driving home from Utah

Saturday morning we woke up and packed and ate breakfast and said our goodbyes.  thankfully, the drive home was mostly uneventful except for some gorgeous sunset views.  

random rash I found.  was gone a day later when I remembered to check it again.  it's stuff like this that makes me never feel like I need to take my kid to a doctor... too many times, if you wait a little while, I'll take care of itself.

so happy to be able to stretch out after the drive.

kid zone at the library

today was a frustrating day in a lot of ways but luckily not all bad.  honey was supposed to go to South Dakota but his client last minute cancelled his lunch meeting (luckily before honey was on a plane to South Dakota) so he was home for dinner and bedtime instead of being gone.  woohoo! 

Brady took this mirror selfie.

this is a regular computer in the library for looking up books.  Elizabeth thought (or maybe was just pretending... I'm not sure) that it could also be for checking out books so she loaded our books on the keyboard and it was cute to watch.  she's just a funny kid.

also, it's more amusing to me now even though I was severely annoyed at the time that she brought this book from home.  snuck it into the car without me realizing and then managed to sneak it into the library.  and luckily it still came home with us.

Brady did his kid zone craft in record time again.

Abigail strung beads on pipe cleaners for as long as the librarian let her.

even Elizabeth did enough to make herself a little bracelet.

and Brady played with Andrew.  he loves him so much.

funniest part of my day was when honey asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch and I had to tell him that I couldn't because I was going to pilates with Sarah.  how long is it going to take me to not feel like a poser when I say that.  anyone that knows me should understand how laughable it is that I had to turn down costa vida because it was going to interfere with a pilates class at the gym.

and my most grateful part of the day was that my honey got dinner plates for the kids so that when we got home from the library, it was one less thing for me to do and manage with my headache.  thank goodness for that.

honey and brady

honey has been traveling more than usual lately to try to get stuff out of the way so that he'll be in town when i go into labor.  i'm happy to report that today i hit 37 weeks, and as of five minutes ago, honey made it home and won't be traveling anymore until june.

while it's hard on me to have my honey gone, it's also hard on the kids because they normally only get to see him for an hour or two on a normal workday... so not seeing him at all is just depressing.  this week, honey was gone to wyoming from 4am monday morning until 7pm tuesday night.  i kept the kids up so they'd get to see him for a bit before bed.  wednesday morning, he was gone again before 5am to go to salt lake and now it's thursday night and he just got back at 9:45.  it's not terribly hard on me in terms of single parenting because honestly, he's barely around to help out in the evening... just 30 minutes or so after dinner.  but i really really miss just having him around while we get ready for bed and i miss seeing him during the night when i wake up and roll over.  it's hard on honey when he gets home late from a trip because he knows he won't get to see the kids until the following night.  he frequently goes into abigail's room to see her because she sleeps like a rock, but it's not like they ever get to talk and she doesn't remember anything in the morning.  but he never gets to see brady.  which is super sad because brady's always asking where daddy is and running to the garage door every time our washing machine enters a new cycle phase that mimics the sound of the garage door.

well tonight was a huge success.  i took the kids to a graduation party for a bunch of kids at church, and even though it was just at our neighborhood clubhouse and we got there really near the beginning... we stayed late and didn't get home til after 8:30.  i put the kids to bed and while abigail fell asleep instantly... brady stayed awake singing in his crib.  when honey got home and found out brady was still awake, he ran up to see him (even though i told him he was being selfish because it would likely make brady cry... ha).  i couldn't hear anything because they were just speaking softly to one another, but i can't get over the preciousness of my honey sharing that time with brady and then rubbing his back and singing to him again before leaving the room (for the record... brady never cried).  for all the times today that brady said "where's daddy? daddy's in salt lake" it just warmed my heart that brady got to see my honey and that he knows he made it home safely.

my precious little boys.

RIO!

wednesday, 3.4.15 

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early at 5am and threw on our clothes, zipped up our bags, and headed outside to meet our cab to the airport. The airport in foz do iguaçu is really small, so combine that with skipping to the front of the line with my "preferential treatment" for my "condition" and we were at our gate in no time. I loved how compact the airport was because it was barely any walking. Especially when you compare it to the Atlanta airport or something on that scale. I journaled for a while while we waited and then we got on. It was another short flight, only two hours, and I slept for most of it I think. When we arrived, honey's uber account was working and then disabled again (we figured out the problem... It's that we're switching cities too much and you have to rescan your credit card each time when you log in in a new city) so we just took a cab to our hotel. Traffic here is at least as bad as São Paulo so it took about an hour. We're staying on leblon beach at the marina palace. We checked in a ten and they already had our room ready for us. They even said that breakfast was being served until ten thirty so we could help ourselves to that. We hadn't eaten at all that morning because we left our hotel before that buffet was served so it was really nice to be able to catch this one instead of immediately having to hit the streets looking for a place to eat. This breakfast buffet here may well be the best I've ever had at a hotel. I'm sure it's got at least twenty different fruits at the fruit bar and everything I tried was amazing, especially the pineapple and melt in your mouth mango. They even had sliced guava and figs and huge green grapes that were beautiful and delicious. The very best thing they had might have been the bacon though. It was insanely flavorful and cooked to perfection. I normally have trouble eating eggs cooked by people other than myself (especially in buffets like this) but if I ate a bite of eggs with a bite of bacon, it was delightful. Every bite we took, we just kept gushing about how amazing it all was. Then honey and I looked at each other and laughed and he was all "is this actually this amazing or are we just starving?!" because he was reading my mind. Then one of the buffet servers came to our table to let us know they were starting to clean up the food and we should get anything else we wanted. So we both filled another plate and continued to eat and hang out and enjoy the view. Can I also say that they had an entire enormous table devoted to rolls and cakes and breads and sweets and pastries and it even had toppings, with my favorite of course being the dish full of sweetened condensed milk. I drizzled that right over some chocolate bread cake and it was great. They also had chocolate milk and regular milk for drinking (even soy strawberry milk which I was tempted to try but didn't) which was wonderful since their juice was super watered down (probably from the ice melting). The room was full of windows that faced the beach and all of the tables had French flowers and beautiful linens and place settings and I was just downing tons of delicious food and I was in heaven. We'd been at the hotel for less than an hour and it was winning. Hardcore. We went to the lobby to ask questions of the desk people about certain sights we wanted to visit and info regarding any soccer games going on during our stay and they were really helpful. So then we went to our room for a few minutes and we're ready to head out for more exploring. We decided to try the bus system since it had stops all along leblon beach and there was one going right to sugar loaf. Let me tell you, we about melted in that sun in two seconds flat. Holy crap it was so hot. We enjoyed the little city tour of watching all of the sidewalk happenings and shops and whatnot as we drove past. Traffic was still bad but I think that's just pretty much the case all day long. Eventually we got there (which is always an adventure because you're trying to figure out what stop you need to get off at, unlike a taxi where they dump you our exactly where you're supposed to be) and man, if you go to rio, put sugarloaf on your to do list. We got our tickets at the bottom and road the first cable car up to the top of the one mountain and walked around and took pictures before we took the second cable car up to the top of the higher mountain. It was amazingly beautiful because as we were riding up each time, we could see the clouds swirling around the mountain. And while we were up, we'd have moments of it being as if someone turned on a fog machine. We could literally see the clouds swirling around us as close as two or three feet away and then it would disappear as it passed around us. It felt so nice and cool and wasn't hot while the breeze was blowing the clouds all around us. We ran into a woman and man we'd seen/met on the elevator at the Brazil side of the falls. We also ran into three Hungarians. I didn't notice they were Magyars because everyone here is speaking a language other than English so it typically doesn't even register for me to listen to figure out what language someone is speaking. Mostly if someone is speaking English or French then my ears will pick it up. If it's Portuguese or Spanish then it's more common and I tune it out. But honey said "hey, they're speaking Hungarian!"  He'd overheard one guy play a joke on the other guy and chuckled at it (I'd seen it happen and noticed honey laughing and kind of thought it seemed weird that honey was laughing since we didn't understand what they were saying) and was just overhearing and listening to their conversation, understanding it perfectly, before he realized that they weren't speaking English. Ha. Once he pointed it out to me then it was totally obvious they were speaking Magyar. It was two guys from Budapest and they were hanging out with this girl from Debrecen. She'd been out with her friend the day before and happened to meet these two guys and then she was out by herself this day (her friend with her on the trip was out of commission from getting wasted the night before) and ran into the guys again. It's crazy how you can keep running into people you've met before. Honey talked with them for a bit and it was fun listening to the language. Also, I'm seriously impressed with how he speaks it so easily even though he's coming up on ten years of being home from his mission. Anyways, there's not a whole lot about our experience being up in sugar loaf (Pao de asucar?) other than that the clouds were so cool swirling around us and the views were amazing and the weather felt so perfect.

