Green!

After three days of rain (sprinkling), the park has exploded with green! I took this picture with my iTouch..... With no touch ups. Crazy huh? I can't wait to see the park after spring!

Tchau,
Sara

Power Out

It's sprinkling here in Rio so we have lost power in our building. Gotta love technology in the fact I can email a blog from my cell phone.

We have our handy emergency lighting (no more candles), margaritas in hand, baby still sleeping, and each others company. I guess we actually have to talk to each other tonight :) instead of watching X-Factor!

Hmmmm. What to say next? Just kidding. Maybe we will actually get a good night sleep instead of watching tv or playing on the internet.

What a way to kick off our three day holiday weekend!

Tchau,
Sara
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Instructions

Apparently reading the instructions to microwave Carmel popcorn isn't a suggestion.

Tchau,
Sara

Que Linda

Que Linda = What Beauty

In other words- look at that pretty girl!

Belle gets this all the time! It's usually followed by a comment about her big blue eyes and blond hair. Brazilians are obsessed with these traits because they are so rare to see in a Brazilian.

I tell Nate all the time that when we return to the States Belle will probably think she is ugly because no will be rushing up to touch her hair! Of course she is beautiful but blond hair and blue eye are way to common in the US for someone to comment about it.

I feel that because of Belle standing out so much we have become well known around Barra! We go to the grocery store and people there know her name :) Anywhere we go inside our neighborhood people shout out to her and even now at the beach people Belle knows come up and say hello.

Just today she made friends with the entire boat coming home from the beach. As we walked alway people were shouting, "Tchau Isabelle!" Ahhh my little celebrity!

Tchau,

Sara

Belle and the doctor

> I took Belle to the dr today for her 1 year shots.... Yes I know it's a little late but that the only time they had open.
>
> Anyway, I told the dr all my concerns and he just laughed at me. Seriously. I'm kinda upset about it. Brazil has this old school medical system where what the dr says goes and nobody questions it. Now I must wait until I visit the states again to address my concerns. Good thing they are not an emergency.
>
> Belle handled things great as usual. I have properly dosed her with ibuprofen and ran her at the park to decrease the soreness in her legs from the shots.
>
> Fingers crossed the night goes well!
>
>
> Tchau,
> Sara

Three Years

Nate and I have now called Brazil home for over three years. I really just cannot believe how fast the time has gone.

Really, I almost forgot about this little anniversary. That is until I began talking to a new expat in the area. She talks about all the problems she is having and going through. The language barrier, the living conditions, the food, the safety and just about everything you can imagine! 

Because of these talks it makes me realize how much we have grown as a family and adapted to Brazil. Things that used to bother me just roll off my back and I keep moving forward. 

The painful transitioning phase passed a year or two ago and now we are settled. The problem is that it takes about a year to settle and you go through so much that you really don't want to switch things up. You figure that you might as well stay for a little while because things might get easy or bearable! 

That is the point which we are at right now. The bearable phase but now I feel that we want a change to something a little more comfortable. 

I am proud of how much we have gone through and I now I really am ready to switch things up a little. I just hope that an opportunity comes along soon before I fall back into complacency! 

Wish us luck that something will come along or that we find a new niche here.

Tchau,

Sara

Belle Feeding Baby

Yesterday I showed her how to feed her baby with a plastic spoon and fork. After my demonstration she promptly shoved the spoon into the baby doll's face and started saying, "mmmmmmm". Hilarious! I wanted video but she took it all to her room so I snuck up on her! Notice in the video that after she sees me she puts the spoon in her mouth so she can pick up her baby and carry the fork.... she is wanting to go behind the curtain with all of it!!!




It reminds me of this video taken when she was little and we were feeding her! She now always says, "mmmmm" when she is hungry too!



Tchau,
Sara

Beach = me time

Every time I drag Belle to the beach I get some me time! It's really a win win :) now I can finally finish my book.

Tchau,
Sara

Military or Police

On the way home from seeing a friend that just moved to Rio, Belle and I ran across the police or military. I really think they are just the police....

I also wonder what they are doing in my neck of the woods. Usually you can see them more toward the city center or on the outskirts of the city. There were like 5 vehicles with armed men traveling down the street.

I probably should have taken a picture and one of the guys actually was watching me! I tried to pretend I was texting :)

Ahhh things you see in Brazil!

Tchau,
Sara

Dressing herself

She may not want to wear bows but she loves shoes and her tutu!! She brought these items to me after she tried and failed to put them on herself!

Tchau,
Sara