Careful Ben! Jackson is making moves on your girl!!!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Playing at Ben's House
On Tuesday, we walked over to Ben's house to play with some sidewalk chalk and with Harley (their dog) and Ben's girlfriend Audrey was over there playing too so Jackson made another new friend!!
Careful Ben! Jackson is making moves on your girl!!!
Careful Ben! Jackson is making moves on your girl!!!
Mother's Day Out
Today, when I picked up Jackson from "school" - this is what I walked in to! He was giving the baby kisses!!! Maybe all this talk of a new baby has made him anxious to meet his new baby brother. However, if the new baby comes out looking like this baby doll, Ryan may not be too happy w/ me. (haha!)
Monday, March 29, 2010
23 Weeks!
I keep thinking - only 17 more to go!!! Here are the much requested "belly pics!"
23 Weeks with JACKSON
23 Weeks with ETHAN
23 Weeks with JACKSON
23 Weeks with ETHAN
I can't really tell much of a difference but I feel WAY bigger. haha.
23 Weeks with JACKSON
23 Weeks with ETHAN
23 Weeks with JACKSON
23 Weeks with ETHAN
I can't really tell much of a difference but I feel WAY bigger. haha.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Top 25 Things I Learned About Rio
OK - so everyone keeps asking what I thought of Brazil.... So I did learn MANY things about my week in Rio.... Here goes!
1. There are cars there I have never ever heard of! Some of which are the Citreon, Fiat, Peugeut and Renault. Wow! There were American/Japanese cars there too that you can't find in the USA. I really loved the Mitsubishi Pajero!
2. One of my pregnancy cravings - ok, really the only one - is MILK! I can't seem to get enough of it but in Rio, I had to put away those cravings. The milk there comes in boxes and is NOT refrigerated. So one morning in the restaurant, I decided to give it a try - I was desperate. Um, NO! Gross! It tasted it came straight out of the cow, dirt and all! Yuk!
3. Papaya is the "fruit of the country" - because it's EVERYWHERE! It's served at most meals in some form and they have this ice cream/yogurt dessert called Creme de Papaya.... quite yummy!
4. When you order water in a restaurant, you have to specify "aqua sin gas." Meaning - water w/o carbonation... I find this very interesting!
5. Everyone is Rio exercises constantly! They walk to work or to the bus stop, they bike everywhere, jog everywhere and then there are the 1 trillion different beach sports going on constantly.... which brings me to my next point.....
6. You'd expect a bunch of Gisele's in Brazil - especially in Rio! Um, NO! There are ALL different shapes and sizes of women in Rio. I was SO shocked to see regular looking natives there - they have bellies and butts like all us Americans do! This made me feel a lot better considering my current torpedo belly.
7. Brazilians eat a LOT of fried foods! I mean, big time! The main one is this dish called "pastils". They make them with shrimp or just cheese or whatever. They look like hot pockets. After day 1, I had to stop eating the fried foods cuz it was just too much on my stomach - especially cuz I'm not used to eating any fried foods. This probably explains why we don't see a bunch of supermodels all over Rio.
8. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese with the 2nd language being Spanish and 3rd Spanish. I couldn't believe how similar Portuguese and Spanish is! Ryan and I quickly realized that if I could just speak Spanish to people, they would understand so we did a lot of that. However, I also was relieved with how easy it was to find someone to speak English. It's kind of embarrassing that in our country, it's rare to find someone who speaks another language besides English but other countries are taught their 2nd and 3rd language in elementary school!
9. A good way to find out if someone is native to Brazil is to look at their skin color. If they have a beautiful DARK tan, they are likely to be native. The weather in Rio is hot year round. They don't ever have to wear a coat or jacket. Even in their "winter" time (which is our summer time), it MIGHT get down to a whole 60 degrees! Crazy!
10. They measure things differently.... Not mph but km and not degrees Fahrenheit but degrees Celsius, etc...
11. The roads are terribly bumpy. I had to grip my belly when we rode. I usually sit in the back seat cuz I'm short and don't need the leg room but in Rio, I had to sit up front cuz the roads were so bad - every bump would almost hurt and I'd have to RUN to the bathroom as soon as we got where we were going.
12. People drive NUTS!!!! I mean, I've been to Mexico many times, lived in Sacramento and traveled a LOT - so I know bad drivers but this was RIDICULOUS!!! They have absolutely no rules to follow. You cut everyone off, honk at everyone, drive wherever you want as fast as you want - it's really really scary. Motorcyclists are the worst too - they drive between the cars - WHILE THEY'RE DRIVING! So imagine this scene: you're on a major freeway, you are going 70 and the roads are already narrow and between you and the person driving their car next to you comes a motorcycle - obviously suicidal! I was blown away... Ryan's uncle called them "organ donors" for good reason - he's seen enough body bags from this reckless crap.
13. The traffic is bad about 90% of the time. I mean BAD! It took us almost an hour everytime we went anywhere... which is a problem only when you consider #11 above. :)
14. On the beach, you will see everything you can imagine - but tons of thongs and speedos. Which is funny if you think of #6 above.
15. They have this sport called Foot Volley. It's so awesome! It's volleyball w/o using your hands! So you can use anything else but your hands and arms. It's really cool to watch and the men who play it are UNREAL!!! They are ripped from top to bottom. I wanted to pull up a chair and watch all day.
