Thursday, May 19, 2011

Jack Quotes

Today Shawn did something that upset Jack. This was our discussion

Jack: "mommy, daddy did it. He is in big trouble."
Me: "up-oh, what should we do?"
Jack: "time out and take away his i-pad."
Me: "I think that is very fitting for daddy."

Today in the car to swim lessons (he hates swim classes):

Me: "Mommy needs you to swim with Tracey and to work so hard so you can swim on your own."
Jack: pretending to snore in the back seat......

I guess it begins......


Jack at my mom's house telling everyone about Mr. Jiggs (my mom's little dog) with his hands in the air as if it is the most appalling thing.

"Jiggs eats poop! He eats poop!"

He was cracking everyone up.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

RIO

RIO
We had a day in Rio before we flew to Iguassu Falls. We drove up to the Statue of Christ. The statue itself is amazing and the view is spectacular. It reminded how much Christ loves each person and how he truly does watch over each of us. Pretty amazing.

Then we drove around in a neighborhood called St. Teresa. That was an interesting experience and a little scary. Partly because we really had no idea where we were going and what we wanted to do there other than we heard it was a cool place. Would not necessarily recommend unless you know what you are doing or if you take the trolley....Then we walked downtown and came across the most amazing restaurant that was an all-you-can-eat pizza and crepes. They even had dessert pizzas and crepes. We all thought we had died on gone to heaven! It was purely deliciousness! After that we spent time enjoying the view from our hotel pool area. We had a great view of Copacabana beach. Then we woke up early and headed to the airport to go to Iguassu Falls.

Christ Statue



View from the statue







We saw this cute monkey who was showing off.


Travis likes his mustard and ketchup


Favelas
I was torn whether or not to do a tour of the favelas but to be on the safe side we decided to forgo the plan. Rio is especially known for their favelas. They are shacks built up on the mountains. The land in owned by the government and I guess they have allowed people to build their homes this way. Rio is an extremely expensive city so the poor people were pretty much forced out of their homes. Since they had no money to commute they built these little shacks on the mountains close to the city. Some are right next to huge mansions. This is information out of our Brazil book. I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the favelas and since they are only "safe" to go in if you are invited by someone who lives there or you can go on a tour. However, we decided to just look from a distance. It makes you appreciate what we have.




Pizza and crepe restaurant. I wish I had the picture of Kristy jumping up and down in front of the restaurant. She seriously said she had dreamed about a place like this in her dreams. She was cracking me up because the whole night she was so happy. By the way everyone there gives you 'thumbs-up' it is kind of fun. You see people doing it all the time. So this place deserved a 'thumbs-up.'


Random: the city is neat because there are mountains everywhere and the city is built between mountains and the ocean.


The juices were yummy!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Brazil

BRAZIL
We went to Brazil for 10 days with our good friends. We seriously had so much fun!



Itinerary:
April 28: 7pm fly to Rio
April 29: arrive in Rio and drive to Buzios
May 2 : Spend the day and night in Rio
May 3: Fly to Igussua Falls
May 5: Arrive back in Rio
May 7: Fly back to Dallas


The flight down to Rio was quite nice. Shawn and I were able to get business class so we had yummy food, watched a movie and then took a sleeping pill that Kristy gave us and slept like babies. I think sleeping pills are a must for over night flights.

Us in our rental car trying to figure out how to get out of Rio.....


BUZIOS
We landed in Rio and rented a car and drove to Buzios. Buzios is a little beach town about 3 hours north of Rio. It is famous for it's quaint atmosphere, pousadas, hidden spectacular beaches and delicious food. They have not let big hotels come into the area so you stay in a pousada which are privately run hotels that contain around 30 rooms. I think this was a highlight for everyone. We loved Buzios and would highly recommend going there if you ever go to Rio.

Buzios is only a 3 hour drive away but it took us about 5 hours to get there because the street signs in Brazil pretty much do not exist. We had quite an adventure trying to figure out how to get out of Rio yet alone how to get to Buzios. Everyone who we would stop to ask directions would say, "take a left, then another left another left and you will get there......" Nobody referred to streets. We finally figured out that if we ask 3 people we can finally figure out how to get somewhere. It was crazy getting to Buzios but well worth it once we arrived.

This was our area of relaxation. We spent most of our time snorkeling, relaxing at the beach, shopping, and eating the most delicious food. We enjoyed a yummy steak house, Italian restaurant, fresh coconut, coconut milk and gelato. We took a water taxi around the bay where we saw lots of sea turtles and just enjoyed the amazing scenery. Kristy and I both bought some fun dresses and jewelry. Here we really enjoyed talking and laughing with our friends. We wished we had a couple more days to enjoy the beach life. We loved the Brazilian way of life.

Relaxing






Food






Scenery












RIO


more to come...

Easter

We had a fun/unusual Easter this year.

To start off the Easter fun we had a friend Easter egg hunt. It was funny because last year Jack was totally into collecting Easter eggs but this year he was a little more social and would follow his little friends around not totally caring if he got any Easter eggs.







Next we decided to fly to Utah for the weekend to spend Easter with my family and also so we could drop off Jack for two weeks while we went to Brazil. Poor Shawn was sick the entire time. He literally spent all weekend on my mom's couch. While in Utah we colored Easter egg's, had a Easter egg hunt at my grandparents house and saw lots of family. My mom was in the process of making a nice Easter feast when I checked on our flight status and realized the 5:30pm flight had been canceled so we had to catch the flight that was literally leaving in 40 minutes. Shawn and I grabbed whatever we needed and left everything else at my mom's house to catch the flight. Luckily we made it on the flight since both of us had to work on Monday. So with all the chaos and sickness it did not seem quite like a "normal" Easter. However, I am so thankful for a loving Savior and for the Resurrection. I am especially grateful for the knowledge that I will be reunited with my all loved ones someday.
Decorating eggs


Easter egg hunt at my grandma's. Please ignore the socks with sandals. Jack insisted on wearing his new sandals my mom had bought for him but it was cold so I wanted his feet to be warm.






My sister got him a fireman outfit and Jack loved it!