January Birthdays

Each of us is a year older now.

Nádya and I each got to mark the turning of the new year by also celebrating our birthdays. While it was my intent to get you told about each celebration separately, something came up, and I couldn't. Okay, that isn't really true; I forgot. Now I really do feel older.

There are a lot more photos at our photo web album, including pictures of the awesome guitar cake my mother-in-law made for me with help from my wonderful wife. And, of course, lots of pictures of both kids.

Hendrick celebrated four months on the 22nd

Hendrick turned four months on the 22nd. At his checkup a couple of days later, he was 9 kilograms, and 68 centimeters (19.8 lbs, 26.77 inches). When the nurse weighed him, she did a double-take, and ended up weighing him again. Yes, he is that big.

For comparison, Kylie was 7.5 kilograms at five months. See also, Kylie at Four Months.

Stay tuned for information about our return to the US. We think we are getting close, just want to be sure all the pieces are in place before the plane takes off.

Recent Photos

Kylie

There have been a few times where the shutter of the camera went off recently. Not all of them are in this album, but it is worth sharing. Some are things that "just happened" around the house, and some are from events or visitors that came. Hope you enjoy!

Also, if you are looking for something else to do, you might check out Karl's blog.

Rio de Janeiro In Retrospect

There were are few things that just did not fit in the previous posts about our trip to Rio de Janeiro, which I thought were important. So I have rounded them up in this post.

Rio de Janeiro is a lot larger than Teresina. More people, more cars, more money, more of most things. What surprised me about the culture, though, is that people were more polite. And not just a little.

The Public Transportation System

In Teresina the idea of getting in line for something does not exist (unless there is someone to enforce it). In order to get on the bus here, if there are more than three people at the bus stop, one must fight just to get to the door. No blood no foul.

In Rio de Janeiro people were orderly, and even polite, about getting in line.

I was also impressed that the equipment (the buses and subway trains) was in very good condition, and often had air conditioning. In Teresina the buses are generally pretty old—or at least get to looking that way in a very short time. Air conditioned buses would be a dream.

The bus / Metrô combination worked really well for us. If you don't know Portuguese it might not work as well for you, but a great many people there speak English, so I recommend trying it. Besides, the Metrô website is available in English, so almost anyone could get their route planned easily.

I like riding the bus around to get a feel for a new city. While it isn't always the best form of transportation it does help one familiarize oneself with the basic layout.

Feel

As I mentioned in the second paragraph, as a whole people were a lot more polite than here in Teresina. Many people said "Hi," as we passed on the sidewalk. And almost everyone we asked for help was happy to guide us on our way. It struck me as odd that in such a big city people would do that, while in Teresina people can be a lot more cold. Maybe it is the heat here.

For being so full of people, Rio really felt like a much smaller town most of the time—just sprawled over a lot of area. The geography of the city could have something to do with that. The city is built within the vales of these granite hills that rise from just above sea level to 2000 feet and fall back down to sea level, all within a couple of miles. There is a lot of getting around the mountains to be done.

Our expectation was that we would constantly be hearing "bolas perdidos" (stray bullets) flying around, in some ways. That is the sense of Rio de Janeiro that the national news portrays. I did not hear any. Though, the favelas are different where most of this takes place, and we had no reason or desire to go into any of them.

On a side note, I have found a couple of great blogs by some Americans living and working among the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

I never felt like we were in any immanent danger, but knowing that crime is a huge problem there kept us alert. We also avoided using English at all times, and I avoided speaking at all in buses and on the sidewalks. While my accent might not give me away, a) I don't trust that I don't have an accent, and b) A simple grammatical mistake would be a giveaway that I am a foreigner. Foreigners are often the target of choice for the local banditos, who generally just want to make off with some cash or nice jewelry.

Recommendations

The following are a few things that one might consider while planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro. It is not complete, but I think covers the major things.

• If you are planning a visit to this great city, then do not miss Sugar Loaf, or Christ the Redeemer. Each of these costs R$ 35.00 per person currently, but well worth the trip.


• Know the basic distance (in kilometers) between your various destinations if you are using a taxi, as well as how much it will likely cost. Taxi drivers pick up the little things that give you away as a foreigner very well, and will sometimes "take you for a ride."


