at a grocery store in Brazil of a sippy cup, take a look at the price:

Applying the conversion rate:  (34.87 BRL) * ($1 / 1.68 BRL) = $20.76!!  Think about what $21 gets you here in the States.

The reason, if you were wondering, is mainly due to the import tariffs that exist in Brazil -- and applies to most of the products sold down there as well.  Electronics - fuggedaboutit!  They're triple in price. 

So what about the goods made in Brazil, they must be cheaper right?  In some cases yes, however for the majority we came across they just undercut the import tariff price by a few percent.  Example:

An imported product costs $100 after tariffs.  The same type product is also made in Brazil and should only cost $60 after typical retail markup -- however, the Brazilian company puts this product on the shelves for $90 -- and why not!?  They can rake in a much larger profit margin and still be $10 cheaper than the import! 

Problem is, not many people can afford these items -- so who's gaining here?  I could go on forever about this:  Tariffs never work, imports are just as important as exports, etc... but who wants to hear a discussion on economics.  This post is supposed to be about a Costco trip and how it relates to our move to Brazil.

Fact is, we only heard about the tariffs (from just about everyone) and saw it first hand in 3 out of 3 shopping centers.  I guess what I'm getting at here is, we still have to find our way around. I'm in no position to be talking in absolutes on this topic yet either, but get the feeling that finding deals down in Brazil will prove to be quite the challenge. 

Anyway, with no further explanation, we went to Costco today in preparation for our move.

Halloween in WNY

Avery, Chelsea and Maddie went trick-or-treating together.

Visit to WNY

Look at that mop!  He actually got his haircut after this -- pics from the event will not follow though, Dylan wasn't too excited for the cut.

Quick pics from our recent WNY stay.