After we were done at sugar loaf, we asked some street venders set up at a bus stop which bus we needed to take to get us to the Christ the redeemer statue. We stood waiting and eventually that bus came. When we got on, we confirmed with the driver (who spoke zero English) and the guy in line behind us (who spoke some English but had little knowledge of the bus system) and all worked together to make sure we were headed in the right direction. The bus was soooo crowded. Immediately I had a woman a few rows back offer her seat to me (remember? Because I'm pregnant and there are signs all over the bus about preferential treatment) but before I could make my way to her, the man I was standing next to got up and offered me his. In the states, I would typically decline this special treatment (like if it happened on a train at the airport or something) because my body usually feels pretty normal while I'm pregnant, but this trip with all the walking we've done, my feet feel bruised on the bottoms and my calf and ankle muscles are sore and my feet have been swollen at times (especially my left foot/ankle... Not sure if that's because I have a lot of bug bites on that foot or if my body just likes to swell one side more than the other) and I've been taking every opportunity to sit down as much as possible throughout the day. Because the bottom of my feet hurting really really is painful and the swelling... Well I've never had swelling at all during any of my pregnancies so it kind of freaks me out to get it now since I'm so unfamiliar with it and it isn't normal for me. Anyways, I sat, but poor honey had to stand. And the bus was packed. While I was sitting, a girl that was standing behind honey leaned over and tapped my shoulder to tell me something. Not knowing Portuguese, I was really confused and didn't move so she kept repeating it. Then an older lady that was also standing behind honey explained to the girl (still in Portuguese but I figured out the situation as I kept watching. And people always use their hands in that certain motion when talking about a pregnant belly) that I was sitting and not offering my seat to the older woman because I was pregnant and needed to sit. So someone else that was sitting nearby overheard this conversation and offered their seat. People are very serious about preferential treatment. Although I've got to mention that most preferential treatment is for four groups of people. Elderly, disabled, pregnant, and people with children. The public bus is the only thing I've found so far to also add obese people to the list. In fact, they're the first on the bus preferential list. Anyways, moving on, it was a long bus ride because buses don't always take the most direct route and honey was getting a little frustrated with the time we were wasting getting from one place to the next. As we got off the bus he told me "I know you like buses, but... No more buses. Taxis are cheap enough that it's just not worth our time to wait for a bus and take a long ride."  I understood... But luckily it only lasted a day. ; )

We got off at our stop and wandered a bit before finding the entrance to where we needed to buy tickets to get up to the statue. I want to say it was around 4 o'clock or something at this point. We got our tickets and boarded the train that takes you to the top of the mountain where the state is. The train ride takes a while and has stops (not sure why the stops) and is probably 20 minutes long but through the jungle with occasional views out over rio. When we got to the top, we hiked up a bunch of stairs (I would have taken the elevator if I'd known there would be so many) and holy cow, it was amazing. The views were absolutely stunning. We went to the overlook area and took a million and one pictures and got some of us and the Christ statue as well. It was so crowded but we did a pretty okay job at not getting too many people in our pictures with us. I'd been worried that it would be too cloudy up there since the statue was covered in clouds when we were at sugarloaf and the Magyar girl had said that when she was at the Christ the day before, it was so cloudy she couldn't see anything. But the clouds had all cleared by the time we got up there and it was perfect. We had just enough clouds higher than us to offer shade and good lighting for pictures and looking at the statue, but the clouds below us and around us were all cleared so we could see the sights and all of the city. The Christ statue was the thing I was most excited to see in rio (everything I know about rio, I learned from the movie... Which I watched for the first time last month. I didn't even know the movie was named after this city but when we watched it as a family, honey said we were going there and when I saw the Christ statue in the movie, I got excited to see it) and it did not disappoint. There was even a tiny room chapel inside the back of the base of it. We took pictures (holy cow at people constantly taking selfies!) and walked around and parked ourselves in some chairs to admire the view and made our way back to the train at 6. I guess we juuuust missed the train because we had to wait for the 6:30 train (last one of the day since the place closes at 7) and it didn't leave til 6:40 because it had to wait for stragglers to get out of the statue park area.

We got done by 7 and found a plug at the bottom train station to charge honey's phone since it was on 1% battery. Then we wandered a bit and grabbed a taxi to an area that was supposed to have outdoor shopping and whatever. I was starting to get a bit stressed about money (not sure why though because honey always takes care of us) because we didn't have much left, it was hard to find a money exchange open after 6pm, the most common ATMs were hsbc and they didn't recognize our debit card, and I didn't want to get stranded somewhere and not have a way back to the hotel. The shopping area ended up being kind of a bust (maybe it only happens on weekend nights?) and of course the atm we found was hsbc and that was only after talking to a few ladies with little English skills about "it's kind of like a bank but [use hands to make the shape of a box like freestanding atm and then swipe a card and rub fingers together like money]... A T M."  Eventually they got it and I was amused that for the rest of the conversation, the lady kept referring to the atm as a box. "And there you will find a box."  She said there was one in a part of town that was unsafe and we shouldn't go there and also that there was one by the subway station which was a long walk. We found the one in a drug store just by chance... But yeah, no dice. Eventually we were both getting a bit sketched out since it was dark and we were by a public park and it didn't feel that safe and we obviously looked like lost tourists. I put my trust in honey (he kept saying we'd be fine on money) and we grabbed a cab to the soccer stadium. Our cab driver spoke zero English so, like with all our other rides, honey showed him the destination on the gps map on his phone and we were off.

The soccer game didn't start til 10 pm (it was the only one happening during our time in rio so we had to make the most of it) and we got there around 8:30 I think. Our night wasn't going exactly how we'd planned it out in our minds and so showing up a this stadium an hour and a half early and having the streets packed with the madness of tons of people dressed in red and black striped jerseys went right along with that. Holy crap was it crazy and kind of scary and it wasn't even supposed to be a big game. We made our way along to where the police officer had told us tickets were sold and saw the longest line ever filled with all sorts of scary riled up people and I was getting a little less than enthused. Luckily, we found a preferential treatment line that was only like five people long, and mostly older single people or young families with kids. It moved crazy slow but it was about a hundred people shorter than what we would have been standing in, so I was super grateful snag that special   treatment. We eventually got to the ticket window (it's set up in a way that it's impossible to hear the people inside so it's difficult and takes forever) and managed to get the seats we wanted. They were only selling two kinds and luckily accepting credit card (we'd anticipated but you never know sometimes). Seats on the north end by the goal were 50 real and seats that were on the west on the side line were 60 real. Since the difference was barely over $3 a ticket, we got the west side tickets and walked forever around to gate A and found a preferential line (well there wasn't even a line... Just the sign) and walked up. You have to get in. More specific line after that and apparently we were in the wrong one. A lady asked to see our ticket and then instead of trying to tell us where to go, just motioned for us to follow her as she lead us there. Not sure if that's because we're white or because I'm pregnant, but I appreciated it. Also during this time I'd been eating an apple from the hotel that honey had in his bag and was afraid wouldn't be allowed in the stadium (so I went ahead and ate it so we wouldn't have to toss it out) and no one said anything to me so honey thinks that's just because they didn't want to take food from a pregnant lady. We got inside and it was practically empty (most everyone was still outside buying tickets or not allowed inside yet) and we looked for an outlet for honey's phone. There were zero and I had honey check the bathroom. No luck there either. Then I saw what I thought was a handicapped bathroom so I popped in there thinking there was no way, but... There was a plug right below the light switch! Luckily honey had the power adapter with him (most of the plugs this trip have accepted both but some of the places in rio have only the three circles... But we have an adapter that an employee at the last hotel gave honey for free) so we could charge his phone. I stood in there wth the phone while honey went to get us food (we'd eaten the huge breakfast at the hotel but hadn't been hungry or eaten since). I actually still wasn't hungry so I told him to just grab me a drink for now. While he was gone, I noticed that I was just in an oddly shaped room that actually had nothing in it. No toilet or seat or bench or anything. Honey came back empty handed with a smile and said "bad news... They don't take credit card in the stadium for food."  Ha, whoops, good thing I'm not hungry. We couldn't spend our real on food because we only had enough for a cab back to the hotel. Then honey said, "wait! I'll go see if they'll take my US dollars!"  He was gone for a while and came back with a burger for him and a coke for me (apparently coke was the only thing they had... But I've been a big soda drinker this trip) and told me his funny story. The workers wouldn't take his dollars, but a guy in line behind him said he would. So they agreed on a 2.7 exchange rate and the guy gave honey enough reals for $20. Woohoo! We're rich! I drank my soda and we had fun joking about how weird we must look to the worker guy standing across the way by the men's restrooms that we were in room 200 that's labeled handicap but actually empty. Then we unplugged honey's phone and sat in our seats. By this time it was almost 9:30 and the whole west section was constantly singing songs. That's like the student section at Stanford that they were just jammed packed more than any other part of the stadium and constantly standing and cheering and singing songs and everything. It went on from 9:30 until the game started. And then literally most all of the game. And they had so many different cheers with different clapping and hand motions etc. it was great. There were also flags and streamers and Pom poms. Our section was less crowded and more tame and had most of the families with kids. Much of the stadium was empty because the game wasn't a big one and they only sold certain sections. The actual game was good. It was fun to watch and I found out before it started that it was the first professional soccer game honey and myself had ever been to. So it was cool to experience it together, especially in one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. Our team scored two goals (one in the first half and one about ten minutes into the second half) and everyone went nuts. It was a lot of fun. I can honestly say that I didn't see a single soul wearing a jersey for the other team. Honey and I were two of the very few people that weren't wearing red and black jerseys. We headed out 25 minutes into the second half to avoid the crowds and rush because we didn't want to risk being in a dangerous position in rio after midnight. There were a number of taxis waiting outside so we hopped in one and headed to the hotel (while watching the game since the driver had it going on a mini tv on his dashboard. After waking up at 5am, and exploring rio all day, we were exhausted. We each took a quick shower and passed out in bed. Whew. What an awesome but crazy day!

