Sunday, June 5, 2011

Best part of coming home



Jack was so spoiled the entire time we were gone. He had both grandma's and his aunt rachey to spoil him. Plus my cousin got married so all my family flew into town so he even got to see his uncle steve and my cousins, aunts and uncles who all adore him. What a lucky loved boy!

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GG even bought him his own little table.

Last day in Brazil

After Iguassu Falls we had one last day in Rio. Kristy and I decided to go the Sugar Loaf while the boys relaxed. It was a great view from the top.





While we were waiting for the boys there was a school group on a field trip. I noticed they kept looking at Kristy and me. Finally they had their teacher ask us if they could take pictures of us. I remember people asking if they could take pictures with me when I was young and blonde but that has not happened for at least 15 years. I think it was mostly because of my blonde hair which was a unique in South America. Anyways I was surprised they wanted to take pictures with us since we are aging:) Neverless we gladly said yes and I seriously felt like a movie star. All the kids (proably around 20+) wanted to take pictures and they kept saying "you are beautiful" in their broken english. Talk about a confidence booster! When our husbands got there Kristy and I were seriously feeling awesome. Then someone asked Shawn if we were related to Miley Cyrus and Shawn told them in Portuguese that of course we were her cousins. Well all of the kids and teachers whipped out their cameras and started talking more pics. Shawn thought he was pretty funny. I am sure we are some facebook or blog saying we are cousins with Miley oh boy.....


We went to a museum that used to be the President's house. The inside of the mansion was really neat.


We loved the juice in Brazil! So good! Here we are enjoying our fresh juice.




Our last stroll on the beach. The sand felt like brown sugar. We loved to walk along the beach and people watch. You see some interesting things. There was this couple that was cracking us up. They got into the water fully clothed shoes and all. They were having the time of their life. It was seriously really cute. We never got in the water in Rio because everything you read says not too. I guess they dump lots of garbage into the water and it is really unhealthy for you. It is a shame because the sand and beaches are amazing. But there were still lots of people enjoying the water.




The end of our Brazil trip. I have to add that the food was amazing and I wish I had taken more pics of the food and restaurants we ate at. One of my favorite parts about traveling is meeting other people. We met a lovely couple from South Africa that we have stayed in contact. I love meeting people from all over the world. Lastly I have to say that Kristy and Travis are the best travel buddies. They kept us laughing the entire trip. I am already planning our next trip in 3 years (Germany here we come, okay not for 3 more years....). They are very easy going and we loving chatting and hanging out with them. We are seriously blessed to have such good friends. Chow.

Brazilian side of the falls.

We woke up early, eat breakfast and then headed to the bird park. Most of you know that I am not a bird person. I think they are just dirty animals. I can say this because I had to vacuum daily from our cockatoo growing up. However, this bird park was pretty cool. There were lots of exotic birds. It made me want to go to the Amazon. I keep telling Shawn that we have our Brazilian visas so our next trip should be to the amazon. I know wishful thinking.....

We had to take a picture of our birds representing Michigan!










Brazilian side of the Falls
The Brazilian side of the falls were beautiful as well. The experience and views were completely different from the Argentina side. On the Brazilian side you were able to get more of a distant picture of the falls. I am glad we were able to see both sides of the falls.












Argentina side of Iguassa Falls

Iguassa Falls will leave you SPEECHLESS.
There are no real words to describe how amazingly beautiful these falls are. There is a reason why they are rated the best falls in the world. At the top of devils throat Kristy and I both had goose bumps and tears in our eyes. We both commented on how incredible nature is and how God created all these amazing things for us to see. These falls reminded me that nature is very powerful. I would tell definitely recommend that Iguassu Falls be on everyone's bucket list. It is worth the extra plane ride to get there. The whole time we were there Shawn kept saying, "no pictures are going to show how magnificent these falls are." I agree that no picture captured how big and beautiful these falls are and I am not sure a picture could capture the true beauty of these falls and the emotions you feel when seeing them. However, I will post some pics anyway to help me remember a glimpse of what I experienced.

Our itinerary:
Day 1: Fly to Iguassu Falls find our Bed and Breakfast and then eat dinner
Day 2: Argentina side of the falls
Day 3: The bird park and the Brazilian side of the falls and then fly back to Rio.

The fun thing about this trip was that we were able to get a little taste of everything from driving a car to taking a bus, from sharing a room to bed and breakfast, from eating all you can eat meat to eating Maria's food, from city life to nature life. It was all so fun and unique. The bed and breakfast was the perfect set up and cheap as well. Maria treated us great. She cooked an amazing breakfast each morning and set us up with a driver to take us to the falls.

Just off the plane and waiting for the bus to take us to our bed and breakfast. The bus ride was an eclectic experience.


This is the view of 3 countries: Argentina (left), Brazil (right), and Paraguay (back)


Little water falls all over, preparing us for the big falls.


I don't know if you can see the rainbow but there were rainbows everywhere.



A little boat ride to an island in the middle of the two big falls






Getting ready for our boat ride under the falls


A lady gave me this waterproof cover. I was happy to have it.



The boat ride takes you up to a water fall and you seriously get soaked. I wish had a video of Shawn's expressions and words. He kept saying, " I paid all this money for what feels like someone spraying me with a fire hydrant!" He was miserable but all the Brazilians and Argentinans were singing some chant telling the boat man to bring on more water. I was seriously laughing so hard.

Shawn being Tarzan


These animals were everywhere.



On our way to devil's throat. Absolutely amazing!











These beautiful butterflies every where as well.

On the train back to the entrance. A fun beautiful eventful day!