Football Season is Upon Us - Part Dois

Um, yeah, so Eric and Gabriela's Iowa State didn't really have such a stellar performance today.

Tonight she'll be cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs with her ol' Mamãe though. Hopefully they can beat up on South Carolina and redeem themselves after last week's butt-kicking.

GOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!!!

And how sad is it that somehow this is the only Dawg-gear my child has?!? (She does have an awesome cheerleader outfit, but that won't be fitting her until next year's football season.)

I mean, not that this isn't the cutest thing ever. But really, given that the University of Georgia is the alma mater of pretty much my entire family (and we're including the extended part too), we seriously need to get this kid set up in red and black before we get back to the US and take her to a game. As much as I do love the socks, I'm just not sure this game day outfit would be appropriate!

Football Season is Upon Us

As we approach kick-off for the Iowa versus Iowa State game today, Eric and Gabriela just have one thing to say:

GO CYCLONES!!!

Morro de São Paulo

August 3, we left Georgia to return to Brasil. But vacation was really just beginning.

We met up with Eric's parents and youngest sister, Kelly, and flew down to Salvador in the state of Bahia. Eric and I had heard nothing but good things about the beaches in Bahia and couldn't wait to get there and check it all out.

Upon landing in Salvador, we hopped a taxi to the dock and got on a boat to Morro de São Paulo.

It was a 2 hour boat ride on a rather small-ish vessel. And the sea was rather choppy that day. And when I say rather choppy, I mean 8-15' surges that tossed our little boat all over the place.

There was no way to really capture the waves in a photograph, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But the wave featured above was higher than the top of the boat.

So for the ride over to the island, I positioned myself inside to be out of the wind and big splashes with the baby. And then I hung on. The stroller was nearly tipping over with each wave our skillful captain maneuvered through. Gabriela thought it was great - put her right to sleep. Her Daddy, on the other hand, turned a lovely shade of green before going completely pale, so I was on hold-on-to-the-baby duty by myself in there.


Land was a welcome sight for everyone, I think. And we couldn't wait to get onto the island and check it out. We were greeted at the Morro de São Paulo dock by a line of taxis all offering their services. But not quite taxis in the most traditional sense of the word . . .

The island is a pretty hilly place and vehicles aren't allowed on much of it. So all these "taxis" (guys with wheel barrows) offer to haul your luggage (and even your toddler) for you. This fella worked his butt off with our five suitcases each weighing around 50 pounds (and we were even short one that American Airlines accidentally sent to Houston, Texas instead of Salvador, Brasil.)

After quite a walk through sandy "streets" we arrived at our hotel's pick-up point and were met by a Kombi (VW van) that would give us a lift the rest of the way. Morro de São Paulo is divided into sections and named "First Beach", "Second Beach", and so on. The dock and the main village are on First Beach. Most of the restaurants, nightlife, and the busiest beach is on Second Beach. We opted to stay on Fourth Beach, which is known for it's quiet remote setting.

We stayed at Hotel Porto do Zimbo, which was a simple but nice place with a great location if you like quiet nights and being able to walk just a few steps from your door to get to the beach.

Most days we walked way down to Second Beach where we could rent chairs and umbrellas and let people bring us coconuts and caipirinhas and grilled cheese on a stick and fried fish and, well, you get the idea.

Pictured above is a view of Second Beach from the lighthouse. The next cove is Third Beach and Fourth Beach is in the top right corner of the picture.

Poor Gabriela was the one whose suitcase ended up on the wrong continent. And then we proceeded to receive the worst customer service EVER in our attempts to get it. We arrived on the island August 4 early in the morning. Her bag showed up August 6 at 10:00 pm. We left for Salvador the next day. So kiddo had to go the whole island stay with a very limited supply of clothing, no beach tent, and we had to buy diapers there on the island her for. And Eric and I were without our toiletries which were also in her suitcase - so we had pretty bad hair for that portion of the trip. It was the first time we've ever had a bag lost. And it was just as much not fun as I had always imagined. American Airlines will be getting a strongly worded letter about the lack of concern/help and the rude people we dealt with through the whole ordeal, but I'll spare you the details.


The Third and Fourth Beaches are really unique. The ocean floor is very flat, it barely slopes at all until a long ways from shore, and there is an abundance of coral growing there. At high tide it doesn't look like anything real special, but as the tide recedes it leaves much of the coral exposed and creates little pools of crystal clear water full of tropical fish.

And because the ocean floor is so flat, when the tide goes out, it goes way out! It was hilarious to see all these boats that had been sitting in the water the night before on dry land the next morning! (below)


Eric and I had been looking forward to the moqueca (sort of a stew with your choice of seafood in it) that Bahia is known for. We got the shrimp version and it didn't disappoint! (It's below, in the black bowl sitting in the middle of the table.)

