Brazil Part 3

If you've made it through all of my Brazil posts, kudos to you! This is the final one, so buckle up! I'll cover shopping, Penny growing up, home, and mission life.

Shopping

• Malls: are a big deal in Brazil! There are many malls and they're huge with several floors. I'm not sure what the big draw is, but they are air conditioned which provides a good respite from the heat! Many of the malls have movie theaters inside and we even saw a gym in one! Malls have several kid-friendly attractions. Some allow you to pay and let your kids play while you shop. You can rent little jeeps for your kids to drive through the mall and better yet, you can even rent one that allows you to control where your child drives/goes. My kids are old enough, we let them take the reigns. 

I was most interested in going to the Melissa shoe store and Farm. Melissa shoes cost a fraction of the price in Brazil that they cost in in the US. I got 2 pairs of Melissa shoes: hot pink sandals and beige sandals. They're extremely comfortable! Izzy's birthday is soon and my mom got her daisy sandals for her special day. There are several Melissa shoe stores and we went to a few because each has different styles. My mom discovered a store called "Farm" that sells amazing dresses. The dresses sold at Farm are sold at Anthropologie in the United States which is out of my budget. One of the employees at Farm found the perfect dress for me and it was purple (my favorite)! I couldn't pass it up. The dress sells for $200 at Anthropologie. I got the dress for less than half of that! ($75)

Shoes, dress, and earrings from Brazil

• Craft Fair Earrings: on Saturday mornings, there is a local craft fair. My mom told me she thought I would love the earrings there and she was right! Earrings are the accessory I wear most. We found some keepers and they were dirt cheap. I may or may not have purchased several pairs for a favorite things gift exchange later this year... I also got some earrings to bring home for a couple of friends. My mom gave Izzy a pair of dangly earrings to go along with her new shoes for her birthday. I also got a perfect, pink crocheted doily. 

• Kid Souvenirs: someday I'm hopeful that my kids will want something besides stuffies as souvenirs. This is my current phase of life though! At Iguazu Falls, the kids picked out birds that reminded them of the bird park we went to. They snuggled with and slept with these every night. At the zoo, the kids picked out monkeys and named them Goldie and Roxa (pronounced "Hosha" which means purple in Portuguese). Penny also got a bird.

Growing Up: Penelope changed right before my parent's eyes! Before the trip, she could sit up, but never would. She would arch her back and really disliked it. While in Brazil, Penny started sitting like a champ. She also decided it would be a good time to grow 2 teeth. Yes, 2! She slept horribly the entire trip and it answered a lot of questions when we saw the teeth pop through. Penelope went with the flow and took her naps on-the-go sometimes. She did start to have loud opinions about her carseat on car rides there which was a new development...

Home: how come I felt like I was home even though I was over 5,000 miles from my said home? My parent's home feels the same because they're in it. They went overboard to make everything nice for us. Here are some of the things they did that stand out:

• Daily wrapped presents: yes, you read that correctly. My kids got to open a little gift each morning when they woke up. They asked the instant their eyes opened to reveal their gift. Even though my parent's have been gone for 2 years, my mom is not out of touch with what my kids like. Their daily gifts included lots of stickers, coloring books, action figures, dolls, etc. and the kids were endlessly entertained.

• Workout equipment: my parent's have a teeny workout room. I got to workout in the mornings and it felt so good. I often worked out with my mom on the machine next to me and we talked a mile a minute. It reminded me of the old days. In addition to workout machines, we also walked a ton! I got over 10,000 steps everyday the first week I think.
• Home cooked meals: I don't know what my mom's secret ingredient is, but my food never tastes as good as hers. Even with different ingredients that she can't get in Brazil her spaghetti was more flavorful than mine! I couldn't resist her cookies either. She tried a recipe I like-- Mississippi pot roast and it was so tender and moist. She also made a yummy chocolate cake, tacos, and other things I'm failing to mention. I felt so taken care of! Someone was cooking for me for once! I was in no rush to get back to cooking on the daily for little tummies that are always grumbling. My mom also bought a variety of Snickers candy bars and we had a taste test to see which flavor was best. Let me just say that nobody picked passion fruit...

• Crafts: my mom started pressing flowers for my kids right after we booked our flights to Brazil. She had flowers pressed for months and pulled them out to do a craft with my kids! How thoughtful! My mom also made homemade playdough that the kids loved! She got supplies for bracelets too which kept the kids busy and happy.

• Apple chips: my dad brought his dehydrator to Brazil and still snacks on apple chips like they're chocolate. My kids had forgotten my dad made apple chips which broke my heart. He used to give the kids a bag full of them to enjoy on our drive home. My kids got to make apple chips with Papa! This brought me pure joy! Now maybe Papa can be remembered for that again!

• Games: in the evenings, we played games with the kids before bed. My parent's taught them how to play a classic favorite of theirs-- Dominoes! 

• Cooking show MasterChef: Andrew and I got hooked on this show! We watched episodes each night with my parent's! It's such a fun competition. When we got home, we sadly learned that we can't access the episodes in the US. Andrew and I have instead been watching the show "Chopped" to get our cooking fix in.
• Balcony: my parent's have some good views from their apartment. Most nights we ended up eating popsicles taking in the perspective. My dad even moved his exercise bike and worked out on the balcony while we were there so Penny could sleep in peace.

Mission Life: I read my mom's diligent weekly emails and stay in touch with my parent's regularly, but seeing how much my parent's do first-hand was mind-boggling. When they're done with this gig, they might need to hibernate and take the longest nap known to man. They definitely have the energy for it though and their 150 missionaries are lucky. My parent's are assigned to speak in many stake conferences throughout the year and while we were there, we got to listen to them speak. They thought ahead and had missionaries sit by us and translate the meeting which was much appreciated! Though, Andrew diligently did Duo Lingo for 331 days before our trip! What a guy! If you know my mom, you know of her love for music. She opted for playing a piano duet with me to replace her talk. She did talk briefly and introduced the song, "The Spirit of God" and testified. How amazing that my mom can speak the language! She's studied so hard. We played the duet on a keyboard at the stake center and it wasn't the best instrument to say the least but I appreciated the experience. Soon enough we'll be whipping out "Sound of Music Duets" again for fun.

My dad interviewed missionaries while we were there. This is time consuming and mentally taxing. Imagine having 150 kids! They had one of their most challenging weeks while we were there and some of the stuff you just can't make up. My mom deals with missionary health concerns. She gets pictures of all sorts of gross body parts, warts, and hears many details that are TMI but she handles it all beautifully. 

My parent's do a lot of traveling because their mission spans a huge area! It's bigger than the state of UT. n fact, a handful of missionaries are in another time zone. This means that my parent's do mission prayer twice each morning. Once at 6:45am and again at 7:45am. James cherished morning prayer and was up plenty early for it. My parent's also do zoom family home evening and I got to answer some questions during that. My mom recorded my kids singing "Book of Mormon Stories" and played that for the missionaries as well. You can't get much cuter than that. In case you're wondering, my parent's haven't changed much. My dad still rises at 3:45am each morning (Sometimes 4) and works out. My mom still makes cookies around the clock for the missionaries and weas her wrinkle patch each night. (Shhh that's a secret.)

We all signed the mission quilt! Huge shoutout to Andrew who worked remotely the second week of our trip. He stayed at the house while my mom and I took the kids on adventures. Andrew only had to take 4 days off of work for this trip thanks to the holiday-- Memorial Day.

We drove by the new temple sight in Ribeirão Preto! It's in a nice area. A couple of weeks after we left, my parent's got to go to the groundbreaking for the new temple. It won't be completed before my parent's finish.

Leaving was sad. I cried which doesn't happen often. The end of my parent's mission finally seems within reach now though. They will be home in 1 year! We changed our flight home. Originally we planned on breaking the trip up again and staying a night in LA with Jess and Chris. I tried to get the airline to change my flight for free and thought I had the perfect excuse... they changed our flight time! We all had a good chuckle when the airline employee told me "your flight time wasn't changed significantly-- it was only changed by 2 minutes ma'am.." haha oops. The employee did work with me and we managed to change our flight without having to pay excessive amounts of money. It was well worth it not to have to get a rental car, unpack for the night, etc. After 28.5 hours of travel (not exaggerating), we finally made it back to UT! (Here are the logistics if you're wondering: a 4 hour car ride to Sao Paulo, an 11 hour flight, customs, a few hour layover in CA, an hour and a half flight from LAX to SLC briefly delayed, and a drive home). That's a long time to travel, but we did it and boy am I glad we did.

The beginning of our journey right when we saw my parents. Can you tell how tired we are?

The end of our journey as we parted and took the shuttle to the airport right before my tears started.

I don't know that my family will visit Brazil again. James seems determined to. Even after such an extensive time traveling, he wanted to turn back around and fly back to Brazil. He would love to be called to serve his mission in Brazil. What an unforgettable and remarkable trip we had. I am so thankful that we got to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you mom and dad for everything! I can't believe we actually went to Brazil.

Brazil Part 2

Let me introduce you to "Tiago" and "Isabelly." These are the kids names in Portuguese. How cute! Penelope's name remains the same in English and Portuguese. 

This post will cover the city of Ribeirão Preto, the food we sampled, and some activities we did.

Ribeirão Preto

Seeing where my parents reside was delightful! My mom asked me what surprised me most about Ribeirão Preto. My response: "it's so pretty!" There is a beautiful skyline with blue skies and farmland. It's really green. Apparently my sister Jessica said the same thing after visiting! 

My parents live in the heart of the city. You can hear traffic and city noise in their apartment. They live on the 9th floor. Their location is prime. Their parking situation is iffy at best. They have 2 cars and have to maneuver them at impossible angles to fit them in the parking garage. The city is so walkable which I fell in love with. They can walk to the mission office, the grocery store, etc. Ribeirão was quaint. The employees at the local shops know my parents. There is a town square that has a fountain and once when we were walking by someone was dressed as Michael Jackson dancing and lip syncing. I thought it was hysterical. There is pretty graffiti around (and some that is not so pretty or intentional). Driving in the city is an experience. There are motorcyclists galore, pedestrians cross whenever they feel like it, red lights don't mean anything, and you can make a lane whenever because painted lines on the road don't matter. And people say UT has crazy drivers...

The city is poor and the streets are full of liter. It was devastating to see so many favelas (shacks, shanties or slums). It was eye-opening and made me feel bad for wanting more (like a finished basement). Ribeirão Preto has about 700,000 residents. My kids giggled and used the term "paralelepipedo" as much as possible. You say it "poly lily pee pee doo." No wonder they like it. It's full of potty words. It means cobblestone. I guess in Ribeirão Preto they are required to preserve the cobblestone streets. This means you're in for some bumpy rides. The sidewalks aren't flat either. Something else that was interesting is that the sidewalks of the city are hosed/sprayed off each morning.

Food

As per usual, the trip revolved around meals. Call me a foodie. Comparing pizza in Brazil to pizza in UT is like comparing apples and oranges. Not the same. That didn't stop us from trying though. We had and enjoyed Pizza Hut and Dominos. We also got to try Brazilian food. When we stayed in the hotel at the falls, there was a huge buffet breakfast full of items I've never tasted. Here are some of the other foods and places we tried:

• Toca do Esquilo (Squirrel Buffet): This was authentic Brazilian food. The meats were so tender and mouth-watering. The rice and beans were terrific too. I ate my money's worth here. The chicken and pot-roast can't be beat. You should have seen how much roast Izzy ate.

• Salgados Bitencourt: A member in my parent's ward owns several of these snack shops. He treated us like we were family and gave us lunch on the house. Lunch included pastels (rectangles) full of cheese and meat. Some were also shaped as tear drops and called coxinahs. This food is unlike food you find in the states and it's apparently the best around. It wasn't my favorite, but I was grateful for the the experience. Pastels are popular there and can be purchased almost everywhere.

• Acai de Barra: We frequented this place. The acai is the best in town. We ran into some missionaries there on p-day. There were several acai flavors but strawberry and banana were our favorites. We went at least 3x. The toppings were plentiful and fresh. The chocolate covered peanut butter treats are a must. (pacoqui)  Here is Penny eyeing the acai. She couldn't get enough.

• Vitaminas: Think milkshake full of fruit. What's not to love? The name helps you feel like you're eating something healthy too. Penny approved and got the cutest milk mustache.  Another place right by the mission office sells vitaminas in a bag and of course we got those too.

• Coconut Water: A must try but not very good in my opinion. Everyone agreed except James who slurped down the remainder.

• Sugar Cane Drink: We wanted to experience this since sugar cane is growing rampantly. The drink was over the top sugary. Whew! Talk about a sugar rush. We did not finish one cup of it between all of us.

• "Eden": Asian place next door to my parent's apartment. It's a vegetarian restaurant and so flavorful and light. We got the food to go and brought it back for Andrew who was working.

• Pão e Cia (Bread and Company): There are bakeries on every corner it seems like selling dry cakes. Leave it to my mom to find the best one. My parents get Pao de Queijo at the bakery for the missionaries. It's extra delicious hot. We also tried their doughnuts, sandwiches, and fluffy bread for roast beef sandwiches.

