A Perfect Day in Brazil

Yesterday we woke the kids up early and hauled them off to Itiquira Falls, the highest accessible waterfall in Brazil.  It was about 90 minutes outside of Brasilia, if you didn't stop to get lost, like we did. We made a wrong turn in a little town near the falls, but had a great time asking the locals how to get to the falls in our lame portuguese. We just kept following their pointed fingers until we eventually made it back onto the right road. They were having a market day or festival of some sort, and it was all I could do to keep Mitch from buying a few chickens:

Our one regret of the day was not having enough time to explore the market, as we had to get back to Brasilia to attend a bbq and Jack still had a lot of weekend homework. Eventually we made it to the falls:

 The boys wanted to swim in the pool at the top, so we climbed all the way up, getting completely drenched from the spray, and found a trio of Brazilian, um, couples.  Having some private time in the water. Henry saw a boob.

So, we traipsed back down to the next level. Only Jack was brave enough for this icy cold, churning pool. See his little head in there?

The next level down proved to be the best for families.  The kids had a blast swimming and trying to keep pace with the current.

Jack challenged Henry to jump off the rocks:

And with a little boost from these lovely Brazilians, he made it up to the platform.

WOOOHOOOOOOO!

The girls wanted to try, of course, but the Brazilians wouldn't hear of it. Because they're girls. Despite the fact that Olivia is twice as strong a swimmer as Henry.  They still had fun jumping off the lower rocks and getting swept into the calm pool, though.

See that cliff? This crazy guy spent the day swan diving off it. He was there with his grandkids. Loco!

We stopped to eat at a local restaurant recommended by some of the embassy families and had just as lovely a time there as we had at the waterfall. There were beautiful gardens to hang out in, a guy singing and playing guitar (and he was good!), and a playground for kiddos to play on in view of the dining patio so parents could enjoy a leisurely meal. That is one of the things that makes me adore Brazil. They love children and will go out of their way to make them happy.

The gardens at the restaurant boasted two of these hammock gazebos, so if you got tired after your leisurely lunch, you could take a little sesta.

 This is Kevin and Miguel. They hung out with our kids while Mitch and I were finishing our lunch.  They knew a few words in English, but they were patient and slow and were able to have whole conversations with our kids in portuguese. They were so adorable and charming and funny, I wanted to take them home. Especially when Kevin pantomimed the word for "twins" in portuguese, which consisted of a lady pulling two babies out of her, um, ladyparts.

A vine-covered dome to hide in.

Most restaurants in Brazil have a little 'cafezinho' station where you can get a tiny cup of coffee after your meal.  This wonderful place also had a Cachaça station, which is the fermented sugarcane liquor used in making caipirinhas (the national cocktail of Brazil). 

It also had a cafezinho station and a station for the kids which was some kind of hot, liquid dulce de leche. It was well-received.

Just look at this adorable blurry enamel cup!

As we were going out to the car from our two-hour lunch (which, by the way, is a typical Brazilian 'lunch hour'), we discovered that the restaurant was giving kids free pony rides. I KNOW!!

Madam Secretary

Mitch's boss stopped by the office today, and she didn't disappoint. She spent time with the kids, or as she said, the "young diplomats, representing the United States in foreign countries", and was generally as fab as could be. I heart you, Hillary Clinton!

 Photo-op with the embassy kids, who were happily playing hooky from school.

That's Henry snapping a photo. She's totally looking at him!


My girls with a role model who's not wearing panties on fire as an outfit:

Um,  maybe someday if you can stop making poop jokes long enough, Henry:

Aw. I'm wearing heels and he's still taller.

Easter

Saturday I woke up pretty grumpy. I'm generally happy with this unconventional lifestyle, but the holidays are tough. No cousins, no laughing with my sisters until my sides ache for days, no grandparents, no good quality dark chocolate.  We took the three youngest to the DCM's (Deputy Chief of Mission to you non-Foreign Service-types) house for an Easter Bunny breakfast. The kids were also missing the traditional egg hunt with their cousins (especially finding eggs with g-strings and cigars in them, thanks to their oldest male cousins). They perked up pretty quickly, though. Our wonderful CLO (community liason office) set up a cupcake decorating station, face painting, and had a fabulous egg hunt.

Sombody really needs to comb that kid's hair.

That kid in the tree?  The one with the real Easter-y Tobasco Sauce t-shirt?  Way too cool to partake in the hunt.

Mitch was only able to stay for a bit and then was off to play in the last embassy softball game of the season (he came home with bruised ribs since I wasn't there to shout "DON'T BE A HERO!" every time the ball came towards him or he was at bat). I found a decent way to console myself as soon as I spotted an unattended baby sleeping in her carseat:

I felt a little better the next morning. The kids loved their Brazilian Easter baskets, especially since they contained items banned in the US, where apparently if you put toys INSIDE the chocolate eggs, kids are too dumb to not eat them.

