Daily Routine and a few other things . . .

So this is what our days are like . . .
We wake about 7:30ish, and Rhett gets ready for school. He leaves, walks to the metro, rides to a few blocks from his campus, then goes to class. He´s in class for about four hours, with a few breaks in between, and gets home about 1:30ish. Summer and I, well, our schedules a bit more exciting. As soon as we are fully awake and have had breakfast, we try to get in as many cartoons before her morning nap (Duck Tales, Sponge Bob, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, some old Mickey Mouse ones, and some new ones I´ve never seen before). Oh, and sometimes I get lucky and find a cooking spotlight on a station and get some ideas for when I get home. During her morning nap, I get ready for the day then do some reading and writing (Thanks Josh for the Blue Jay book. It´s a perfect read for here. I´m loving it!). When she wakes up, we play a bit with her toys, and she runs around in her playpen. She actually doesn´t feel confined in it, which is what I was worried about. We don´t let her crawl much due to unknown dirtiness on the floor. At first, she´d hold on to the edge of the playpen and walk around and around, and now, she´ll let go and try to leap across the middle to the other side. Most of the time, she biffs it, and we laugh together. She´s a good sport. Then I feed her lunch, and about this time, dad gets home.
And then we´re off for our adventure for the day. Sometimes it´s to the beach, sometimes it´s to get groceries, and sometimes it´s to a new and exotic place, like the Botanical Garden we went to on Thursday. Here are some pictures.
Picture by Rhett:

Picture by me. I liked the green hut thing in the middle.Rhett and Summer in an Indiana Jones type thing. We walked through it, and I kept waiting for the hidden passageway to reveal itself.

Me and a waterfall.
And Summer smiling at dad. (No, you can´t see her tooth in this picture. We´ll get one and post it soon.)
And on Friday, after Rhett´s last day of his first class, we went over to Nitiroi to the Museum of Art and Culture. It was a fun treck--the metro, then the ferry, then a bus, and the architecture of the building was almost more intriguing than the artwork!

ps--we still don´t have internet. We´re pretty much giving up on it now. So I´m in the internet cafe and have a limited amount of time, so that means--no proofreading my posts. Sorry for the typos!

BRAZIL

I can't believe I'm finally updating the blog!!! By some fluke, we are actually picking up another signal, so I am quickly trying to load pictures and type like mad. 

Many questions about the flight . . . so a quick summary of our travels here:

Delta requires that you're there at least an hour early for international flights, and, well, we weren't. By the time we got to the luggage check-in, they were not receiving anymore passengers. And the next flight out was Saturday morning (which was unacceptable for us because Rhett had a mandatory orientation Saturday afternoon that if he didn't make, he couldn't participate in the program). So by putting up a small fight/fit, we were allowed to "try" to make the flight--leaving our luggage behind. Imagine, Rhett pushing the stroller with Summer in it, me carrying the diaper bag, sprinting to the security check, getting stopped by a kind security guard who "wanted to show us all the things we did right in packing Summer's diaper bag," then rushing across the Spokane airport to get to the gate--we made it. Probably two minutes more and they would not have let us on. Breathing heavy, we found our seats and were off to SLC. Summer ate, then slept--a sweet baby for our first flight.

We had about 20 minutes at SLC to get from point A to point B, which of course had to be clear across the entire airport, so once again, we were sprinting to get there. I think I pushed the stroller this time. And Summer did not sleep on this flight--she was quite squiggly and squirmy, wanting to get down and crawl.  The three hours couldn't end fast enough.

And once again, we had about 15 minutes at the Atlanta airport and were charging through to make it. We scrambled to find our seats and were finally off to Rio. This eight and a half hour flight through the night was so-so--better when Summer finally fell asleep. And we wondered what in the world we were going to do once we got to Brazil and didn't have any of our luggage.

But we survived (on little sleep and a Delta dinner and breakfast) and landed at 8:30AM Rio time, which is 4:30AM Spokane time. 