• Museums seemed to be plentiful, but we never had time or energy to visit one. When we do return I would like to spend some time seeing the various memorials and museums around the city. Patrick and Nyna visited at least one that looked really interesting from the photos. Maybe Patrick can write a little more about that (hint, hint)?


• Maracanã [*] is one of the largest football stadiums in the world—soccer, if you are in the US. Patrick and Nyna took a tour. From the pictures I saw, I would say this is on the list of must-see things, though maybe toward the bottom.


• Follow basic travel-safety guidelines. Keep your wallet in your front pocket. If you are lost or scared (or both) do not act that way, it is the best way to become prey. Do not carry to much cash with you (and not in your shoe, as you could end up barefoot and broke!).

Closing

Though the primary purpose of our trip was to do Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate, we did get to do some of the fun things there are to do in Rio de Janeiro. We noticed a big difference in the cultures of Rio and Teresina, and really enjoyed ourselves once the stress was over. If you are considering a trip to Rio de Janeiro, stop considering and go. By far, it is one of the most interesting cities I have visited.

I am open to questions or comments if anyone has something you want to know. Hope you enjoyed the series! (And if you did feel free to share it with others.)

This entry is the closing segment of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. If you liked the series, try subscribing to the RSS feed or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day Six: Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf)

Getting To Sugar Loaf Mountain

On Friday, the 28th of March we went to visit yet another highly significant landmark in Rio de Janeiro: Sugar Loaf (in Portuguese it is called Pão de Açúcar). After our experience with Cristo Redentor the previous day, we decided that maybe we would have better luck later in the day.

(One of the things we really missed in our apartment was some way of hearing or seeing the news, there were no TVs or radios there. By the same token it was really nice, though weather reports are sort of important in this type of adventuring.)

We found ourselves catching the bus after a nice lunch. Then the Metrô, and finally another bus. The first bus and the Metrô were not bad at all, but the last bus was overcrowded. I was holding Kylie, and the driver took one look at me and told me to enter through the back door. This happened a couple of times while in Rio. I think it is so we didn't have to deal with passing the turnstile and the crowded aisle. Nádya still had to go through the front and pay for us.

I was holding on for dear life while standing and holding Kylie near the back door, and Nádya had started a conversation with someone at the front. Soon she motioned for me to get off at the next stop. She had asked a student at the nearby university where to get off, and the student had a shortcut for us.

What our guide did not know is that we had a child with us who is over 9 kilos and does not yet walk. It was a bit longer than we expected. On the upside, we did walk by this very interesting tree:

Pão de Açúcar

Once we wandered around enough to find our way to the parking lot of Sugar Loaf Mountain (Hill? I have seen it both ways.) we were treated to this sight:

Our timing had been great. No clouds for miles. It was not even that hot in the afternoon sun (well, at least for those coming from Teresina). We really enjoyed our visit to Sugar Loaf, for me it was the best day of the trip by far. Very cool scenery, great weather, and wonderful company.

I took so many pictures that I want to talk about, but I think I will let them speak for themselves. If you have any questions or comments, though, do feel free to write them in the comment box on the individual photo in the gallery. I will reply as soon as I can.

Do be sure and look at the panoramas of Rio de Janeiro. There are three at the very end, probably my favorite photos from the day. There are full-size versions you can download if you wish (though only of the panoramas). Here is my favorite panorama from the day:

It is quite small as it appears here, but if you click on it to visit the larger version it is quite a treat, if I do say so myself. ;)

We also had a great view of Cristo Redentor, and took full advantage of that fact. I probably got better pictures of the statue from here than I did up there!

The Trip Home

This was a story in and of itself. Rio de Janeiro is a city of 11 million people. Cities half that size (and smaller) have traffic jams. At the very peak of rush hour we headed home. We had heard that Rio can become a very dangerous place at night, and so wanted to be home at, or around dark.

We caught our bus to the Metrô without any trouble, but when we got to the subway station there were all kinds of people. We crowded into a car and found only standing room left. Again I found myself hanging on for dear life with one hand, and trying to keep hold of Kylie with the other.

