Saturday is Running Day

I guess after watching Andy and I leave to go running enough times Lucy decided it was her turn to try. A little over a month ago Lucy asked if she could go running. Ever since then she goes running with either Andy or myself every Saturday morning. She runs a half mile and is actually pretty good. The first time I went with her I was so amazed that those little legs could keep going. I kept asking her if she wanted to stop and walk. Her response is always no. As soon as we leave the gate if I don't start running right away she wants to know why we aren't running yet. Halfway through the run we stop and stretch and then turn around and run back home. It is so cute and brings back memories of running with my dad when I was a little girl. I am sure people look at us out with our 4 year old daughter and think we are crazy parents pushing our kid into sports way too early in hopes that she will one day be really good. But let me assure you it is 100% her idea! It's really cute!

Happy 30th Birthday Andy!!

Well, Andy is an OLD man - a whopping 30 years old! I know for some it may not seem old but leaving your 20's feels really old! And I am glad he can no longer claim that he is in his 20's and I am in my 30's! Although Andy's birthday isn't until tomorrow we have already had fun celebrating it. The kids surprised him with some balloons last Saturday morning. Inside was a message explaining the birthday surprise we had for him. I had arranged for him to go in a glider airplane. I had thought about this for a REALLY long time but was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to leave Brazil as a widow! Given the luck we have had here I felt like that might just happen. However, after checking into everything I felt fine about it and am happy to say I still have a husband! (I did have him give me all the info on I'd need to access our Brazilian bank account and life insurance policy!!) Anyway, Andy had a great time flying and I was happy to finally surprise him. I'm just impressed I kept it a secret from him. I'm not good with surprises and wanted to tell him so bad!

As you can see, Lucas was very excited about the whole thing!!!

Yes, this is a dirt runway!! One of the reasons I felt the whole thing might be a bit sketchy!!

This weekend we also had fun doing a Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) at our house. We had 3 families over and had lots of fun and REALLY GOOD food! You can't beat a Churrasco!

Notice all the smoke coming off the cake - definitely a sign of being old!!!
Not that I am proud of this picture but here is me doing what I do best - cleaning up after the party!! This is one kind of cleaning I love to do!!!

For my Dad

I always think of my dad when I see a cow. I have memories of my dad telling me if he could be any animal it'd be a cow and then he'd make a great mooing sound!! Does anyone else in my family have memories of this or am I delusional? Anyway, these pictures were taken especially for my dad! (Don't you think they are pretty bony cows though? I've decided it's Brazilian because all the cows I see here are extremely bony!!)

A Trip to Brotas

We had a really fun weekend. Andy had Friday off of work so we decided to go to a town called Brotas. It's a place people go to do river rafting, rock climbing, hiking to waterfalls etc. We had so much fun we plan to go again. We of course couldn't do the extreme sports but enjoyed hiking to waterfalls and visiting other places. Our first stop was to a place called "Singing Sand" It was a natural spring with white sand. When you rub the sand it sounds like it is singing. It was really fun. Then we hiked for about a half mile to the picture below. It was here that the kids had a blast playing in the water and Andy had fun trying out a natural rock slide and jumping into a waterfall rapid. The town has tons of different waterfalls you can hike to. It's a really beautiful place with things to do for all ages.

This is me and Lucy in the natural spring with the "singing sand". It was really cool!


After lunch we went hiked to a waterfall and enjoyed standing under it.


Lucas was quite a trooper and enjoyed his first -but not last - hike! He was the only one who didn't get to enjoy going in the waterfall!!

Lucy and Andy hiking to the waterfall
What a DAD!!! He's carrying one baby on his tummy and one on his shoulders - keep in mind it was VERY HOT!! I'm sure people were wondering why I wasn't helping but Andy already had Lucas and Ethan HAD to be with Andy!! Our kids did a great job - at one of the stops they walked about a mile. It was a lot of walking for those little legs!

Lucy Speaking Portuguese

For a long time we have felt like Lucy has understood a little bit of Portuguese. And, other than "oi", "tudo bem", and "chao" she really hasn't been speaking Portuguese. However, we have suddenly realized that she understands more than we thought and is now starting to speak it. The other day I was speaking to our neighbor - all in portuguese of course. She told me how she had to go to the doctor (medico) because her daughter wasn't feeling well. After the neighbor went back into her home Lucy turned to me and said, "that's too bad they have to go to the doctor." She understood that the baby was sick and knew where they were heading. This has happened many times. She listens closely to conversations Andy or I will have with other people -in person or on the phone and then she always asks questions about those conversations indicating she knew exactly what we were saying. Then this weekend she asked Andy if they could play in Portuguese. So, she and Andy began conversing back and forth in Portuguese while they played. Lucy threw out a few terms that I am still not sure how she knew! And today she did the same with me. We were playing house and she was speaking in Portuguese and I was talking in English. She finally looked at me and said, "No mom! We are speaking only in Portuguese!" It is very cute. I know she will forget it all very soon but it is cute to watch.

Ethan's Friend

I try not to leave Lucas and Ethan in the same room alone if Lucas is on the floor. I don't trust what Ethan will do to Lucas. Ethan has a way of appearing to be so innocent and yet when he thinks nobody is looking he can be pretty rough. Anyway, I thought this was funny. One day Ethan began playing on Lucas' back. He would line up all of his toys and watch them fall off when Lucas would move. It was really funny and apparently Lucas was loving it too!

Nap Time

A couple of days ago Ethan went to his room for nap time. A couple of hours later I opened the door just to check on him and he was GONE!!! It made NO sense. I had been in the family room and then upstairs on the computer which is right next to his room. I felt a little panicked. I glanced at the window to see if it looked like someone had climbed in and taken him. Although it would be nearly impossible in this neighborhood that was my only thought - someone has taken him. There was NO other explanation. His room is tiny and he was clearly gone. I ran out to Lucy and asked her if she knew where Ethan was. She looked at me like I was crazy. I went back into his room - called his name and no response. I looked in his closet and finally the only other possible place - under the bed. Sure enough there was Ethan sound asleep on the HARD tile floor. When I asked him why he was sleeping under there he said, "my bed was too full" Sure enough, he had lined up lots of toys on the bed and I guess didn't want to move them!! It was really funny!