The good, the bad, and the snuggly.

We have had an interesting last week and a half, full of ups and downs! We'll start with some of the ups.

This is Clara at the park right by our house, Parque de Povo. Mostly I had to put this in because she looks so dang cute! I'm glad I mostly brought dresses for the girls because it is all they want to wear. 

We go to the park almost daily to get out of the apartment so the maid can clean. (Since it is basically a hotel room, the maid comes and cleans every day too. I haven't done many dishes since we've gotten here!!) 

After we get home and have lunch and naps, we usually go down to the pool. One of the days this week though our friends in the room below us invited us over to swim in their hot tub! (And by hot tub I mean lukewarm water tub.) They are a Brazilian couple that went to BYU and has two cute kiddos close to our kids age. It is pretty awesome that they have this on their balcony for now and we are lucky to be friends with them. 

On rainy days we like to get our nails done. It is only 10 reis (about $4) for the kids to get their nails painted, and since we are stuck in a hotel with very little to do I don't mind spoiling them a little. It was funny, I don't understand much portuguese, but I did understand the nail girl telling her coworker that I let the girls get them done every week, silly American. Haha!

 Now for the bad. Friday night while at our park, Charlotte took a spill while running and broke the bone by her elbow. We could tell pretty quickly that it was not just a sprain and took her to the ER. In this picture she had already gotten some medicine and her cast and was in much better spirits. The hospital was amazing and we only had to wait in the waiting room (a special one for kids!) for about 10 minutes. Another awesome thing they did was after someone went into triage, if the nurse thought they were contagious, they made them wear gloves and a doctor's mask. SO smart! We probably had the best experience possible there.

Charlotte had some rough nights, but seems to be feeling so much better. On Monday we went to an orthopedic specialist (that we had to pay up front before even seeing the doctor) who gave us the good news that Charlotte will most likely not need surgery. Yay! She is adapting well at her one-armed-ness. We are hoping it will only be 4 weeks. 

Even with Charlotte's arm the kids and I still go to the park almost daily mostly to get out of the house. Sometimes they don't even get out of the stroller but it is nice to take the walk. And on days when it is hotter than heck they know they might even get a juice at the end!

 More good news this week--our air container has finally arrived! It is so funny to me to think of the amount of care and effort I put into packing some things in the air container and some in the sea when in reality, we will probably get both at about the same time. I feel like a big lesson I am supposed to learn in my life is patience :). We've got another big week ahead of us with Charlotte starting school so you know I will have to post some pictures of her in her uniform!!

And lastly, I drove--without Peter, with traffic--to a friends house. I can't lie, I was pretty proud of myself.

Update

Life being as it is sometimes, we found out our international health insurance does not go into effect until the beginning of next month. We did take Clara to the doctor and they diagnosed her with a throat virus of some sort that unfortunately will continue to give her a high fever for the next week or so. The best we can do is keep her as comfortable as possible with some medicine.  Peter and I are going to see what happens and hopefully we just have the same and can all get better soon.

Never assume, because when you do . . . you know how the rest goes

This has been an interesting week. A week full of highs and lows and also a very educational week.

Let's start off with Sunday. I assumed since the roast I bought said to cook it for two hours that 3 would allow me plenty of time before we had to bring it over to our friends. Wrong! 6 hours total and the thing was finally cooked. Thank goodness for pizza.

On Tuesday we had to drive a couple of hours away to get a special number (like a social security number) in a different city. Our appointment wasn't until Wednesday but we had to stay the night in order to get that number in the city. (We couldn't get it in Sao Paulo because they give preference to the refugees and they have had a huge influx. And we can't get our stuff shipped until we get this number. So it was worth the effort.)
Getting to the hotel we checked in and went up to the room. Surprise--only one bed. We ask the front desk for a different room and they kindly let us know that they do not offer rooms with two beds. They do set up a trundle in our room, though, and after an interesting few hours, we end up with Charlotte in our bed and Clara enjoying the trundle by herself. The next morning we all wake up feeling pretty yucky but dink around for a while until our appointment. We get to the address we were given 1/2 hour early, and,  you guessed it--not the right address. We barely make it to the correct address in time and things gratefully go smoothly. I am still crossing my fingers that our stuff will quickly come!
Thursday we all wake up still pretty sick--sore throats, goopy eyes, bad coughs--but the girls and I need to go apartment hunting. The relocation agent picks us up and we start looking. Clara is insisting on being held as we walk everywhere and her little body gets hotter and hotter as the day goes. She is so feverish and Charlotte is bored to tears. Peter rescues us and sees the last few places with us. Something good came out of the visit--we picked an apartment! More fingers crossed that it all works out.
Tonight we are all just kind of miserably sick and are going to go to the doctor tomorrow. I'm sure once we feel better my outlook will be better too.