Thursday we woke up and hit the breakfast buffet and got dressed for the beach. The beaches here are all public and then across the street from the beaches are the hotels. So it's super convenient. Our hotel has a tent on the beach with beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels and we were all situated before 11. The sun was scorching and laying out, I was burning up in no time. The ocean water though is ice cold and felt AMAZING and even though I rarely fully get in a pool or the ocean, I was loving this ocean water. Over the next several hours, I probably got in four or five times. My body was in a state of physical bliss. I can't even remember the last time I felt that good. It was absolute heaven. Laying out in the sun and then swimming in the super cold ocean and laying out again. I even carved myself a little hole in the sand so I could sleep on my belly and positioned my chair to keep the sun out of my face. That was a nice treat to be so comfortable sleeping on my belly. The view is gorgeous because we're kind of in a cove next to a big, lush green mountain with a city on a hill and the water and waves are pretty and there are these great islands out in the ocean that are so nice to look at. It's really just an awesome setup. Add the boats and the helicopters and really it's so entertaining just sitting here. I really could do without all of the scantily clad Brazilians though. There are far too many of those. ; )  Also, there are far too many beach vendors. Selling a variety of hats, swimsuits, sarongs, swim coverups, and food. They've got a variety of drinks, ice creams and popsicles, empadas, globo (we still don't really know what this is but its textured like a cheeto, shaped like a donut, and off white like a potato chip), and something grilled (i first thought it might be spears of pineapple because that sounds delicious but it actually looks more like tofu which doesn't really interest me). We've also been approached multiple times with fruit salad, sandwiches, grilled shrimp, headbands and hair ties, massages, and even by a guy selling a phone. But by far, the most common thing sold is the globo. It is literally a constant stream of vendors.

We stayed on the beach til almost four and then caught a bus to the end of copacabana beach (where honey proceeded to sing "copa, copacabana!!!" for the next several hours) which is just down the street. I like that our beach is less crowded and more tame, but it's fun to visit the busier spots like copacabana beach. We walked around the inner streets a bit... exchanged some money and grabbed some pizza and a two liter of guarana before heading back out to the beach and finding a nice spot to hang out and eat. Then we walked the strip. The sidewalk had tons of little beach shop restaurants and street art and people selling jewelry and trinkets. Once it got dark, a ton of people started putting together metal, pvc style tents to set up shop and sell their goods. We got a small oil painting and two little stone birds. We also ran into the Magyar guys again and briefly said hi to them. We took our time walking back, stopping occasionally to check out nice hotels, and enjoyed the sights and the beauty of the full moon over the ocean. By the end, my feet were definitely feeling bruised, but it was a perfect temperature with just a slight chill and it was really nice. I think we got back to the hotel around 8:30 or so took 20 or 30 minutes to use the hotel lobby wifi, and headed up to our room for showers and bed. I stayed up journaling for a while and by 11:30 could barely keep my eyes open. I slept well.

Friday morning the plan was to wake up early and hit the botanical gardens before it got too hot. Honey and I both woke up and 7:30 but then he was snuggling me (supposedly to wake me up) and it lulled me back to sleep til a little after nine. We got ready, stuffed ourselves at breakfast, and caught a bus to the gardens. I've been surprised at how easy it is to use the bus system and this route to the gardens was quick and direct and not crowded at all. Botanical gardens in the US are pretty expensive. Here though? Only seven real a person... It's like $2.25 so less than $5 for the two of us to get in so we were curious what it would be like. Honey had been making jokes that it probably looked like the rest of Brazil, they just built a fence around it and charged admission. The funny thing is, that's probably the most accurate way to describe it. It had trails leading around and occasionally little areas where you knew you were looking at the herbs garden or the cactus plants or the orchid house, but for the most part, you just wandered trails among the usual trees and lush plants. It was so hot and my body started breaking down on me real fast. That's when honey started making up new words to the copacabana song and making me laugh and giving me a hard time about falling asleep again this morning despite his "best efforts" to get me awake and out of bed. Ha.

By far the biggest jewelry maker down here is H. Stern and they have windows and shops and advertisements in all the nice hotels. The previous day, we'd gotten one of their envelope advertisements in our room with cards for conplimentary taxi service to their headquarters and a free tour of the building and how they make their jewelry. I like seeing how stuff is made and looking at crazy fancy jewelry so we caught a cab to H. Stern and took the tour. It was really cool seeing how they cut the stones and use different abrasive powders and cutting wheels. I also liked seeing the actual jewelry guys setting the stones into the prongs of the rings. When that was done, we took the h.stern shuttle thing that took us straight to our hotel where we secured our Saturday late checkout and tour to the state park. I can't believe how these past few days have flown by and that we leave tomorrow!

After we changed into our swimsuits, we headed to the beach and hung out under our umbrellas (I got a bit too much sun yesterday so I opted for no sun this time around) and tried the mystery grilled item (it's blocks of mozzarella cheese so it kind of tastes like pizza... Not as good as pineapple but definitely better than tofu... Pretty salty though and not really a refreshing beach snack) and globo (seriously tastes like nothing, like plain toast but even more tasteless) which was a disappointment but is now successfully crossed off our rio beach bucket list. We only stayed for maybe two hours and then headed up to the hotel pool around 4:30 maybe. I read my Harry Potter book and honey swam and checked emails on his phone. We didn't feel like searching the town for a place to eat (all of the restaurants on leblon beach are super fancy, which I wasn't in the mood for... But it seemed like a lot of work to take a bus to copacabana beach just to get a street vender burger) so we decided to eat at the restaurant at our hotel (which probably also would have been fancy, but just not over the top) but as we passed by the pool bar, I caught a glimpse of that menu and we thought that seemed like the easiest option of them all since we wouldn't even have to run to our room first to change into clothes. We ordered a cheeseburger and a grilled chicken something or other sandwich on focaccia and the sandwich was the winner, only because the hamburger was some different sort of ground beef that wasn't hitting the spot for me. And although I was hungry, I knew I'd get full fast. I told honey we should just share one thing but that never fills him up all the way so we ordered two. He ate all of his food plus all the fries that came with both plates. I ate most of my half of chicken sandwich and barely half of my half of burger and some fries and was sooo done. When we'd come over to the bar area, a couple we'd seen walk past us at the pool was literally passed out on the stools at the bar. Neither of them moved but they had a bottle of wine between them. Part way through our meal, the bartender set up some towels on the two nearest pool lounge chairs and first literally dragged the woman (she was really petite) over to a chair and then after moving her purse and things over by her, was able to wake the man enough that he walked himself over to the other chair and laid down there. They were still completely passed out when we finished our meal. We walked the stairs to the highest level (the pool is on the roof and the bar kind of next to the pool and then there are two levels to walk up that have more pool chairs) and checked out all of the views of rio at night. I love seeing the Christ statue lit up on the hill. It's so breathtakingly beautiful. And even though it was still early, we headed back to our room to call it a night. We took showers and probably had the lights out by 8:30. Gotta be fresh for the last day in rio!