 A Barbie inside the egg, yo.

We had some friends over for an Easter BBQ. I made some deviled chick eggs I saw on Pinterest. They look like they're drunk, but maybe that's how they get through the holidays. It can't be easy to be a chick on Easter.

I also tried to make Bunny Bread.

 It didn't turn out too bad, although it was a tad doughy in the middle of the belly. Everyone just ate the ears, head, and limbs.

Jack and his teenaged friend filled and hid tons of eggs with American easter candy I'd been hoarding in the freezer and the kids had another pretty good hunt.

I felt much better by the end of the day. I need to remember that staying home, alone and feeling sorry for myself is never helpful, and drinking wine with friends and eating tenderloin always is.

Global Awareness

Last weekend the kids had a Global Awareness Fair at their school. The third graders represented the country of Columbia.  The girls were supposed to teach the crowds a traditional Columbian dance, which Grace practiced day and night. Olivia, not so much. In fact, she woke up three times the night before with tummy troubles and was dry heaving in the car on the way to school. Fortunately, she has a wonderful teacher who is very understanding about Grace getting 100% of the public performance gene in the womb and she was excused. Grace put on a great show for the parents.

Meanwhile, a brilliant group set up a room full of puppies and kittens. They were accepting donations of one or two reais as a benefit for an animal welfare agency here. I gave Olivia a few coins and she gleefully disappeared into the building. A few minutes later, she came out, crying.

"Th-th-th-ey kicked me out because I was in there for t-t-t-t-oooo looooooong!" She was not to be consoled, because, dammit, those puppies needed her. I walked her back to the building, gave the lady at the door a very sizable donation, and arranged for Olivia to be a "room monitor" for the rest of the day, visiting as often as she wished. I checked on her after 20 minutes or so:

A little while later:

And after an hour:

And after two hours:

Meanwhile, while Grace did visit the puppies briefly, she spent most of her time getting an Indian makeover from the teenagers at the India booth:

And eating some delectable international cuisine:

Yep, that's a hotdog.

Henry's class gave powerpoint presentations on a global topic of their choice. Henry chose global warming:

But mostly he just enjoyed all the international food:

I bought handcrafts and stuff at the international booths while my kids were dancing, playing with puppies, and eating.  Mitch was at the school too, but he was playing in the embassy vs. kids softball game. And Jack celebrated Global Awareness by spending most of the day sleeping. The day was a win, with every member of our family doing something they enjoyed.

Moroccan Party

I hosted a little party of about thirty ladies on Friday for an embassy Bunco Night, and since I love a good theme, I decided on Moroccan. It was lots of fun and not too much work, since I had a lot of the stuff on hand. 

All those billowy curtains are just old sheets. Free!

These are the ugly flourescent lights I have hanging down the length of our patio. I wrapped them in tissue paper and tied ripped old t-shirt strips to the bottom to make 'em all fancy:

The bar.  I had one lovely lady come in, squint at the sign and say, "Cash bar?! I didn't bring any money."   And the Cashbar was rocked all night.

I got all the tablecloths for about four bucks each with a coupon/sale combo online, which is about the price of a paper tablecloth, and who doesn't need a bunch of jewel-toned tablecloths, right? I'm sure they'll come in handy some day.

 Table settings were also cheap. Gold chargers, a lantern, gold spray-painted Coke bottles with plastic jewels hot-glued on (still suffering burns from that), and little bowls filled with dates and Moroccan spiced almonds. I didn't put the dates and almonds out until the very last minute, because this is Brazil. Ants and other things would have swarmed.

 If it wasn't nailed down, it got spray painted with gold. Below are Cougar Gold tins and glasses that got the treatment, and those palm twig thingies that fell out of my tree got spray painted too.

Everyone gets a party favor at Bunco, so these lanterns served as both decorations and favors. The presents below were the prizes for the game (a Moroccan tagine, Moroccan tea glass candles, and a Moroccan serving tray). I loved these vintage belly dancers I found on the web.

 I tied Christmas ornaments to the bottoms of the paper lanterns to give them more of a harem feel. Also, because I never know when to stop.

Many of the ladies came adorned in belly dancing or Moroccan flavored outfits, but I had set up a little station for temporary Henna tattoos, bindis for the forehead, and bangles to keep the festive spirit going.

I served Moroccan chicken stew and a lemon-coconut cake, and everyone brought booze and side dishes.  I would love to show you how everyone looked, but I'm just too lazy to blur out all those faces. Instead, here is a picture of my new Brazilian cow rug!