Feliz Ano Novo! (Happy New Year!)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! 

We had a very non traditional Christmas this year and had a great time. Our Christmas Eve dinner consisted of one of the best churrascarias (where they bring the meat around on skewers to your table) in Sao Paolo and we ate ourselves silly. 

We let the kids open their present a day early pretending it was Christmas so that on actual Christmas day, we could hit the beach when the crowds were low. Also we haven't had many toys for them to play with since we have gotten here and they definitely needed some. They were so happy with everything they got (thanks Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa, Mimi and Papa, and the Haymores!) Clara was very excited to use her new towel from Santa.

 We went to Guaruja beach (about an hour east) and it was a beautiful sunny day. So sunny, in fact, that we all got awesome sunburns except for our little tan Clara. The ocean was warm and it was an awesome day.

Later that week, we headed to Burle Marx park in Morumbi (a newer area, where the temple is located). The designed of the park (Burle Marx) was apparently a pretty renowned landscape architect. It was gorgeous and felt like a jungle!

Part of the park was an ancient tree that had fallen and was then converted to a play structure.

Here's our extended stay hotel:

The girls decided to do some posing in front. It isn't the biggest, but we get amazing breakfast every morning and a maid that comes and cleans.
There is also a lot of staff (front desk, garage attendants, and security at the front) and they are soooo nice and so sweet to the girls. They are always talking to them and calling them princesas (princesses).

One day the girls and I decided to go get our nails done. For R$65 (like $24), we all got our fingernails done and I got my toes too. The girls were so patient and the workers there, like most people here, were so excited to see the girls and to do their nails. It was pretty funny though, when it came time to do my feet two workers each had a foot on their laps. I was glad I hadn't worn a skirt!

We went to another beach with some friends that same week, Barra do Sahy, that was amazing!! It was in the middle of a cove and had the most amazing sand. The waves were tiny and there were fun crabs everywhere. Pretty much perfect for a family. It was in this cute town and it wasn't too crowded.  

We went with some amazing friends that are working down here and they have two fun kids for ours to play with. I really feel so blessed that we have met them--they have made our adjustment about 100x easier. She also gave us peanut butter, and that officially made us friends for life.

Peter catches crabs almost anywhere we go (haha!)

We were lucky enough to have our meals paid for the last few weeks, and we have been enjoying that. One of our favorites, Rascal, makes fresh pasta daily and makes you fresh juice.

They also make the best cheesecake we've ever had, and they put this yummy guava paste on top. The cheese and guava combo is big here; they call it Romeo and Juliet. It is delicious!

People seem to stay up later here, and as a result we have been too. So we have had lots of snuggle sessions and long naps.

For New Year's Eve a Brazilian family in our ward invited us over. We went to their family members house and swam. We ate dinner at 10:30 and then had ice cream at midnight. The kids loved it and we had a blast too. I only understood about 2% of the night's conversation but everyone was so nice it was fun just to be part of it.

We went to this restaurant Hecho en Mexico (Made in Mexico) that had such fun ambiance and styling. For all you Nacho Libre fans, there were pictures of Luchadores all over the walls and some authentic corn. It was pretty funny though, they brought out each of our entrees 15 minutes apart from each other. The kids got their food, then peter, then me, and then the corn. I think the slow timing of things will have to be something that we just get used to. 

Although we miss everyone, we are having a blast and are all doing well. Hopefully we can find a place to live soon and then we will even better! Tchau Tchau!