Buzios, Swimming, and Coming Home

With Rhett finishing up his classes, and only having one week left of Brazil, we decided to spend some time at a vacation town called Buzios. It was a little more relaxed than Rio, and safer too--we could stay out after dark without having to worry. Here is a picture of one of the beaches we strolled.
Buzios is a peninsula on the edge of Brazil. Rhett, Summer, and I took a tour around the peninsula and this is one of the spots we stopped at. The island to the right (just above my head) is the island that Mark, Holly, and Rhett scuba dived at. Along with lots of interesting fish, Rhett spotted a gigantic hermit crab--almost the size of Summer! He said he wanted to pick it up but was afraid of getting his arm chopped off!Well, along with my missing black skirt, favorite shoes, and black nylons, was Summer's swimming suit. We have no idea where they ended up. And how could she go swimming without one? So we got another--and it was even cuter.
Here's Summer and Dad testing the water out at the swimming pool of where we stayed. It was a little cold, and it took her a while to warm up to the idea of swimming, but she did enjoy splashing around.
A wild ride:
We had a great time in Buzios, ate some amazing Portuguese Pizza, treated ourselves to the best Acai in the world (every time we walked by the shop), cruised around on the buggy Mark rented, went rock and shell hunting, and enjoyed the sunshine. After Buzios, we headed back to Rio for our last few days. We wanted to be back to Rio on Saturday so we could make it to church on Sunday, then we spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Rio again.
This was our hotel after Buzios. And the only good shot of all of Summer's teeth. I was teasing her by putting the hair net on her head while Rhett fed her. She thought it was pretty funny.
Tuesday was a day of errands and getting things ready for a travel home. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time--so no stress this time. Summer slept the WHOLE way from Rio to Atlanta, then a bit of the flight from Atlanta to SLC, and all the way from SLC to Spokane.

And here we are again. It seems like we've never left, other than the fact that last night both of us woke up delirious and lost--I wandered around in circles in the living room of our apartment and couldn't remember where our bedroom was while Rhett couldn't figure out where he was. And I'm still trying to remember where I keep all our dishes, while this morning, the wind rustled the branches on the tree outside our window, and I expected to see a monkey there. Summer LOVES the carpet. She's realized it is softer than the hard floors in Brazil, and is now cruising all over the place--on only her two feet.

It's nice to actually flush toilet paper down the toilet and drink water from the faucet. It's nice to drive a car again, and not have to fear for our lives in the Brazil traffic. But we do miss hearing the Portuguese everywhere and eating the fresh pineapple. And we do, especially, miss the great friends we made.

Guess we'll just have to go back!

Living Quarters and More

So here´s the layout of our pad. I´m standing in the hallway taking this picture of the kitchen. The fridge is to the left and opens up into the kitchen. There is cupboard space under the sink for pots and pans, and cupboards to the right for dishes. That´s a mini-stove in the bottom right corner. Oh, and that´s a window, not a microwave.

Here´s the awesome bathroom. Again, I´m standing in the hallway, so this is right next to the kitchen. Shower . . . toilet . . . sink . . . pretty self-explanatory. And the pia (sink) to wash our clothes in is hidden behind the towel in the bottom right.

And our bedroom/family room/Summer´s room/dining room. To answer a question from a friend, Summer sleeps in the play pen next to our bed, and yes, our bed is big enough to fit both me and Rhett. Whew!

A new friend we met in the ward invited me to go with her to Parque Lage. We thought it was so cool that we went back there the next day with Rhett. This picture is of the Visual Arts school at the park. There was a swimming pool in the center of the building, and you can see the architecture of the building in the pool´s reflection.

This is the tip of a castle (sorry, I don´t know the technical term), and Rhett´s head is poking up in the middle of it. Summer and I hiked up there the day before, but it was a little scary, so we didn´t the second day.

And this is a picture of the water falls and mini-lake in the park. The color is not that great because it was getting dark, but it was beautiful. We saw lots of monkeys, a few bats, and even hiked through a few caves. We were hoping to see the sloth, but weren´t so lucky. Maybe next time!

Here is our great friend Jocileia with Summer. Jocileia´s mother made this dress for Summer. It is beautiful. Jocileia is such a good friend. She offered to babysit Summer for us so we could go on a date for Dia dos Namorados (like Valentines Day). It was a nice little break--romantic, and . . . you know.

Here´s the most recent picture of Summer with her teeth. One day, she had one poking through, the next, there were THREE more! If you look closely, you can see the bottom two, slow but sure.
Summer loves her dad!

All About Summer

The Tooth:

The Walking (with the help of the wall):

The Talking: