This is for Granpa Ken

Thank you Papa Ken for all the horse rides, Hope you have a great Birthday!

Trip to Brazil. Viagem para Brasil

My little family had the opportunity to go visit my home country in October. We had a great time, we stayed in Sao Paulo with family , and enjoyed the company of my Grandma the whole time during our Trip. We left Phoenix on Oct.4 and arrived in Sao Paulo Oct. 5. Our international flight lasted about 9 hours and we had a layover in Texas and that flight was 2 1/2 so we had about 12 hours of flight. It wasn't too bad I made sure I was loaded with baby food bottle and my favorite and best friend "Tylenol". It was great, the little one slept most of the time, she had a little bassinett which was also a plus for flying international, they also gave us baby food on the plane she liked that. We arrived in Sao Paulo and I could vagaly remember some of the places we went it was about 12 years ago since I was there last. SP is a huge city and the most shocking sight for me was all the slums and ghetto but there are nice areas of the city too.My Aunt lives in a very nice neighborhood that felt like we were in the jungle, It was so pretty, it was a gated community and it didn't even seemed like she lived in the city.The one thing that I was also shocked was the way people drive over there, It is insane! We set in traffic there for about 3 hours or so, and the cars are so different. Also the motorcyclist are crazy they drive super fast in between lanes.

On Sunday we had the opportunity to see a lot of family members. my aunt planned a BBQ (Churrasco) and everyone came to see me, I felt like a movie star! We were all treated so well and received so many gifts it was amazing, people that I didn't even remember came and showed their love. G was the highlight being the first Great Grandbaby on my side of the family, Everyone was spoiling her we came home with a whole new wardrobe.

We spend almost a week in Salvador, Ba to see the beach and to spend some time with some family members there, it was beautiful. Then we Traveled to the suburbs of Sao Paulo and went to visit where my grandparents live Rio Claro, and Where I used to live Limeira. I was able to visit with one of my bestest friends in the world and the hospitality from her family was so great I didn't want to leave, I felt like a little kid again hanging out there like I used to, the house that I used to live is still there and looks exactly the same, it was interesting because all the other houses around it looked completely different and were remodeled.

We then traveled back home on Oct. 16 arriving here in Phoenix Oct. 17. It was a short visit, I wish it was longer but it was nice to go back and to remember my roots, Also to teach K a little bit about my culture, it was so nice to see him interact with the people there. EVERYONE loved him he did so well with his portuguese a lot of people thought he was fluent! He enjoyed eating all the different fruits and all the yummy food eveyone made us, me too. G also enjoyed home made baby food my grandma would go to the store and buy her fresh veggies and fruits just to make her food.

I was grateful for the opportunity to go and see how people are happy with the smallest things there. I think that sometimes we get so caught up with everything that goes on in our lives that we don't appreciate the things that we have, like hot water in all our faucets, showers, etc...clothes dryer, Heating and air conditioning. etc... Even though people didn't have some of these luxuries that we enjoy they were so happy with just being alive and working. It was great to feel the love and energy from the Brazillian people.

Halloween

These are our Halloween Pics. Our little munchkin was a Dragon for Halloween, it was so fun we went with the Scooby Doo Gang Trick or Treating. Hubby was dressed as.... humm I dunno... something with a big afro. I was a witch, we also had a back up costume with Baby being a black cat it was cute too, but I think the dragon was the favorite. We enjoyed Trick or Treating so much that Little Dragon passed out after a few houses. It was fun.

Growing up way too fast!

Today our little one turns 7 months. I can't believe it has been 7 months since I've had her she's growing up soooo fast. She has become such a little doll, and she already has an attitude. When she doesn't like something she'll surely let us know. She's so little she's only 12lbs 7oz but she sometimes acts likes she big and wants to roll around and sit by herself etc...She loves playing with her toys, especially her hands and fingers. She LOVES to cuddle, with dad and watch football with him, She loves his arm hairs and tugging on them. She will also put anything and everything in her mouth. She loves to watch us eat and she opens wide when she gets close to food or drinks. I love our little bundle of Joy. I don't know and wouldn't want to know how our lives would be without her. She makes us complete.

Mexico on the 4th of July.

We went to Mexico for the 4th of July weekend. There were lots of firsts that were accomplished on this trip. This was my first time out of the country since the 12 years I've been here from Brazil. First time for our little baby to enjoy the beach, and swimming. It was also the first time we celebrated the 4th of July in a different country, which was weird since It's America's Independence Day! It was a lot of fun. Everyone from the company went. We rented two condos on the beach it was called Sonoran Sun. It was amazing. On one of the condos the married couples stayed in which meant 8 people. In the other condo there were 11.It was pretty hot and Humid there. It was amazing to see the difference of way of living just by Crossing the border. Things were a lot cheaper there too, We went to a restaurant and fed all 19 of us for just 45.00 it was awesome. K-lo and I had the opportunity to rent some Wave runners and go wave running at the beach, it was really fun there were amazing waves it was a fun ride. We also enjoyed the little market stores buying fake name brand sun glasses etc... People were always trying to sell whatever they could, Including fruits In of the pictures above K-lo has a Mango on a stick, he loved it they squeezed a lime over it and added Chile Powder, it was pretty amazing I have to say. Overall it was a pretty enjoyable break from the monotonous work we had been doing. I would love to go back there again.