Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

A few weekends ago, we went up to the city of Campinas. They have an antique train there and we took the kids for a ride. 

The station played some great samba, and the kids really got into it! They also made friends with some of the other children there and a random cat. 

The trip took us to a different station that had one of the first telephones. On the way back we were entertained by a band with an accordion player, singer, and drum player. The accordion player was amazing and it was super loud and fun.

Yet Clara still managed to fall asleep with all of this going on.

On the way back home, we stopped by the Campinas temple. It was neat--it has a church owned hotel right next to it for those that need to travel to visit. The temple and grounds were gorgeous.

We've also had some wonderful things happening closer to home--we got our stuff!!! We got our sea container with all of our furniture and some other things at the end of February. It has been amazing having things that are actually ours. 

An interesting thing about our move--the day the movers got to our house in Michigan was super stressful. They wanted to pack things backwards of how I wanted to pack them, and I was so worried that things would get put in the wrong place. I insisted that toys and kitchen things go in our air container (the shipment that is only supposed to take 3 weeks) so that we could move into our apartment immediately and the kids would be happy. We had air mattresses, all of our bedding, and towels in there as well. Wouldn't it just be my luck that our air container takes 3 months instead? We got  I guess I am supposed to learn a lesson from this, that planning is all you can do, and hope it works out. 

Also, our couch wouldn't fit through the door. But the movers were super great and brought it in through the window!!

Also that week, my sweet Grandpa Deaver passed away. He was such a sweet man, and I was lucky to be his granddaughter. Peter and I were sealed by him in the Las Vegas temple. He always spoke so sweet to us and was such an example of faith. 

Peter's company was very kind and has a policy that allowed me to fly back for the funeral. I also have some amazingly sweet friends here that watched my kids for me while I was gone.  I flew into Atlanta, got into the car with Amanda and her fam, and drove the 8 hrs straight to NC. The kids were great and it was awesome to see everyone, even considering the circumstances.
Here's the cousins of that side of the family, minus my brother Dustin.

My mom and her sisters:

The funeral was really moving and we got to hear some fascinating stories about my grandpa's life. I felt like I got to know him a little better. 

Amanda's poor boys got sick while we there, so we left the next day to go back to Georgia.
While there, we of course had to get some American pizza at Costco.

I got to spend the next day or two with some of my favorites before I had to go back! We had lots of fun and Steven let us sneak out and have a sister date.

It was so great to visit, but the girls were so happy to have me back. Charlotte sobbed when I left and when we skyped, so she was especially happy.