I did that for a couple of harrowing stops before a man graciously gave up his seat so I could sit down. That was good. I felt very fortunate—until I realized that Nádya was at the other side of the car, and we could not see each other. I even wondered if she knew where I had gone.

We had heard a story or two about the crowded subways, but I brushed them off as exaggerations of the truth after riding a couple times. It turns out the stories we heard were pretty mild.

The car got more and more full. I felt crowded even though I was seated. Having studied the map a bit, I knew that there was a transfer station shortly after the Centro (downtown) stop, and figured a great many people would disembark there.

Have you ever seen masses of people push so hard against other people that it looks like the waves of the ocean? Maybe a mosh pit (sans music)? That is what it was like at this stop. I was worried that Kylie and I would get carried away out the door, and onto the platform. That was the scariest thing that has happened to me for a very long time.

Nádya fared less well than we did. She had been standing between the doors because there was no other place to go. She nearly got piled out of the car and onto the platform by this mob of people exiting the train. Somehow she was fortunate enough to remain inside the car.

The rest of the journey home was much more peaceful, for which we were glad. I do wonder, though, how all the little old ladies I saw in that car fared. How do they even survive with all the jostling, and cajoling?

If you wish, you can view a slideshow of all the photos from our Pão de Açúcar trip. It may take a few moments to load, but it is full screen, and quite good quality. I recommend it.

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day Five: O Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)

Cristo Redentor is more commonly known in English as Christ the Redeemer, or even "the Jesus statue." It has recently been voted one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, and is one of the many iconic tokens of the city of Rio de Janeiro. There is little bit of history on the making of the statue in several places on the internet. [*]

When I first realized that we would have to go to Rio de Janeiro as a part of Nádya's visa process, I was excited that we might get a chance to see this grand display of artisanship. We were glad to go somewhere other than on visa-related business by this time, and a fun day it was.

Every time it had rained since we arrived on Sunday, it had rained in the afternoon after a sunny morning. With that in mind, and given the high elevation (700 meters, around 1200 feet) of the statue clouds could be an issue, we planned to arrive mid-morning, and leave about lunch time.

There are several ways to get to the statue. If you have rented a car, or wish to take a taxi, there are roads that lead up to its foot. We took the Metrô, and then a bus to the Cosme Vehlo train station.

It was kind of strange to be among so many people in such a small space, all of whom seemed to speak different languages. It really felt like a tourist trap at this point, almost to the point of me wanting to call it off.

We had to wait for our turn on the train. When they sell you the ticket, it comes with a boarding time. The lines were long, and I think we had to wait for one more train before it was our turn, so we fed Kylie.

The nice part about getting that done was that we had a happy baby for the next couple of hours. We also had an alternative activity which distracted us from the savory smell of the espresso bar (who knows how much they charge there...).

Our train was scheduled for 11:00 AM, and about 10:50 AM it came rolling in. As we made our ascent I kept the camera on, and ready in case some beautiful vista of Rio came up. There were several, but the train was moving to quickly for the camera to focus fast enough. So none of them really turned out to be anything I am very proud of. I have put some in our album of the day anyway.

We arrived at the end of the line at about 11:20 AM, having been teased on and off by grand views of the city, then socked in by clouds. The higher we climbed the more clouds there were. I was worried that we had (in spite of my genius plan) chosen the wrong time to get there.

It was not a disaster, though. In fact, the clouds added to the uniqueness of the experience, which made it more enjoyable. I do wish we had a chance to see some better views of the city from there, though. Hopefully someday we will get a chance to return.

As the clouds broke away, the sun actually showed it's face for a few moments, and we got some of the standard shots:

It would have been nice to stay a bit longer, but our stomachs were telling us that it was time to go. So we headed down to the train station for the ride down.

I ended up getting into a conversation with a guy from Phoenix, Arizona about Brazil, and what it was like to live here. He told me something that shocked me: "You have an accent in English." Please don't tell my English students!

The next day we made plans to go to Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar).

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day Three: The Medical Exam

There really is not much to report about the actual medical exam. We took the same bus as the day before with the same long trip (number 415, if you want to know) from Tijuca to Leblon. Because we got there a bit early the blood test was not ready, but we went ahead with the exam anyway.