Saturday was pretty low key. While I was still sleeping, honey took off walking for the slums, which I've previously referred to as the city on the hill. When he got back we went and enjoyed our last breakfast at the hotel buffet and, I won't lie, I got a little teary eyed about it. It's really nice. Ha. The little dish of sweetened condensed milk won my heart over. Anyways, we got our swimsuits on and were out on the beach by a little after ten. It was nice and overcast so it wasn't hot at all and, being Saturday, all of the Brazilian families were there with their children and the kids were cute to watch. Honey and I just lounged and slept and then headed in at one to get ready and pack up our stuff.

Hotel check out was at two so we just hung out in the lobby while we waited for our 2:30 pick up to go to the state park. We got picked up and sat in the back of an open top truck jeep of sorts. There was already a German lady, a French couple, and a lady that I think was from some place in the baltics. Luckily, our guide spoke 13 languages, so he was able to easily converse with everyone. We picked up one more couple from the Sheraton that ended up being from Phoenix and they were kind of fun to talk to on the tour. The jeep took us to the state park which is the largest urban park in the world. It's just this massive area of jungle land in rio. We saw monkeys while we drove and stopped at a pretty waterfall. Most of the outing was just driving through the jungle and since it was overcast and we were higher in elevation, it was nice and cool on the drive. On the way back, we drove past the slums (favela I think?) and they looked so cool and intricate. I wish we could have done the slums tour too but we spent the morning on the beach and then could only choose the state park tour or the slums tour. The tour was supposed to take four hours but ended up being barely three, so when we got back, we headed upstairs to the pool and ordered steak and potatoes to share. I wasn't expecting too much but the steak was really good. We took our time eating and hanging out and then headed downstairs to catch a cab to the airport.

We ran into a little hiccup though that we needed more real for our cab ride to the airport and the front desk couldn't exchange any money for us because they didn't have any real at the moment. And we couldn't go to the atm around the block because it didn't accept our card and it was raining and dark out. Honey ran to the hotel next door to try them but they also didn't have any real. While he was gone, I waited in the lobby with our bags and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the reception desk (I've probably eaten two a day since we checked in) and started munching away. Maybe 30 seconds later, one of the luggage guys walked past and noticed it was getting kind of low so he took the bowl to refill it. Out he came two minutes later with the bowl completely full and he had a plastic bag (like what you put fruit in at the grocery store) with two apples in it. He walked over to me with the bag, arm out stretched. I must have looked confused because he got a huge smile and patted his belly and then motioned to mine. I just laughed and said thank you. It was a sweet moment. Although my honey was super perplexed when he got back and was all, "you got a bag of apples?!"  Ha. Anyways, we called an uber (which for some weird reason in rio is more pricey than the taxis) and got to the airport by 8:15. There was no line at delta check in or at security and practically no walk at all so once we got to the terminal, we headed through the shops to scope out how to spend our last reals (which we'd been planning on putting towards our taxi fare so we wouldn't have this problem) and ended up getting some food. I was so excited to see they had cheese breads for sale. They've had them at every breakfast buffet we've eaten at and they're so good! Is probably liken them to a cheese stuffed breadstick or something in taste and texture except that they're little ball shaped. The ones at hotel buffets have been the size of golf balls but the ones we bought at the airport were bigger, like plums. I would have also gotten a guarana if they had them, but no luck. That's another thing I'm going to miss, even though I'm typically not a huge fan of soda.

This trip has far exceeded my expectations but I am so ready to see our kids. I dreamt about them the last two nights, and I got teary eyed and sad when I realized that they'd probably be really sad to see me back and return to Colorado with me. But you know it's time when you start staring at other people's kids too long and saying stuff like "awww look, she's wearing an Ariel shirt. Abigail would think that was so cool."  I think honey is most excited to see Abigail and I'm most excited to see Brady although I have my reservations about getting my hopes up because when we went to Hawaii a year ago, that mama's boy wanted nothing to do with me and clung to my mother like she was his sole lifeline. We waited a bit for the plane to start boarding and then headed over to that area where a massive group of people was gathered. I had to put something in my carry on bag and as soon as I zipped it and stood up, the flight attendant behind the line elastic thing got my attention and motioned me toward her. "Ma'am, you may board now... right through here" as she opened the stretchy line divider. I told her I was fine because I needed to wait for my husband, but right then Chris came back and she opened it again. Well okay then... so I have no idea what zone they were boarding but we got to go first. The only situation in our entire time in Brazil that I sought out preferential treatment was at the mericana when we got in the shorter line to buy the soccer tickets and get into the stadium. Everything else was just Brazilians seeking me out for it. They are extremely accommodating!

The flight was 9.5 hours from rio to Atlanta. I watched the hundred foot journey about an Indian family that starts a restaurant in France. It was good and wholesome. I liked it. Our flight didn't take off til 11 and I've found that it works best on long overnight flights to wait several hours before attempting to sleep. So after the movie ended, I slept from probably 1:30 until 7 maybe when they came by with breakfast. I think it helped that I remembered to take my vitamins and sleeping pill. I've been so fortunate to avoid morning sickness this whole trip but started feeling it on the plane after we took off and realized it was probably because I was awake so late and without taking my pills, but it turned out fine.

foz do iguaçu

sunday march 1 - tuesday march 3

We arrived in foz do iguaçu sometime after four I think. We were on a small plane and landing at a small airport, so we got parked outside and walked off the steps of the plane. The weather felt wonderful and it was a beautifully sunny day. We caught a cab to our hotel and it was nice that it was only a few minutes from the airport. Honey said he picked it because of it's perfect location and it really was so convenient for the places we needed to get to and from.