Other members of the program were landing at about this time, and we ended up waiting about two hours before we were all shipped off on a bus to get our housing. Summer got about a twenty-minute nap on the travel bus in my lap, and then was up again as the bus pulled over to the curb, and we all filed off and stood in the street until we were given our keys. There was about 60 of us, so it was quite a scene, and Rhett kept saying, "Stand away from the crowd so we don't get robbed." 

We got our key and were led to our apartment, which, as we entered, we were a little disappointed in. There were dead (and live) cockroaches all over the floor, the kitchen, the bathroom, the dressers, etc. Summer grabbed for one in his last moments of life and she actually caught him. I about passed out. I wondered what we would do without her playpen--we couldn't let her crawl around here! To brighten our spirits and fill our stomachs, we decided to walk around outside for a little bit. We got some pastel de frangos (chicken croissant type things) for us and some cheesy bread for Summer then went to find a baby shop (for a change of clothes for Summer) and a skirt and shirt for me (for church on Sunday). We had been told our luggage would arrive Sunday afternoon, but really, who know when luggage is going to arrive?

We bought a few other things (toothpaste, a toothbrush to share, diapers, baby food, etc.) and were off to orientation.

The luggage did actually come in Sunday, and in all of Rhett's efforts to retrieve it in time for church, he didn't. So we missed church, but it was a nice feeling to finally have our things. Monday came, and Rhett addressed the cockroach problem with the housing manager. Tuesday, we were out and into a new place--cockroach free, with actually matching sheets and dishes. Woohoo! We were living the life!

And now, a bit about the pictures. (I wish I could write more, but the internet is flaking out, and I want to make sure this gets posted before it crashes!)

This is me and Summer with Pao de Acucar in the background. We rode up this little tram to the first Brazilian "mountain" and then rode another one to the one you can see in the picture. The view was beautiful, and we got to see some monkeys playing in the wild.   

Here's "the wild" on Pao de Acucar. (The trash can goes well with the leaves, doesn't it?)

And a few pictures of the beach . . . this first one is for you, Bry. I thought you'd like the little addition on the right. haha. Just kidding. Just me and Summer looking at the waves (with that little addition, of course).

Rhett and Summer running from the waves. She loves it.

Dad and daughter strolling the beach.

And once again, hopefully we'll be getting the internet soon, and then we will post some serious pictures of our life here in Brazil.

She's Growing!

Lately, Summer's been really interested in her feet. She loves to play with them any way she can. This picture shows one of her favorite poses that she sits in often. She'll usually kick her foot up and down while she holds on to it, so her arm goes up and down too.
And here she is modeling her new swimsuit for Brazil.
And yes, we're potty training her. We actually started in March--March 3 to be exact. The first day, I just sat her on the potty to help her get used to it. The second day she sat on it, out came a little pooper! And she's been going ever since. She, of course, doesn't communicate to us when she needs to go, but we take her in every time after she eats and she does her duty. She now knows what the potty is for, and the moment we sit her on it, she starts pushing out whatever is there. We hear the little plop, then cheer and clap and "yeah!" for her. We are so proud of her. And eventually (hopefully soon) she'll start some sign language with us and tell us when she needs to go. (Anyone else interested in early potty training--I checked out Diaper Free Baby at the library.)
One day, I heard her rummaging around in her bottom drawer in the kitchen (full of weird spoons that I never use) and I went in to check on her. I saw this.
How in the world was she so tall? I wondered. I walked around the back of her and realized she had stepped up onto the bottom drawer! This is her favorite thing to do now--which of course I'm not a fan of because it's so dangerous. But she gets a few minutes in before I realize that's what she's doing again and help her down.

Going Private . . .

Well, it's time. We've decided to go private. So please send me an email at brittney.barney@gmail.com so I make sure I get an invite out to you. We plan to be private by May 20 or thereabouts.
So let me know!

In the meantime, we're coaching Summer to start walking, we're making packing lists and to do lists for Brazil, Rhett's studying for finals, and I'm now teaching three piano students. Summer and I had a great time visiting the latest addition to the Searle family: Noah Nelson, and we sure miss him now!