Once the exam was over we still had to wait for the blood test to arrive, and because the results must be sealed by the doctor when the interview is done, we did not know anything until the interview. So we did some extensive window shopping on the second level of the building we were in. Things that were really cool but not marked with price tags—which communicates that sense of "this is out of your price-range."

As I said in the last entry, we thought maybe we could hit the beach that day after the appointment. We had a couple of things against us, though: It was raining when we finally got out of there, and Mark and Helen had found a place we could stay, and we needed to get our stuff together to move it. (Besides those things, seeing and smelling the water flowing in the drainage from the city again while on the bus re-enforced the desire not to visit the beach.)

Above is a picture of the outside of the building where we rented the apartment. This particular apartment is used by a missions organization to house short-term mission teams. So, while some of the furnishings were a bit tattered and used, it was well furnished. I think there were something like 12 beds and about 5 couches in the places. It has three large bedrooms plus servant's quarters.

Mark and Helen had plans for the evening, and so we decided it would be best to try to get there as soon after Nádya's appointment as possible. I am not sure what time we got on the bus, but I know it was before 5:00 PM. That bus ride took forever.

It was after 7:00 PM when we got there. They drove us and our bags to the new place (probably a whole three city blocks), and showed us around inside. It was immense. And it had water heaters! (Water heaters are not very common in Teresina because the climate is so warm hot that a cold shower is relaxing. I have missed hot showers, though.)

Even though it was a bit dusty from being dormant for a while this was one of our favorite things about our trip to Rio de Janeiro. It was cool during the day (Though a bit dark: Even at noon one needed to turn on the lights to see anything.), and really nice to be able to come and go as need arose without worrying about disturbing anyone.

The next day was Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate.

I will leave you with a picture of Kylie and Nádya by a tree right outside the apartment, and there are a couple more pictures in the album:

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day Two: Blood and The Beach

We ended up staying with a missionary couple Sunday and Monday nights. They are professors at the nearby seminary, and great people. Mark and Helen took us in on very short notice, and we are very grateful. It was no small thing they did. It was more like a series of big things in the end.

I think they would have put up with us for the entire time we were there if they did not already have other plans. They were very gracious, and really bent over backward to help us out in our time of need.

Blood

In order to get the immigrant visa, one must submit to a rigorous medical exam that includes a blood test (or several, really). We had scheduled the exam for Tuesday so that the blood test would be ready by then, but we still had to go get the blood drawn.

We were staying in a neighborhood called Tijuca, but the place we needed to go was all the way over in Leblon. As the eagle flies, they are not that far away from each other, but none of us are eagles (or mountain climbers) so we took the bus.

The appointment was at 9:45 AM, so we left good and early at 8 AM to get there. There is a bus line that goes through both neighborhoods, so that is the one we got on. The problem was traffic, and lots of it.

We were a bit late, but the people were quite happy to take our money (and subsequently Nádya's blood) anyway. Once we got that over with, we wondered what to do next.

The Beach

Nádya's sister, Nyna, had been through this process only a month before, and had given us some advice on where to go. Turns out the beach is only two blocks away from the doctor's office where we were.

We could tell Kylie was getting hungry as we got to the walkway by the beach, so we sat down and fed her some of the soup she has been eating around lunch time. It was quite balmy. One of those just-about-perfect days. Not to hot, and not to cold with a nice sea breeze thrown in.

But as Kylie was finishing threatening rain clouds were starting to form over the granite hills that loom over Rio de Janeiro. No beach for us. Not today. Time to hit the bus stop and head "home." We thought maybe we would try to visit the next day after the appointment.

The bus ride home was faster because it was not rush hour, but it still took about an hour and a half because the bus winds through all the important neighborhoods it can. It rained off and on the whole way. Which made me glad we had not gone for a dip in the water as I saw that the gutter water from the city runs directly into the ocean there.

By the time we got to our destination the sun was shining (where we were, anyway), and we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the apartment of our hosts. We had advised them that we planned to be back around three, and it was still only a bit past one. So they were not expecting to feed us.

We spent the afternoon resting, and I took some pictures of the area from the high vantage-point of the apartment. Mark said that he calls the living room window "the zoo" because one can see so many different things going on in the other apartments.