First thing at the hotel after checking in, we went to the information desk and had a nice girl help us with arranging our next two days. The lady was nice and reminded me of McKaylee who was one of my laurels when I was in young women's. I think it was her round face and the way she smiled. Anyways, between waiting for the older Indian couple in front of us from New Zealand and our own planning, we were sitting at that desk for an entire hour. Then we made our way to the room, the pool (honey swam while I hung out on my phone), and dinner.

Dinner was either buffet or a la carte (at the restaurant since its a small town and everything is closed on Sunday night anyway) and since I never eat enough to get my money's worth out of a buffet and they never look too appealing to me, we opted for a la carte and took a seat at a table. Little did we know we'd be there for over an hour and a half. Ha. We made it fun though. The waiter was a polite, quiet guy who reminded me of Sorham for no reason other than his hair probably. Honey said the guy didn't make him think of Sorham at all but I know by now that my people resemblances I see are frequently not based in any fact.

We both ordered penne pasta but honey got a meat sauce and I got the four cheese white sauce. It was clear after a few minutes that our service wouldn't be prompt and I think our server was the only server working a la carte and even then, it seemed he was sometimes helping with the buffet. After a while, he came back to us and said it would be twenty minutes until our food was ready and that we could help ourselves to a plate of the buffet from the table on our side of the room that included salads and breads etc. So we each filled our plates with food and I got fruit and bread and I made a little ham sandwich with a French roll. And of course after that we weren't hungry but continued to make jokes about how the good news was that we probably would be hungry again by the time our pasta was done cooking. Meanwhile, two French ladies sat at the table behind me and we started jokes about how they, plus all the people from the buffet side of the room, must be confused why some of the a la carte people are helping themselves to parts of the buffet. Also, one of the French women brought her touristy Brazil guide book with her to dinner and had it on the table next to her. I literally laughed out loud when honey motioned towards the book and made a comment about how this lady must be a veteran a la carte customer since she brought some reading to pass the time while she waited for her food. Maybe you had to be there, but it was too perfect for the situation. I loved it. We also kept saying "leisurely" because when honey was checking our flight to come here, he looked online and our flight said something like "no change" or whatever that Igor had said meant it was on time. But apparently all the other flights had some sort of word that honey googled and it translated to "leisurely."  What it means for your plane to be leisurely... who knows. Ha. Anyway, we decided if our pasta was on a flight board, it would likely have a "leisurely" status update next to it. Eventually our pasta did come (just a bowl of penne with what seemed like jarred sauce poured directly on top. No side of a salad or bread or even sauce stirred in. Just noodles and sauce. Ha. It wasn't bad but we weren't too hungry at that point (despite being at least 45 mins from the initial "it'll be 20 minutes" comment) and so I ate half and honey actually finished his, just because. We ended up leading close to 9:30, despite having arrived before 8pm. Part of me is surprised we're not still there actually. ; ) Anyways, my favorite part of dinner, besides hanging out with honey and cracking jokes, was my fanta. Mmm how I was loving that fanta.

Monday morning we set our alarm to wake up early enough to get a good start on our day. I was sooo tired though because honey had set our room temp at 18 degrees and the only covers on the bed were a sheet and a thin waffle knit blanket. So I think I was asleep but I must have been dreaming that I was just shivering under my covers all night. Once we got moving though then I was alright. We did the breakfast buffet since it was complimentary and there was a nice variety of breads. They had a lot of things available to eat but most of them didn't appeal to me. I had eggs, watermelon, orange juice and the little bread balls filled with cheese which quickly became a favorite for honey and myself. Also, we enjoyed looking at the English translations of the food and got some good laughs. Mainly the little sugared twisty bread called "underwear tuner" and there was also some ant bread or ant hill bread. I can't remember. Even at public places though, there are some pretty horrible English translations of things.

Anyways, we took off walking to the bird park and it was like four minutes away. I was expecting it to be cool because the tourist desk lady said it would be, but it was definitely beyond cool. It was like they carved out pathways in the jungle and then built some wire cages for the birds. There was nothing cement or zoo feeling about it and the birds were all so close and easy to see. And while there were tons of birds to see in cages, there were also three huge areas where you could go in and hang out with tons of birds too. Like a butterfly pavilion except with a bunch of big tropical birds. They also had a butterfly pavilion and a spot where you could hold a huge snake (we opted out) and we took advantage of the opportunity to hold a mccaw. The whole experience was really awesome and we stayed for several hours. 

We headed over to the waterfalls around noon I think. We took the bus that takes you part way up, where the pink hotel is, and started the hiking trail that goes along the river. The first view is gorgeous and you think you're going to see more views like that, but you're completely wrong. Because each lookout point gets more intense and more beautiful. And as you make your way closer to the main falls, you're making your way around corners that allow you to see even more huge falls that you didn't even know existed. It was awesome. When we got to the endish part, we went out on the walk way that takes you into the mist of some of the falls and it felt so good and was so breathtaking. Words seriously can not describe the natural beauty of this place. Honey took a million pictures, mostly panoramic, trying to capture it all. On our way back off of that walkway, we ran into two groups of elders and we were excited to see them. I totally thought we would see tons of elders on São Paulo and was surprised we didn't see any. And I wasn't at all expecting to see any at the falls, but we saw two sets just out enjoying their p day. We got our picture with them. 

Once we finished the trail, we headed up for lunch and got burgers and fries and a drink. As always, the drink was the best part and the burgers were a little tough to choke down, but the fries were actually not too bad. At this point in the day, the bottoms of my feet felt bruised and my lower leg muscles were still sore and easily tired from our previous days of walking and wearing heels and my left ankle was still swollen (I think from bug bites? Not entirely sure) so I told honey that I would take the bus part way down while he went back by way of the trail and that I'd meet him at the pink hotel at 3:30. I got to the hotel at 3:07 and explored a bit. It was really nice and old fashioned and it had the feel of a southern plantation. The parlors were decorated like the 1930s, I loved looking at the miniatures displays of men designing rings in the jewelry shop windows, and then I plopped my pregnant self down in a comfy shaded lounge chair by the pool. Several of the pool attendants came by to bring me towels and glasses of ice water but I declined and just enjoyed the scenery and passed the time until I met honey in the lobby at 3:30. We explored some together and went in that jewelry shop to look around. It was one of the crazy expensive ones but I always love looking. And they offer you free guarana so that was a bonus. I like that stuff. 

