Friday, November 25, 2022

The malls are really big in Brazil; at least in Brasilia area. The do huge displays for Christmas, and since we had a big Thanksgiving dinner early with our American ward friends, we chose to go to a couple of the malls on Thanksgiving. We knew they will be busy on Saturdays, so it was a good chance to see the Christmas decor and Papai Noel (Santa Clause/ Father Christmas) with-out a line. The displays were impressive, and the kids even got to ride the cute carousal and taxi cars.

It has been a pretty minute since I last blogged. Just because we haven't gone on a big trip doesn't mean we haven't had fun the last couple of months. This time of year is definitely busy, but I wanted to share an update!

Brasilia National Park: We spent Columbus/ Indigenous People's Day in Brasilia National Park. The park has a large natural swimming pool and lovely hike. We saw monkeys stealing food out of garbage cans, and one even came after Payson when he pulled his banana out of his backpack. Payson threw the banana on the ground as to not get into monkey trouble. The monkey grabbed the banana and was on his way. We happen to also see friends of ours at the park, so that was a fun surprise!

And then on the way home, we bought a beta fish named Fin.

Brazilian Birthday Party: My kids get invited to birthday parties ALL THE TIME! The Brazilian birthday parties are huge. I swear they spend more on their child's birthday than I did on my wedding. Anyway, I went with Zaylee to this cute birthday party, and had to document it just to show how grand these things are. Plus, she and Trex got a picture with all the princesses, so that was pretty special.

Trick or Treating at the Embassy: Since Halloween is not very big in Brazil the Embassy put on an amazing trick-or-treating event. All of the offices decorated, and by decorated, I mean went ALL OUT. The kids collected lots of candy and trinkets, and they had a great time.

Van Gogh Experience: My awesome friend offered to babysit our kids while we went on a date. It was a lovely date, and the kids had fun doing a little Halloween party at their friend's house. The Van Gogh Experience was really neat. They had projectors displaying the varying Van Gogh paintings, and the paintings would shift and change. Then we went out to dinner. The restaurant sold food you could take home. We bought cheddar cheese thinking they actually had cheddar cheese because it is very hard to find in Brasilia. After I got home to unpack the food we bought, I pulled out the pack of Kraft cheese. Ha Ha Ha I guess it counts. It made for some yummy grilled cheese sandwiches later on.

Brasilia Zoo (Zoológico de Brasília): For Veteran's Day we had a chili cook-off at the Marine House. Then on actual Veteran's Day we went to the zoo thinking it wouldn't be crowded because it was an American holiday. It wasn't exactly crowded, but there were a lot of field trips at the zoo. The Brazilian kids on the field trips (and some adults, too) acted as if we were celebrities. We received lots of flattering smiles, shy "olas," and some not so shy kids trying to talk to us. One girl wanted a picture with the cute blonde hair boys. She took a selfie with Payson, and Avenly heard girls saying how beautiful her hair was. The kids loved it when we talked to them, and they couldn't stop staring at us. It is common for the kids where we live to not think any different of the Americans, but the kids at the zoo have probably never, or very rarely, seen Americans.

Meeting Elder Renlund

Elder Renlund, one of the Quorum of the 12 apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, came to Brazil. He was nice enough to take a few minutes out of his schedule to meet us at the Embassy, and he was even willing to fist bump and talk to our kids, as well. There was such a peaceful accompaniment with him. It really is something when you get to talk face to face with someone who is called as a prophet and is a representative of Jesus Christ. It was special day!