It was interesting to watch, but I could not escape the feeling that someone was watching me watch others. That was a bit odd.

There are several more photos from the day in our web album, but unfortunately we could not take the camera to the beach because we were to nervous about getting mugged (it is a pretty bulky camera). There are even a couple of pictures of Kylie in there.

Here is a panoramic view from their window (click the image for a larger version):

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day One: Getting There

To the Airport

The alarm went off. I sprang out of bed and as my feet hit the floor I wondered why it had gone off. Then, as the fog of sleep cleared I realized that it was time to head to Rio de Janeiro. It was raining hard (even for Teresina). I wondered how wet we would get in the process of loading the car with our suitcases.

Nádya and I got around, then had breakfast while Kylie slept. While I got our bags downstairs and out to the car Nádya got Kylie. She must have realized this was very odd behavior for us, as she completely woke up, and remained awake until we were on the plane.

It is only about five minutes to the airport from our house by car. Maybe less. The rain had subsided by the time we got there, which made unpacking the bags from the car a little easier.

After checking in and waiting for a bit the screens at the airport started telling us that our flight was delayed. Not by much, but it was enough that they decided that we needed to get boarding passes for the next flight moved back to the following flight. Unfortunately they only decided this after we had passed the security checkpoint. So we had to go back to the desk, get our boarding passes, then go back through security.

To Fortaleza

While I have taken so many flights that I gave up keeping track years ago, for Nádya and Kylie this was flight number one. Nádya was a bit nervous, but after a few jitters she grew accustomed to it and even liked it. Kylie was going about the business of getting some more sleep.

We landed in Fortaleza and had to wait for a bit for our next plane. In the mean time a family visiting from Portugal came over and started visiting with us—well, to be honest, the came over to visit with Kylie. We just delude ourselves into thinking that people want to talk to us when all they want is to talk with Kylie.

Kylie had the time of her life (she loves to see other children, and actually has taken to jumping and kicking when she sees them). There are some more pictures in our album from the day.

To Rio de Janeiro

From Fortaleza we were headed to Rio de Janeiro. But somehow we had either missed the note that we were stopping in Salvador, or we were not told. Sitting on the ground in Salvador, our flights were all running late, and we were tired and bored. Ripe time for a distraction or two.

Next thing we know we saw Patrícia Werneck coming down the asile of our plane. She is an actress who recently played a rather large part in a novela (soap opera). I had watched bits and pieces of the novela, so I immediately recognized her.

I, however, had forgotten about the Kylie factor. I figured she was headed toward the back of the plane where we were seated for any host of reasons except to talk with us. I was wrong. She had heard Kylie laughing and screaming (not crying, the happy screams), and wanted to meet her.

She said that Kylie "Looks like a Johnson's baby!" Gerber is not as big in Brazil as Johnson & Johnson, so it is like someone saying that she looks like a Gerber baby.

Patrícia Werneck seemed like a delightful person, and even though Kylie was not to excited about interacting with her (it was nap time again) she obliged our request to get a photo of her.

She left, and after a few minutes we saw another person we recognized from the novelas:

Caio Blat ended up in the chair right behind us. He too was interested in Kylie, but by this time she was pretty grumpy. I overheard him telling the flight attendant that he was very tired and just wanted to sleep. That he did. The entire flight he was sacked out in the chairs behind us.

I guess the two actors had been in a presentation of the Passion of Christ in Floriano (?) where Caio Blat had played Pontius Pilate, and Patrícia Werneck had played Mary Magdalene.

Arrival in Rio de Janeiro

One of the things we did not know about our trip is where we would stay. We knew that trying to afford a hotel was out of the budget range (buying the plane tickets there was about two-month's worth of income while on sale for half-price).

We had a promise, though, from one of the leaders of the Baptist Convention that goes to our church that we would be able to find a place if we went to the same seminary where Patrick and Nyna stayed. "If not at the seminary, then someone will find you a place. I promise."

Of course, it was 11 o'clock Easter Sunday morning when we arrived at the seminary, and nobody who knew anything about our situation was around. There was a group there who were cooking lunch, though, and they helped us contact someone who would know what to do. They even fed us, and gave us water (the last real meal we had had was at home in Teresina).