Eventually we took the bus back down and walked back to the hotel. On the way back though, we stopped at a roadside blanket and bought a turquoise and hematite necklace. The lady initially quoted and 20 real and I wasn't obsessed with it, but then she dropped to 15 and quickly to 10. I decided if she was that willing to sell, maybe she needed my 10 real and I needed her necklace. Hopefully it lasts longer than my precious turquoise necklace. Although not such a big deal when you're only paying $4. We got back to the hotel and put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool. Once again, my honey got wet and I stayed dry and inherited a few more big bites on my feet and arms from some atrocious gnats. The pool bar closed at 7, so we decided to try our luck ordering dinner out there at 6:30 so we could choose from a more hamburger and hot dog type menu and so we wouldn't have to wait as long. I ordered the hot dog because I thought a hot dog would be hard to screw up but I was sooo wrong. It came with tons of ketchup sauce all over. And it was open faced with a huge bun and each hot dog cut in half and strategically placed on each side. And sprinkled with corn and canned peas (I struggle with canned peas because of their specific green color) and smothered with crunchy little fry things. It was revolting. Honey got a pizza and we shared both (that was the agreement when we ordered... I got the better end of that deal). The pizza was your traditional pizza that seemed like a frozen pizza cooked in a microwave but it tasted wonderful compared to the hot dog. Honey ate his entire hot dog first since he knew it would be easiest to eat it when he was most hungry. I tried that but quickly got too grossed out and switched to the pizza. And when I finished my pizza I tried my hot dog again. I ate like three bites before I had to give up for good because I was almost gagging on it. But we did order a coconut water which was delicious and after we drank it all, I told honey to bang it on something to crack it open. The server guy came back out and took it from honey as he was banging it and he came back out of the kitchen with our coconut nicely sliced in half and offered us two spoons so we could dig out the meat. It was so good. Tricky, but worth it. Then we headed to our room to shower and go to bed since we knew we had our longest day of the trip ahead of us... The Argentina side of the falls.

After another crappy night of sleep, we woke up at 6:45 to get ready, eat breakfast, and get our taxi at 7:30. There was a cheaper option with the tourist booking lady to take a shuttle with other people staying at the hotel but then you're with them all day on a tour. Normally I love tours, but mostly because I like the extra info that a guide provides. Well, since this tour was going to be in Portuguese and we were afraid of the group going slow or spending too much time doing worthless crap like eating lunch or looking at shops, we thought it was well worth it to pay more for a private car and stay the entire day doing everything just how we wanted to. The Argentina side had a lot more hiking trails and more options as far as what you can pay extra to do so we mapped out what we wanted to conquer and the best way to do that. 

We'd planned an hour to get to the falls but even with stopping twice (passports and the Argentina reciprocity papers), we were there by 8:20 and immediately took the train to the top to do the devil's throat trail. It's less like a hike and more like a walk along a metal bridge that leads you over all the water and stops right at the top of the major waterfall. It was so misty that if we had stayed longer, we would have walked away dripping wet. As it was though, we were perfectly damp and it felt really good and kept us cool on the wall back. One of the things we'd been most excited about doing was the water motorboat raft ride that takes you along the river and into the falls but I happened to see on a brochure the night before that pregnant women were not allowed. We remained hopeful though that they wouldn't be strict about it or that I could sign a waiver or something. Well, fail. Once again, these people take pregnancy very seriously and no amount of our convincing could tempt the guy at the desk to sell us a ticket. He said everyone in his company (that did these rides and excursions throughout the park) was trained very strictly on not letting pregnant women on the rides and we're all very aware that they would get fired if they knowingly turned a blind eye. Sad. But I convinced honey to still do the full excursion (motorboat ride plus jungle tour) and that I could just wait and then meet him at the end. So we bought a ticket for honey's excursion, and then we bought tickets for a gentle rowing raft ride down a pleasant river (the "ecological tour") that was approved for pregnant women. The funny part of this was that the guy wouldn't take our credit card but he would take our US dollars for the converted real amount... And then he gave us an overly positive exchange rate like 11 or something. Honey gave him 55 dollars or whatever but didn't have change for the 45 cents and the guy wouldn't accept any less but said he could give us change in real so we did that and honey gave him an extra five (total $60 for the $55.45 amount and got back more real than what five dollars is even worth. We were so confused by this (a similar thing happened at our hotel with a super high exchange rate... I think the Internet said an even exchange was 8.7 maybe) and came to the conclusion that maybe they have more people that convert dollars to real and so they can rip people off and make a profit when people are trying to get their money back to their initial type. All very strange. Anyways, the guy said the ecological tour would leave in five minutes and I got a happy surprise when I realized that my honey and I were the only two passengers. It was kind of like Brazil but a little like Venice as we sat in our private raft while someone rowed us under bridges and through the jungle. It was beautiful and so pleasant. I think they said it was 40 minutes long but of course time flew by way faster. 

We hung out and killed a bit of time as we headed in the direction honey would need to go to the meetup spot for his excursion. We got me a popsicle (strawberry slice) and rested my feet a bit too. After we set up our meetup plan (life is different when you can't just rely on calling or texting to meet up), I went to kill time by myself wandering around, finding spots with AC where I could put my feet up, looking at gift shop stuff, and eventually getting another Popsicle because those things are so delicious. Then I started out along the path to make sure I had plenty of time to get to the meeting spot. The path was along the metal grates walkway that led through the thick of the rainforest trees. I slowed down when I saw a group of people gathered around and then saw the bright orange of a toucan bill. It was like it was posing for all of us because it just kept getting closer and closer, hopping on branches and eating stuff and looking this way and that. I was probably the only person not taking pictures (my phone was at the hotel and honey had his with him), but it was great to just soak up the moment. The map I had was more of a drawing illustration of the park and less of an accurate map and the signs were inconsistent and not too informative so I tried to use both of those things combined with asking an employee for directions and eventually I knew I was headed in the right direction and got to the point where I felt I could abandon everything else and just follow the soaking wet people. With each wet person I passed, I felt my confidence grow and I waited at the top of the steps until 1:20 when my honey came up. 

