First day of school

Here's Maddie at the bus stop.  All went well -- got on bus, off bus and into class with no issues.  For a little girl that loves routine, this was a huge (successful) step into life in Brazil!  We peaked into the classroom without her seeing us and it appeared that she was mingling, exploring and already getting a bit comfortable. 

Quick pics

 

 

Ice Cream Break

Week in review

Haven't had much time in the past week to snap any new pics -- I'll have to get on that this weekend.  We do have cars now and finally hit the crazy roads... not too bad, just have to get used to it.  Other than that, Madison starts school in about a week and from that point I'm sure I will have more to talk about.  Dylan's been himself, non-stop action.  Oh yeah, there was one incident.  Last night (around 9pm) we had just put the kids into bed and sat down to relax.  The night before was one of little sleep for the entire family, so getting to sit down at 9pm couldn't come soon enough.  We had prepared a couple bowls of
chocolate/coconut ice cream (which is delish) when we heard a pop noise in the kitchen... followed by the sound of water flowing onto the kitchen floor.  The water line to the fridge burst... 15 minutes later we found the shutoff valve.  We had about a half inch of water on the floor -- no damage -- but about an hour long cleanup session followed (we had two maintenance guys helping us too).  Fast forward 24 hours, now it's relaxation time.

The great outdoors

We were recently informed by our friends down here about the potential for a certain type of spider that could be lurking in a cluster of bananas at a grocery store, cleverly named - the banana spider.  While I rate this as a very low risk threat, it turns out there are other more likely run ins with the Brazilian wildlife that just might occur.  The very family that informed us about the banana spider (and have been living here for ~4 months) had a visitor in their apartment this evening.  Cathy stopped by to drop something off and they had just quarantined one of their rooms -- they live a few buildings over from us on the second floor.  The 2nd floor is right in the thick of the forrest and almost within arm’s reach of the trees.  Their project for the evening -- get lizard out of the apartment.  The critter was apparently over a foot and Cathy had left before they removed the unwelcome guest.  I'm looking forward to the story tomorrow!

We made it

Finally out of our suitcases and starting the move-in process!

Check please!

After one week abroad I already have more stories than I have time to write about. We have been living out of suitcases since 12/21, creatively eating in hotel rooms with two children, playing charades with everyone we interact with (transactional situations being the most interesting) and have had restaurant episodes that rank in at #1 and #2 on the "not so smooth" dinner time top 10 list:

#2 - First two pics above. Dylan was crabbing for roughly 30 minutes straight until his food arrived. We cut up chicken parm for Maddie into pieces and waited patiently for our meals which were to be up shortly. As the waiter is about to place my food in front of me -- Maddie takes her first bite of the meal, which immediately triggered a gag reflex that sent her food back up-and-out on her lap (I was there to make the game winning catch). The waiter didn't know what to do, one thing's for sure -- I could tell by the look on his face that this was a first for him!

....and number 1....

#1 - For dinner one night we decided to try out the hotel restaurant. We arrived at 6pm which is very early for dinner in Brazil (usually restaurants do not start filling up until 8ish) -- we were the first people in the joint! Problem was, they didn't open the main dining room until 7:30 -- no problem, they sat us down in a fancy lounge area, they even put a "reserved" sign on our table! We approached our "reserved" table and were starting to get situated when Madison decides to lean up on the table (maybe even sit on it) -- the rest is history. The table was in two pieces and Madison, who was startled, cried for a minute before she realized nothing happened to her... and that was our ticket into the dining room.  Time spent at "reserved" shattered table: 30 seconds.

Chugging along

Enjoying the afternoon shower. 

Four days in and a few more to go before we move into our new home.   We have spent most of our days here at our friends’ house – they live in the same area that we are moving to. 

Daily weather forecast:  Partly cloudy and 80 from morning until 3ish – then on and off thunderstorms through the evening. 

We're here (there)!

Going.... going...

...gone!

We stopped by Isabella and Alexandra's house before we left.

Hotel 1 - this is one of those (amateur) pics that a new parent typically takes with their first child -- I'm guilty of it.  However in this case I truly was making dinner while Dylan was playing with the pots and pans.  Next thing I know, I turn around and he's ventured into the cupboard.

On way to airport,  all of this luggage had to make it on a plane... and don't forget two carseats as well!

Arrival in Brazil... again note that all of this was transported through two airports (by 3.75 hands)!

Hotel 2 - relaxing.

Enjoying the Summer air... yes I said it, Summer air!

Ha, I just did a spell check and all of my picture captions were highlighted!  My spell check is now run in Portuguese!  I'll work on that later, probably a simple update.... I do not really feel like researching right at this moment.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

3 months after the spica cast was removed and our 1Y3M28d old Dylan is walking around like a pro now! 

Just passing time waiting for our flight in a few days. 

Today we woke up and had nice homemade hotel waffles, went to Starbucks (Cathy and Maddie went in, I stayed in the car with Little D while he slept), went to Barnes and Noble for story time and crafts, stopped in a restaurant for lunch, went to the mall (pics above) and made our usual rounds, then came back to the hotel.  Cathy and Maddie just left to go the movies and me and Little D are hanging out -- he's been passed out for over an hour now.  What will the evening bring us?