Easter Time!

Easter in Brazil differs quite a bit from Easter in the US for me. In the US I wake up and go to church with my family then either go to breakfast or cook at home. Either way we spend time together. Here in Brazil I don't have a home church. There are several 'Life' churches and one Catholic church that I can walk to but no Lutheran or English speaking church. Therefore I rely on self study which I lack the self discipline so it really ends up being no study.

This year I thought Nate and I could find out a few interesting differences for the commercial side of Easter. Everyone knows that in the US for whichever holiday it may be, every candy maker has a special marketing strategy. The decor of the bag or the wrapping of the candy itself invites consumers to buy their product. Brazil works a little different. I haven't really noticed anything special for any of the holidays except for Easter....

You can walk into any grocery store and there are these foil wrapped eggs hanging from a scaffolding like set-up. Nate cannot fit under these displays which makes me laugh as I glide under the display. Actually it's more like I elbow people around and stumble out not knowing what just happened!

Saturday we bought a blue egg for Nate and a pink egg for me just to try out. Which I had to send Nate into battle to get since I could reach- haha. Jokes on him!

On Easter morning we unwrapped our eggs :) Fun right? 

Since neither of us our big chocolate fans the whole thing ended up in the trash.... If you were a kid though I could see loving the egg and the little toy. 

In the end we won't be buying over priced candies next year! I know that there is more to the holiday in Brazil than these candy eggs but really as an outsider it is all you would think mattered. A friend of our even bought his whole office eggs because they were working on Good Friday. He said everyone went nuts. I take it as a throwback memory to childhood! Everyone wants to be a kid every once in a while.

Tchau,

Sara

Fruits

From right to left

Mamao- papaya
Manga- mango
Maracuja- passion fruit
Caqui- not sure the English word for it.

The fruits in order have slowly become a craving over the past year and a half. It started with the papaya now I can't get enough of the passion fruit. Today I bought the caqui because I am thinking I need a new obsession. Plus I think they are in season because they are everywhere and very cheap. I will let you know how it goes!

Tchau,
Sara

Good/Bad

Our trip home turned out to be a little bit longer than expected so I am going to map out the good and the bad for each of the little events :)

Tuesday 19th at 6pm-
Good: Arrive at the airport with all our bags fitting in the car
Bad: Continental charges us for the car seat because I don't have an infant with me- Pregnant doesn't count. I will be calling them about this.

Good: We only had to pay 100$ per extra bag, 200$ total because we bought our tickets in February. The prices elevated to 200$ per extra bag the past week! Ouch!
Bad: After going through the check-in process we find out our flight is delayed 12 hrs.

Good: Continental is giving out hotel vouchers and food vouchers. Not to mention we don't have to drag all those bags around town again.
Bad: Back to the hotel. No extra clothes and no bathroom stuff. We are going to be some stinky beasts by the end of this trip home.

Good: The hotel has a shuttle at the airport and a decent restaurant to eat at.
Bad: We have to wake up at 430 am to get back to the airport.

Wednesday 20th at 430 am

Good: I wake up first time with the alarm.
Bad: It was set to Brazilian time..... 2 hrs ahead so it was really 230 am. By the time I fall asleep it's time to wake up again.

Good: Shuttle to the airport left on time.
Bad: Shuttle broke down and a new one had to pick us up- delayed maybe 10 min.

Good: The flight leaves at 645 am and will be easy for me to walk around and not feel so tired being prego and all.
Bad: We realize that landing in Brazil at 7pm is a little late to be driving back to Macae. Not to mention against new company policy. We need a hotel.

Good: Flight goes well
Bad: Only breakfast and dinner were served..... and you could tell it was from the day before.

Good: I am pregnant so we got to cut in front of everyone in immigration
Bad: We had to wait close to 40 min to get our bags from baggage claim

Good: Customs didn't stop us
Bad: Nate loaded me down like a pack mule to play the pathetic pregnant woman carry too much stuff. I guess it worked. Now Nate thinks he is invincible with customs.

Good: Our car started after sitting for 20 days
Bad: I realize how hot it is here and its 8pm at night.

Good: All of our bags fit.... somehow
Bad: We have to drive 40 min to hotel.

Good: It's the Sheraton and we have all our bags!
Bad: I just want to be home.

Thursday 21st 830 am

Good: I wake up in time for free breakfast! Yummy fruit here I come!!!
Bad: The breakfast lady knows me.....

Good: It's a beautiful day
Bad: It's a holiday

Good: We leave after lunch
Bad: So does everyone in Rio

Good: Nate and I didn't kill each other
Bad: It took us 7hrs to get home

Total travel time: 49hrs


I will write more when I have energy!!