• Hard Rock Cafe: We had the place to ourselves right when it opened at 5:00pm. The big meal in Brazil is lunch. Hard Rock is attached to the local professional soccer field. Unfortunately they weren't playing while we were in town but what a view! We got some wiggles out as we waited for the food. And let me just say our burgers get 5 stars. It was Andrew's first time eating at Hard Rock Cafe and it won't be his last.

• Moreno's Sorventeria's Popsicle Place: My thoughtful Dad discovered they have peanut popsicles here. He knew Andrew and I would love them. He was right! There were little flecks of peanut in the popsicle and instead of a stick, the popsicle is on a straw. At the end, you get one final zing of peanut butter flavor to wash it down. After we tried one, my dad went back and bought us a popsicle for everyday we were there. Super nice! Funny story: after buying us the popsicles, my Dad saw the owner of the popsicle shop the next day while we were on a walk. The owner called my dad in and told my dad he paid for the popsicles using counterfeit money. What! It was only $10 and my dad gave him new, legitimate money but what in the world! We took the counterfeit bill home as a souvenir. Only in Brazil... 

Activities

• Frozen: We weren't sure exactly what to expect going into this. Last time my parent's attempted to go to this theater, they went to a Metallica concert by mistake instead of the symphony like they wanted. Let's just say they didn't stay. My mom saw that Frozen was coming to the theater and immediately got us tickets. The play was in Portuguese but we wondered if the songs would be in English. They were not. I thought my kids would moan and groan and not enjoy the production. They know the story well enough that it didn't matter. Izzy especially was glued. By the end of the song "Let it Go," my kids were singing "Livre Sou" along with everyone. We left Penelope with a babysitter, Giovana and Penny did great!  

• Zoo: I'm sorry Hogle Zoo, but the zoo in Ribeirão put you to shame. For starters, the zoo there is free! How amazing! We loved it so much we went twice! The zoo is super shaded and jungle-like. The animals there are unlike ones I've seen in other zoos. The kids got to feed monkeys!! (Note Isabelle's face pictured below.)  My mom completed her goal to feed a monkey and she was giddy. James finally got to see a capybara in person. After getting lots of pictures and videos from Nana, James chose to do an animal report on capybaras in kindergarten. The birds! James could have spent all day talking to the bird that talked back. We need to look into getting him a parrot. The bird even laughed!  I saw a humungous and weird looking anteater. Everything in Brazil is a little more easy-going and it showed at the zoo. Some animals were wandering around outside of their cages (like peacocks) and we got to interact with them much more than we're used to. What an experience!

capybaras

• Pool: My parent's apartment has a pool. I guess it was the coldest it has been since my parent's have lived in Ribeirão while we were there. I would not use the word cold to describe the temperature and chuckled when I saw people wearing sweaters and even boots. For a few days, it was in the high 70's but the rest of the time the temperature was in the 80's. The weather was lovely. That being said, the pool was shaded because it's surrounded by high rise buildings. The water was icy-cold but that didn't stop us from going 3x. We learned there is a 45 minute window each day where the sun shines on the pool and we utilized that precious time. Penny is a fish! She flaps her arms and kicks her legs with glee in the water. James was doing all sorts of tricks with the inflatable basketball hoop and even managed to do a flip and make a hoop. I wish I could put a video on my blog.

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• Local library: You know me and libraries. How cool to live in a place where having an outdoor section of the library is a possibility. Also, I was asked what I read while traveling. I listened to "Divine Rivals" which was great. I also listened to the audiobook "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals." I wasn't a huge fan but that could be related to the fact that I was listening to it on an 11 hour flight. A thriller would have been a better choice.

I'm still just in awe that this trip happened. It truly was an unforgettable vacation. I'm so grateful we had the chance to go and spend quality time with my parents. Obrigado (thank you) Dad and Mom. I had lots of practice using the word Obrigado since it was one of the few I knew. I sometimes felt like a deer in the headlights when people spoke to me in Portuguese and would forget to respond. Later in the trip I started speaking back in English so people knew I wasn't trying to be unkind. I should have thought to respond in English in the São Paulo airport before I had to have a full-body pat down. My next post will cover shopping, Penelope growing up, home even on another continent, and mission life. I hope to be able to squeeze that all into one final Brazil post. For now, tchau, tchau!