Eric and I were also excited about taking one of the many boat tours that take you around the island and make different stops at great snorkeling locations, etc. And because we're rather safety-conscience parents, we even bought Gabriela an infant life vest to wear for the occasion, since these tours usually involve smaller, older, not quite so safe vessels. The life vest was, of course, packed in her suitcase. Which we didn't have until we left . . . so unfortunately we missed out on that opportunity. That darn kid is always holding us back from doing much. ;)

Crashing mid-undressing: I laid her on her belly and took her pants off. When I reached to roll her over to remove her jacket, she was already asleep! I think we wear the poor thing out sometimes.

Gabs loves the beach, or, at least, she loves her beach tent. So I wasn't sure how she'd do hanging out on the beach all day without it. But, as usual, she was a champ and hung in there. She got a little sandier than usual though, as she loved pulling on the kanga we laid out for her to lay on until is was in a little ball and all of her extremities were in the sand. The sandiness didn't seem to bother her in the least though. (So I foresee her totally being that toddler who gets wet and then proceeds to cover their entire body, head, and every crack and crevice full of sand just prior to wanting to come cuddle up with Mom - and oh, boy, won't that be fun.)

I decided early on during the trip that having my father-in-law around was quite useful . . . besides giving me an extra person to pick on (and be picked on by!), I look to be much less "gringo" when he's nearby. hehehe

After three nights on Morro de São Paulo, we jumped on a boat (a much larger one this time) and headed back to the mainland. We arrived back in Salvador just as the sun was setting that evening.

Cackling

Gabriela's latest trick: cackling.

Go ahead and have a little listen! If you can prevent yourself from laughing along then you've got more self control than I do. (Of course, judging by the rate at which ice cream disappears around here, that's not necessarily saying much.)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Brasília or Bust

While those of you living in the US of A spend the weekend celebrating Labor Day, we'll be doing a little long-weekend celebrating of our own down here in the southern hemisphere.

September 7th is Brasil's Independence Day, so we are taking our little Brasileira to, where else, Brasília to commemorate the day!

Gabriela and I just got home from putting Eric on an overnight bus. Gabs and I will be flying out bright and early at 7:30 am tomorrow. (It's a bit of a story as to why we aren't all traveling together, but let's just say that Gol's website wasn't playing nice last week when I was trying to book our sale-priced tickets . . . )

One day I'll wrap up our vacation posts (Morro de São Paulo, Salvador, and my in-laws' trip to BH and Rio are all still to come). But for now, we're off again!

Trip to Georgia July 2009

On July 27 we flew out of Cedar Rapids down to Atlanta to spend a week in Georgia with my folks.

We spent most of the week in Colbert (outside of Athens) where my parents live before heading down to Perry (where my grandparents live) for the weekend.

Grandpa getting in on the bedtime bottle routine.

Gabs and Grandmo shared lots of laughs that week!

My middle brother, Justin, and his girlfriend, Casie, came over to Mom and Dad's on Wednesday and stuck around until Friday, when they left on a road trip to Canada.

That afternoon we all (Mom, Dad, Justin, Casie, and the three of us) headed to Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain is a gigantic hunk of granite that pokes out of an otherwise rather flat landscape. (Good thing I took Geology in college, huh? Otherwise I might not be able to give such a technical description.) You can usually spot it off to the east if you fly into Atlanta during the day.

Oh, and it has a huge carving of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis on the north face - the largest bas relief sculpture in the world, actually. It makes a southern girl's heart swell to lay eyes on a 100' tall Confederate hero.

While I have a picture of Justin and Casie handy, I should mention that those crazy kids went and got engaged at Niagara Falls on their road trip to Canada! And I'd like to add that I knew my brother was going to propose - despite the fact he never bothered mentioning it to his ol' sis. Or asking for my approval. In fact, all I got was a Facebook message saying, "I'm engaged. Get excited!" But I showed him. I was crazy busy traveling with the in-laws in Brasil so I never even acknowledged his message for like a week or something. ;) Anyhoo, his bride-to-be is awesome, and I'm pretty sure Gabriela spit up on her which is her little way of showing affection and approval - and she's a great judge of character and stuff. And Casie seems to be okay with Justin's love of all things leafy and/or wooden, and I guess she is impressed by the fact that he can recite the latin botanical names of all the trees native to Georgia. And the trees of the world not native to Georgia. And that he is able to talk at length about the attributes of a certain heritage variety of cantaloupe that he grew in his garden this year. But basically it just boils down to this: those of us in the southern hemisphere are pretty pumped about the upcoming nuptials. Especially since this is part of life when I get repaid for putting up with three brothers my entire life - now I get sisters!

Now, where was I? Oh yes, Stone Mountain. Almost every trip Eric and I make to Georgia, we try to take in something "cultural". On past trips we've been to the aquarium, the World of Coke, a traveling King Tut exhibit that was showing, Church's Chicken . . .WHAT? The boy's from Iowa, let me assure you that a trip to Church's Chicken IS a cultural experience! (I mean, I even have to translate for him as, despite his skills in Portuguese and Spanish, he is far from fluent in Southern Ebonics.) So anyway, this year I really wanted to take him to Stone Mountain, especially since I hadn't been in several years.

After riding the Swiss cable car to the top, hiking down the mountain, riding the train around the base of the mountain, taking in a 4-D movie, checking out the glass-blowing, trekking through the tree tops on the new "Sky Hike", and stuffing ourselves with chicken fingers, we stuck around that night for the real attraction: the Lasershow Spectacular (which also happens to be the world's longest-running lasershow). My cousin, Becky, even met us there after work to meet Gabs and watch the show with us.

Camped out on the lawn, waiting for the show to start.

I wasn't sure how Gabriela would do with the loud music, bright flashing lights, and fireworks well past her bedtime. Ten minutes into the show, she fell asleep. And that's is what I love about this kid! So easy.

On Thursday, we hosted a Sip-N-See at Mom and Dad's (where you sip on sweet tea and see the baby). Basically, it was my out though. There were so many people I wanted to see while I was in North Georgia and I knew there was just no way to get around to them all. So I took the easy way out - I invited them all to come to me. Or well, rather to Gabriela. I guarantee we wouldn't have had that kind of turn out if it was just Eric and me at the house waitin' for folks. But bring a baby around . . .

We had a great turn out and really enjoyed seeing extended family and friends. Go figure that my dear daughter wasn't in much of a pass-the-baby-around mood though. So most everyone got to hold her for just a second before she demanded that she be put down on the floor to stretch and play. She plays well with others, but only on her terms! :)

On Friday we headed down to Perry where we were met by all but one member of my Dad's side of the family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all got together and had a great time, as usual! We played in the pool, hung out telling stories, went shopping, attended church together, grilled ribs, and my Grandma did what my Grandma does - fed us all waaay too much! But oh, was it good!

Oh, and they all took turns spoiling Gaberdoodle to no end, the benefit of being the first great-grandchild . . . we haven't had a baby around for a while!

Catching some Z's with Great Uncle Ed




Hanging out with Uncle Travis (and trying to convince him she needs a cousin - hehe)

Not sure if this was a nap session or just some cuddles with Grandpa.

Aunt Brii was all smiles - I don't think she needs convincing in the cousin department! ;)


My Bathing Beauty out by the pool, complete with new sunglasses and hat (which was the contents of 1 of the 14 boxes I had waiting for me at my Grandparents when I got there. I love Amazon. Grandad suggested Eric might want to take away my credit card. I said go ahead . . . I have the number memorized.)

Going for her first swim with Daddy!

Post-swim. All worn out and ready to nap in Great-Grandma's arms for a while.

This guy again. Grandpa couldn't stay away from Gabriela for very long at a time! Even with 18 other people around, my Dad somehow always managed to sneak in there close to the baby!

Napping in the same crib Mommy slept in as a baby. (Also where she adopted her new face-down sleeping position . . . after winning the battle with her swaddle-wrap, apparently.)

Fire Alarms Might Be a Good Idea

We interrupt this attempt at catching up on vacation posts for a quick news story:

Remember way back in 2007 when I had a little experience with fire here in Brasil? (As in, our hotel caught on fire and the only way I found out was that the front desk was calling each room and asking them to evacuate?) No? Well, read here to refresh your memory.

And now I would like to reiterate my point about the need to add "fogo" to your vocabulary if you're going to visit Brasil.

Monday evening Eric called me. I assumed it was the nightly, "Honey, I'm on my way home" phone call. But this time it was actually a "Hey guess what? I'm standing outside the plant watching it burn" call.

The bad news? Big, hot fire. Major damage to the supply warehouse building (and contents) for the factory.

The good news? It started after 5:30, so most everyone had already left for the day and the firemen got it under control before it spread to the offices and factory/assembly area.

The scary part? Not a single fire alarm in the whole place went off. Because there aren't any.

You can see the Globominas news coverage of the fire here.

Thank goodness no one was hurt, but without fire alarms, can you imagine how bad it could have been if it happened in the middle of the work day?