Stay tuned to find out where we ended up staying.

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

Three Things About Kylie

She loves to play with her hairbrush. This includes chewing on it and hitting things with it, she just hasn't quite figured out how to brush her own hair with it.

Kylie loves typing. She loves the keyboard so much that she only has to see someone using one, and she will start whining to go over to it and pound on it for a while. This picture is in her stroller; she was lucky enough for the computer keyboard to quit working with the computer, and now has her own for a toy.

She also loves this monkey. It happens to be my mother-in-law's, and is from USBank. I am not sure of the story of how it got here (I have a guess, but will leave that for someone else to tell in the comments.), but Dona Carmélia has been very clear that it is hers and she wants it back. We will happily oblige her.

Patrick Has Arrived

Patrick got here this morning on the right plane, and even a little early. The only hitch in the journey was that his suitcases did not arrive with him. They are supposed to come later today according to the airline.

[Update (Feb. 21 7:30 PM local): Patrick and Nyna have headed off to Rio de Janeiro this morning, and I got an email from Patrick that they had arrived safely. Patrick's luggage got here after midnight last night, so it did not get here "the next day," but he was happy to have it all the same. ;) ]

Kylie: Seven Months

Our little princess turned seven months old on Saturday, so we had the usual party. There were not as many in attendance because of various activities, but those who were there enjoyed it thoroughly.

It has been fun to see people's reactions to Kylie change over the last month, or so. When she was first born people would say things like, "Oh, she looks exactly like her dad!" That has been changing recently with more and more people saying she looks exactly like Nádya. She is growing and changing so much!

We took her to the doctor for her monthly checkup on Friday, and the doctor said everything looks fine. She will start teething soon (Well, she has already started chewing on nearly anything she can get her hands on.), and she gained 300 grams (0.7 pounds), and grew one centimeter (0.4 inch) since we were there three weeks ago.

Kylie had a great time getting her picture taken. Incidentally, she hardly ever automatically smiles for the camera—we usually have to coax that out of her, but it is not terribly hard to do. She actually loved the cake, and wanted to be close to it. In the picture above I am holding her back from diving in.

Singing? Clapping hands? Kylie loves them both. I think I have mentioned that she likes to dance, as well.

We sing the birthday song every month, and last night was no different, except that Kylie was kind of humming along. She is beginning to form words, and really recognizes when mom is talking to dad. She is even beginning to catch on to the concept of waving goodbye!

Of course, at the end of the night she is ready to go to bed. Saturday she tuckered out pretty early, so we were glad that we started the party a bit earlier than usual.

The following is just for a technical verification. You may ignore it. Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Teresina's Striking Sunsets

There are some things I will miss about living in when we move to the United States. One of them is the sunsets. Here are three shots of two sunsets I have taken in the past week.

These are all taken in the same place: An upstairs window in our house.

Kylie Growing

Of course we expect that our little princess will grow up; it is just happening so fast! Kylie is standing on her own as long as she has something to hold on to. She is also walking up and down the hall with help. She hasn't really got the hang of crawling at all, but can scoot around a little when she wants to.

She also loves the camera:

Here she is mid-scoot—and mighty pleased with herself:

She has also discovered that life isn't completely a bed of roses:

When we took her to the doctor shortly after Nádya's birthday for her six month checkup. She weighed in at a very healthy 8.4 kilograms [18.5 pounds], and was 67 centimeters [26.38 inches] long. It is a good thing she is not spending so much time in our arms!

The doctor said everything looks good, but that we need to watch her weight a little bit, though with her increased activity it should not be a problem.

There are more pictures of this little princess in our web album. They are displayed chronologically, so the newest ones are at the bottom.

Christmas: Later Than Planned

My parents sent me a package near the beginning of December. This was our Christmas presents and, while they were told it should get here in time, it didn't.

New Years? Nope.

Karl's birthday? Não.

It did come on Nádya's birthday (the 21st of January) though!

Here is Kylie with part of what she got:

My present may seem odd to you: Shoes. I have not been able to find any here, and my old ones were wearing out. My feet are very happy. ;)