We walked down the stairs to where the motor boat raft docks and took pictures down by the rocks. It was really pretty... as was everything else, honestly. We decided to find upper trail to hike, but using our inaccurate map and signs, we ended up taking the wrong path... which we didn't even completely realize until it spit us out at the Sheraton hotel. It ended up being such a happy mistake though because along the path, we saw this family of at least ten monkeys and they were not at all shy. Several came within less than a foot of me and same with Chris. And we saw multiple babies that would ride on their parents' backs and it was adorable. We were running ahead of schedule at the time (we set our taxi to come get us at seven) and they had a bench right there, so I plopped myself down and honey said I could watch however long I wanted. ; )  Which we totally did until a park person came and shook tree branches to scare all of the monkeys away. Not sure of the purpose of that though. Avoiding too much interaction of humans and monkeys?  Or maybe there were other people watching the monkeys (a large group had gathered) that were being too forward with them or something. Anyways, I'm glad we accidentally happened upon that monkey scene because it was awesome. 

Once we realized that we'd taken the wrong trail to the Sheraton, we decided to at least go in and check it out. We sat in the AC and rested (I needed lots of rest being pregnant and with it being so hot) and honey filled up our water bottle and was checking some emails using the free wifi (we were in Argentina so he had his phone on airplane mode the whole day) when all the sudden, it started to rain and then it turned into a downpour. So we watched out the window for a while while honey kept checking emails and charging his phone. After an hour, it was still pouring down rain and didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon so we went upstairs to the Sheraton bar and ordered one of the most delicious hamburgers I've ever eaten. They gave us a plate of potato chips while we were waiting and then served the burger with fries and so even though we shared, it was the perfect amount of food and we finished eating right at 5:00 which was perfect timing because that's exactly when the rain stopped. Then we weren't ahead of schedule anymore since we'd just spent two hours at the Sheraton while it rained. 

So we took off for the last trail that we hadn't hiked yet. It was great and we were living seeing everything and taking pictures and it was so nice since it was less crowded because the rainstorm probably drove most of the people out of the park. And it cooled everything down really nicely so it was so pleasant. Then around 5:30, one of the park workers found us and told us the park was closing (we knew it closed at six but we thought we could stay in the park until 7... apparently they start kicking you off the trails sooner than that though) so we hurried along the trail as he followed behind us and informed everyone else he came across that we all needed to hurry and finish the trail. The good part is that we were able to still see the entire trail and the funny part is that towards the end, there was the whole group of us people moving along with the guy just watching us and shuffling behind us all. Then we came across another family of monkeys and it was awesome. The park guy didn't even push us along, he just let us stay and watch them for 5 or 10 minutes and take pictures and everything. It's crazy how they'll jump onto the fence railing like a foot away from you and aren't even phased by it. They're so much more active and fun to watch than seeing monkeys at the zoo who are limited by their cages and do a lot of sitting around. These monkeys only stop long enough to put food in their mouth or scratch their leg or something. They are always moving and jumping and it's so awesome. And then we walked just a little bit more and saw two toucans who were also not shy. The toucans just kept hopping closer and closer and never got scared. But eventually the park guy moves us along and roped off the end of the trail. 

So then instead of taking the train, we walked down the green trail which wasn't along metal grates through the forest, but more of a dirt path that probably runs pretty parallel to where the train takes you down. Then we sat and waited for the train which took us to the main entrance. It was probably around six at that point, so we looked in a few shops for 15 or 20 minutes and then headed out to the curb where our cab was already waiting for us. Even with the two passport related stops, it was only 30 minutes back to hotel and we played pool in the entertainment room for a bit (honey whooped me, although I was significantly better than I remember being back in high school) and then headed to our room to shower and get to sleep since we had to be up so early in the morning.

last day in atlanta

i woke up and got packed and ready and we were actually out the door by 11!  once again experiencing almost no travel/packing anxiety!  i truly never expected to see progress in this area of my life but for some [very unexpected and unknown] reason, it's been happening... even if it's temporary, i'll take it!  it's AMAZING!

brady saw this picture of my dad and kept saying "chase!  i want chase!"  ha.  chase is my cousin's kid... family genes run strong.

we went shopping for toilets at lowes.  my biggest regret of the trip is that mom and i didn't have more time to run errands like this or tackle any organizing projects.  i blame brady and that i had to take a 2-3 hour nap with him every afternoon instead of having that alone time with my mom.  maybe next time?

brady was sooo tired all the time (i think waking up during the night and cosleeping with me the rest of the night left him as unrested and tired as i felt.  he fell asleep as soon as we left lowes and was still out cold when we arrived at fat matt's to meet dad for lunch.

so even though people are getting arrested for this sort of stuff these days... we chanced it and left him in the car.  see that rolled down window above abigail's head?  that's brady semi photobombing the picture.  lunch was superb and abigail was well behaved and brady slept through the entire thing.

still out when we got back to the car after lunch.  don't worry... we checked on him VERY frequently while we were eating and were within earshot of him as well.

not sure how we lucked out with such pleasant weather in the middle of july but it was amazing!  so so pleasant!

we went to the atlanta botanical gardens for a few hours and it was wonderful.  all of my pictures from that are on my big camera and will have to be posted later.  like every other time, abigail wanted to be pushed in the stroller and brady wanted to be held.  we had our arms full.

we stopped in the cell phone lot to feed both kids (mostly brady) before the flight.  lots of mandarin oranges.  i had to wake brady up to eat and initially he was so upset that he wouldn't, but when he did... man, the kid downed so much food!  a full belly = a happy brady.  also, i rigged abigail's beach bag (from her wonderful aunt bekah) so she could carry her own snacks and entertainment and it worked pretty well.  abigail and brady were both really well behaved during the whole travel experience.  in the airport, on the plane, and in the denver airport.   

abigail shared a brief but precious friendship with this girl when she complimented abigail's shirt and sandals.  they sat next to each other on the train and talked about their trips.  this girl was several years older and probably four times abigail's size but neither of them cared.  i love kids' lack of prejudice in that regard.  i was sad they couldn't visit more at baggage claim.  as i said, it was a very brief friendship.

brady and i were feeling pretty amazing about how well our travel experience was going.  and he totally rocked it on the airplane and both kids got tons of compliments on their excellent behavior.  the last 30 minutes of the flight the kids were having trouble breathing from laughing so hard and i kept thinking "what? we're almost landing?! i could do another two hours if i needed to!"  that doesn't frequently happen.  ; )

i got one of our bags and they instantly sat down to rest their wearied traveled feet.

and they thought these things were the funnest things ever.

so that entertained them until christopher arrived... which took him a while due to airport traffic and once again i was thinking... we could do this for another hour if we needed to!  but luckily we didn't and that was great too.

it was a really great day.