What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I know, I suck at updating this blog.  Being chained to a desk and forced to write and do other stuff day in and day out has taken some of the joy out of it (cobblers' kids have no shoes and whatnot), but there's one thing my work blog doesn't have, and that's profanity!  So, I'm back, if only to drop an eff bomb on y'all.

The summer break was loooooong, like six weeks or something, but it may as well have been six months. That jerkwad, Santa, brought my kids a real drum kit and a super-loud guitar amp and Jack decided  it was time to start a garage band. I spent most of the break with bleeding eardrums. Also, teenaged boys eat a lot. It probably didn't help that  I kept making them food to try and entice them out of the practice room.

Because my husband works nine days a week, we didn't go on any vacations, just a few day trips. We spent one day checking out Oscar Niemeyer's famous landmarks around Brasilia. 

 Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida,
or "Church of the Standing Rib Roast"

This is weird, not sure what I'm doing with my hair, but
Grace is definitely rocking her Brazil Look.
Anyway, what is with that fried egg in/on the window?

The National Museum




I call this piece: Four Children: Happy On The Inside

Here we are in front of some of Niemeyer's other buildings on different day:

 We also spent a day in Pirenópolis, a town about two hours away. It's known for it's colonial architectcure and cobblestone streets.  For you Washington State peeps, it's like the Leavenworth of Brazil, complete with river rafting and zillions of souvenir shops. I loved it, and wrote about it here.



These freaky cow-people thingies are all over the town.
Pay no attention to my hair. The humidity was at 90% that day.



There was lots of stuff to buy. That's Olivia on the left with her two friends. 
Guess what they bought?



First Church of Our Lady of the Rosary

 Quaint and cobblestone-y



A real live vaqueiro (cowboy)! You won't find those in Leavenworth.

 On the way home from Pirenopolis, we stopped at a waterfall, because, duh, that's what you do in Brazil on the way home from places. It was very waterfall-y.

And FINALLY, on Wednesday, the children went back to school. Here they are waiting for their corrections officer the bus (it looks like Jack is beating Henry up for his lunch money already-so adorable!):

YESSSSS! Fuck, that was a long break  (You didn't think I would forget, did you?).

Summer Break: Part One Zillion

My kids are still on break for another week (plus a day, but at this point, who's counting?  Me. I'm counting. And eight days is a long time, yo.).  It's the rainy season, so there's not a lot to do besides jump on the wet trampoline.  Still, the kids have found a few ways to keep themselves occupied that don't involve xBox or Netflix.

Meet Karol. She will come to your house and give you a massage or a mani/pedi for a very good price. And yes, I am well aware that moving back to the US is going to be difficult on my pampered little ladies.

 

Click on this pic if you want to see some adorbs polka dot nails.

 

The boys have been super busy doing important boy things:

Other things we've been doing include.....well, I can't think of anything right now, but we've been terribly busy, I know, because I'm pretty tired at the end of the day. Oh! I know. Every day I like to see how many hours are left until school starts (as of this minute, it's 184).  I've also made the happy discovery that if you drop a baked-yesterday chocolate chip cookie onto a  hot nonstick frying pan for a minute, wonderful things happen to it.  It's even better if you drop FIVE chocolate chip cookies onto a hot frying pan, because then, when you are thinking you'd like to eat one more, there are four all ready for you.