Sophie's New Dress

So, I decided to take a few snapshots of our Sophie Love in her new dress.  I bought this dress yesterday at a boutique.  Today, she went to the groomer, so she is nice and clean and white and pretty.  Ok... I can admit that the hat is a little much; it's not really her style.  She is a PINK girl with a lot of SASS like her Mamma!

Paul is a little tired of the puppy wardrobe, but Mamma thinks it is too cute.

Day 21: Home Again

Ahh!  We're home!  We had two seven hour flights home.  One from Rio de Janeiro to Panama City and then to L.A.  We had a wonderful time.  We strengthened friendships, made new friends, experienced the culture, experienced food and enjoyed a second honeymoon while we were in Brazil.   Our trip was amazing and unforgettable. 

We're happy to be home though.  

The next few weeks are going to be very busy with Sara setting up her classroom and both of us going back to school. 

We're grateful to all the families who shared their home with us, who fed us and who spent time with us in Brazil. We love you all!

Now it's back to reality.  Here we go!  

Day 19: Rio de Janeiro

Today was our last full day here in Brazil.  We had a driver take us up to the Redeemer Statue, where we took pictures and enjoyed the view.  The weather today was perfect.  It was about 85 degrees with very few clouds. 

From the Redeemer, we drove to a place where we rode a cable car to Sugar Loaf Mountain.  From Sugar Loaf Mountain, there is an amazing view of Rio de Janeiro; the beaches, the city and the favellas.  We ate an ice cream and walked around the top of the mountain.   

Our driver took us to a mall because we wanted to do some last minute souvenir shopping.  Mall shopping wasn’t really what we were looking for, but I found a really cute dress.  We took a taxi back to our hotel, and right in front of our hotel was a block full of street vendors selling souvenir type things.  Ugh!  We could have skipped the mall. Oh well.  We still found the perfect things to bring home. 

We went to the beach and put our feet in the water.  The sand is so clean and light feeling.  It is a completely different feeling to walk in the sand here than in Cali.  I got a coconut on the beach, and we went back to the hotel. 

We spent some time lounging by the pool until we were ready for dinner.  We ate at a pizzeria. We had to make one last stop before we go home.

We are looking forward to being home and seeing our family.  Tomorrow we will fly out of Rio at 12:00 P.M.  We will arrive in LA at 12:00 A.M. 

Days 16, 17 & 18: From Foz Do Iguacu to Rio De Janeiro

We woke up extra early to pick up Carlos and Fabio at the train station, with plans to go to Argentina to shop for a cuya and bomba (the cup and straw for the tea they drink here).  The two dodo birds forgot their passports, so our plans changed.  We visited a friend of theirs, who served us breakfast.  Then we were off to visit the bird park and the waterfalls.  The waterfalls are so massive and overwhelming; that none of the many pictures we took could do them justice.  It was raining most of the day, which made for a pretty foggy view.  Despite this, the experience was beautiful.  We ate at an Arabic stand, that served a pita bread wrap served with chicken or beef, pickles, onions, tomatoes and French fries.  After resting a while.  Carlos, Fabio and some of their friends picked us up to do some shopping at the street markets.  We found some good deals on coconut rings and a few other things, but for the most part, it’s the same stuff we see in Mexico.  We then went to eat at a pizzeria with this group of friends.  This was a dang good rodizio pizza place!  Then it was off for some sleep.

On Thursday, we slept in and went to an awesome bakery.  We then went to the waterfalls again.  Paul and I walked the path to the waterfalls because it was a much clearer day, which made for some great pictures. 

We took a boat tour to some of the waterfalls. This tour started with a jeep trip through the jungle.  We then walked about half a mile through the jungle to get to our boat.  This was a beautiful hike!  We got on our boat and started out for the falls.  I thought the waterfalls were overwhelming from far away, but it is a complete different experience when you’re practically underneath them.  The tour takes you to the smallest waterfalls and lets you stop for pictures, then up close to them to get drenched!  It was a very adventurous and romantic experience.  We had so much fun. 

We bought a hammock on our way back to the hotel to clean up for some dinner.  Paul was very thoughtful about which hammock to buy because of quality and the way we would have to get it home.  We picked one that is just our style.  I love it.  Oh yeah… our air conditioning got fixed, so our room was perfect. 

Dinner was at a churrascaria that wasn’t so great, but we still had fun.  We walked the mall and then went to bed.

Today, we took some time to make some space in our luggage and do a good job packing.  Our flight for Rio was scheduled for 4:30.  We checked out at noon and did some last minute shopping.  We found a soccer jersey for Sophie Love.  We ate another lunch at a churrasco.  Finally, I found some fried mandioca (yucca root)!      I think I’m ready to be a vegetarian when we get home. J 

Our flight was late, but overall went ok. It was after the flight, at the airport that things got stressy.  Our luggage was delayed an hour because we were coming from a place that borders Paraguay and Argentina, so many foreign items come in people’s luggage and it has to be scanned.  Then, our hammock didn’t get sent out with our luggage, so we had to go track it down.  Paul then had to walk very far to find a cambio to exchange our traveler’s checks.  What a slow start.  We finally got a taxi to our hotel.  The driver freaked me out! 

Luckily our hotel was even better than we expected.  It’s right on the beach and we have a balcony with a beach view.   It is so beautiful!  We walked to a hot dog stand for some dinner and found a little street fair with live music and food.  We ate a fried pastry and listened to music.  We stayed a bit and Paul got antsy because it was getting late.

We’re settled in now and are gonna get some sleep for our tours of Rio tomorrow.  Only two more nights until we’re home.  Yay!