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.

Christmas 2010

Kylie, Nádya, Karl, and Hendrick on Christmas 2010

We had a simple, but enjoyable Christmas with Nádya's family. We had lunch Christmas day instead of the usual Brazilian tradition of celebrating at midnight after Christmas Eve; mostly because the kids would not have made it that long into the night.

Lunch was a marinated turkey, rice, beans, and a fruit salad. All of which were spectacular. Especially the turkey gravy. Dessert was a chocolate bunt cake filled with passion fruit mousse. I would still like another piece of that.

Kylie got a bike for Christmas.

Kylie giving her great-grandmother a checkup with her new Dr. set.

More pictures can be found at our Picasa Web Album.

Hendrick: Three Months

Hendrick is a big boy. On the 21^st we took him for a checkup, and he weighed 7.05 kilograms (15.54 lbs), and measured 63.5 centimeters (25 in). He is quite the little guy, and we love having him around. He loves to smile and laugh almost as much as he likes to eat. He traveled great on our recent trip to Fortaleza, and he is outgrowing clothes faster than we can change them.

Family singing to sleepy Hendrick.

Mickey Mouse Cake

There are more pictures in our album.

See also, Kylie: Three Months

Kylie Clowning Around

Kylie Clowning Around

Kylie got some paints recently, and discovered that they stuck to her skin. She asked to be painted as a clown, and here is the result.

Fortaleza Trip

Last Monday we went to Fortaleza to apply for Hendrick's Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and his US Passport. Monday night we got on a bus, but only after much anticipation from Kylie. She was more excited to be on the bus and going somewhere than anyone. After settling in for the eight to ten hour ride, though, she settled down and went to sleep.

More than a couple times when we have traveled, we have encountered taxi drivers that either don't know the part of town we are going to, or want to run up the meter. I decided that planning ahead and printing out a map with directions would be better. It was a great idea. The taxi driver took us right to the address on the map.

Except the address was wrong.

I am still not sure how that happened, but once we got it figured out the address was wrong, I went from my memory. The problem was, that this guy had no interest in what I remembered, and insisted on getting more phone credits and calling for directions (all while the meter was running, of course). He came back with the same information I remembered, and we were on our way.

We now have a new family rule: Don't get in taxis where the driver is really old.

At the Consular Agent, we submitted our paperwork and discovered that we would have to get new photos, since the ones we had were not the right size. So once we got those taken and submitted, we had the rest of the day to play, since our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:00 PM.

We had lunch at a great restaurant, which I can't remember the name of, then we were off to the beach. After a short stop at a mall. At the restaurant we had been told that the beach was "800 meters that way," it ended up feeling like 1600 meters. But what do I know?

The fun part was that Kylie was so excited about the beach that she forgot we were walking. By the time we got there she had just started wondering if we would ever get there. She loved the water. We played for a while, had some coconut water and ice cream, and then washed up and caught a taxi back to the bus station. This taxi ride was much less eventful.

At the bus station we had some time, still, so Kylie made some friends with other kids waiting there. Once we were on the bus, she was asleep. The four of us were sharing two seats, so one might imagine that the kids slept better than the parents.

The first thing Kylie said when she woke up? "Daddy, let's go to the beach!"

Hendrick's US Passport could take almost two months to get here, they said. That is when we plan to schedule our trip back to the States.

Thanksgiving For Two Months

While it is difficult to believe that two months have flown by, it also seems that same time has crawled along. Hendrick is growing. A lot. As I mentioned the other day on Twitter, he weghed in at 6 kilograms, and 59 centimeters.

We had a party to celebrate Thanksgiving and Hendrick's first two months (a couple days late for that, but it was more fun and less work that way), and also included a friend of the family, Iara, whose birthday is the 25th.

Our meal included pizza, rice, beans, creme de galinha, and a potato salad. The food was fantabulous. No turkey, though. The desserts were equally good (okay, what dessert isn't better than the main course), but I did still miss the pecan pie.

See also, our photo album of the event, and  Kylie at two months.