Tchau,
Sara

Bags

Six bags... Check (2 bags apiece for free the other 2 are $$$)

Under 70 lbs each.... Barely

One car seat box... Check (free!)

Ready to go!!
Tchau,
Sara

Good Byes :(

We originally planned on leaving this past Sunday but Nate had some meetings so we had to extend our stay. This helped out tremendously because the suitcases needed some organization. My expert packing skills allowed me to get everything we acquired in Houston into the same overstuffed suitcases we came here with. I have my Grandmother to thank for that. All the clothes rolled and into little ziplock baggies.

A list of the things we are bringing to Brazil for Belle:

1. Tons of clothes 0-9 months ( I am amazed at how much she has now!)
2. Car seat plus all the little things that go with it- mirror and toys.
3. Swing
4. Bassinet for now. My parents are bringing the pack n play after she is born.
5. Breast Pump- Who knew this thing would be that expensive and heavy?
6. Teething toys
7. Bath stuff
8. Baskets and decor (It fit so I am bringing it!)
9. Not sure but more stuff....

Wish us luck as we weigh our six bags...
Tchau,
Sara

Belle's Revised Bag

Tchau, 

Sara

Next Top 5

Here is the other part of the Top 10. I really had so much fun doing this! It makes me excited to pick up my new camera and take tons of photos :) Just in case ya don't remember I purchased the Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100 and I have already looked up some classes online. Of course some courses cost more than the camera itself so I will be sticking to something a little more basic. Plus I have heard that youtube also has tons of instructional videos... who knew? I even bought a book with ideas for photos or projects. By the time that Belle gets here I won't have to think twice about what settings are what in my camera. Good thing is that I already own a Canon so the settings are pretty similar :)

We have one more Baby Shower to go to today with all our friends in Houston. Nate's pretty pissed that he has to go but he needs to remember that once Belle gets here he will be out numbered all the time. Unless we have a boy next he better get used to girly stuff fast! 

Tchau,

Sara

Overwhlemed?

Each time that I walk into a Babies R Us my heart races and I quickly find my nearest exit. I just can't seem to take the overwhelming feeling of needing everything the advertisers press on the consumer. Seriously? I need to have the bottle warmer or I will never get my milk warm fast enough for the baby. What about the special trash cans or the pacifier holders. Not to mention millions of different brands claiming several different life changing qualities. I have officially checked out.

My child will survive despite lacking the latest and great technologies. I mean how else did women raise kids 20 years ago? Belle will be loved and we all know from the mandatory psyc class, that in the classic Nature vs Nurture, Nurture won. 

I can't say that I am sad about this revelation. If we had never left the US, I could totally see myself stocking up on several types of this and that or random crap and spending tons on money. Now that I have only bought the basics I feel that maybe having a kid won't be as expensive as we originally thought. 

Thanks to family and friends there really hasn't been very much for us to buy. Add that to 100% coverage medically and you have yourself a great situation to be in! Ok. I think that I am ready to move forward stress free. Actually I am a little worried about getting all of this stuff home. I am not ready to think about that right now. Sunday we can talk.

Tchau,

Sara

First Day Top 5

Here are my top five favorite photos from the first day. Keep in mind that these are unfinished and a little photoshop might change a few things for the better. Even without the photoshop I am pretty impressed with Natalie's skills!

I will post the top 5 from the second day tomorrow! The files are just so big that they take forever to upload. 

Tchau, 

Sara

Photos Lately

The wedding couple from Saturday! We love you Bryce and Lindsay.

The menu at Brennan's! The Turtle soup was amazing.

 The beautiful flowers!

 Me with the Bride... I was mad that Nate didn't get my belly in the photo :) Oh and the dress made it through 10 hours of fun!

 Our one photo together... of course you can't really tell that I am prego.

 The two of us with the wedding couple. Nate was the sweaty guy and you can tell because of his cute red cheeks! Makes you want to pinch them! As for me I was freezing the whole time. I keep waiting for the pregnancy heat to kick in but it has failed me this far.

 With Kari.

 Pics from last night with our new throwback teeshirts. Too bad we lost but it ended up being a good game.

 Nate posing like one of my pregnancy photos... the belly is almost the same size! For those of you who think that I talked him into this you are wrong. He came up with the idea himself and now I can tease him forever via digital proof.

Off to Babies R Us to pick up some random things to bring home. As if we have room.... ahhhh we are in trouble!!!

Tchau,

Sara