16. Brazilians are very very friendly. People smile and help you and it's just very nice.
17. Everything is super expensive in Rio. Dinners - average $50 for 2 people at an ORDINARY place... We went to the big Balla Mall - which is a HUGE mall - the biggest in the southern hemisphere but I couldn't buy anything really cuz it was CRAZY! A pack n play was $600! I bought a paperback English speaking James Patterson book (I read 3 books on our trip - lots of traveling and beach time!) that I would have bought in the USA for about $12. It was $32!!! $43 with taxes! Cars - I don't know how anyone can afford to drive! The gasoline was about $6/gallon and the buy a car about the size of a Corolla is about 35K w/o any fancy bells/whistles. We were blown away. Ryan took this pic of a high def TV we found... It's roughly $4500 for this tv which is the same size as one we bought here in the USA for $700.
18. Brazil is known for it's gems! They have imperial topaz that you can only find in Rio, blue topaz, aquamarine, etc. H. Stern started in Brazil so there were many H. Stern stores around but we got to go to the factory to see how they make their jewelry. I scooped up some blue topaz gems to have put in a set later on. Hopefully, I'll have a little girl someday I can pass them down to.
19. Graffiti - it fills up the whole city on every wall, billboard, sign - everywhere. Sometimes its incredible how good it looks.
20. You don't tip in Brazil unless is over-the-top superior service.
21. When you get gas, you don't have the option of self serve. They always do it for you.
22. I got to see a lot of bathrooms! The toilet paper is already cut up in pieces for you. So there is no need to break it off cuz it's almost like little Kleenexes.
23. Also in the bathroom - the toilets don't flush with a handle - they have a button you push or a cord you pull.
24. Favellas - this was the saddest part of everything. These are abandoned buildings that are all up these huge hills and 1 million people live in the them. I really don't think words can explain this. Just know it's bad over bad over bad. My heart just broke thinking of all the little children who are forced to live in those conditions.
25. Lastly, Rio is AWESOME!!! The beauty of this area (besides the favellas) is unreal - picturesque! These huge mountains that are all off in the ocean just take your breath away. It would be hard to take a bad picture of this area cuz it's just stunning!
1. There are cars there I have never ever heard of! Some of which are the Citreon, Fiat, Peugeut and Renault. Wow! There were American/Japanese cars there too that you can't find in the USA. I really loved the Mitsubishi Pajero!
2. One of my pregnancy cravings - ok, really the only one - is MILK! I can't seem to get enough of it but in Rio, I had to put away those cravings. The milk there comes in boxes and is NOT refrigerated. So one morning in the restaurant, I decided to give it a try - I was desperate. Um, NO! Gross! It tasted it came straight out of the cow, dirt and all! Yuk!
3. Papaya is the "fruit of the country" - because it's EVERYWHERE! It's served at most meals in some form and they have this ice cream/yogurt dessert called Creme de Papaya.... quite yummy!
4. When you order water in a restaurant, you have to specify "aqua sin gas." Meaning - water w/o carbonation... I find this very interesting!
5. Everyone is Rio exercises constantly! They walk to work or to the bus stop, they bike everywhere, jog everywhere and then there are the 1 trillion different beach sports going on constantly.... which brings me to my next point.....
6. You'd expect a bunch of Gisele's in Brazil - especially in Rio! Um, NO! There are ALL different shapes and sizes of women in Rio. I was SO shocked to see regular looking natives there - they have bellies and butts like all us Americans do! This made me feel a lot better considering my current torpedo belly.
7. Brazilians eat a LOT of fried foods! I mean, big time! The main one is this dish called "pastils". They make them with shrimp or just cheese or whatever. They look like hot pockets. After day 1, I had to stop eating the fried foods cuz it was just too much on my stomach - especially cuz I'm not used to eating any fried foods. This probably explains why we don't see a bunch of supermodels all over Rio.
8. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese with the 2nd language being Spanish and 3rd Spanish. I couldn't believe how similar Portuguese and Spanish is! Ryan and I quickly realized that if I could just speak Spanish to people, they would understand so we did a lot of that. However, I also was relieved with how easy it was to find someone to speak English. It's kind of embarrassing that in our country, it's rare to find someone who speaks another language besides English but other countries are taught their 2nd and 3rd language in elementary school!
9. A good way to find out if someone is native to Brazil is to look at their skin color. If they have a beautiful DARK tan, they are likely to be native. The weather in Rio is hot year round. They don't ever have to wear a coat or jacket. Even in their "winter" time (which is our summer time), it MIGHT get down to a whole 60 degrees! Crazy!
10. They measure things differently.... Not mph but km and not degrees Fahrenheit but degrees Celsius, etc...
11. The roads are terribly bumpy. I had to grip my belly when we rode. I usually sit in the back seat cuz I'm short and don't need the leg room but in Rio, I had to sit up front cuz the roads were so bad - every bump would almost hurt and I'd have to RUN to the bathroom as soon as we got where we were going.
12. People drive NUTS!!!! I mean, I've been to Mexico many times, lived in Sacramento and traveled a LOT - so I know bad drivers but this was RIDICULOUS!!! They have absolutely no rules to follow. You cut everyone off, honk at everyone, drive wherever you want as fast as you want - it's really really scary. Motorcyclists are the worst too - they drive between the cars - WHILE THEY'RE DRIVING! So imagine this scene: you're on a major freeway, you are going 70 and the roads are already narrow and between you and the person driving their car next to you comes a motorcycle - obviously suicidal! I was blown away... Ryan's uncle called them "organ donors" for good reason - he's seen enough body bags from this reckless crap.
13. The traffic is bad about 90% of the time. I mean BAD! It took us almost an hour everytime we went anywhere... which is a problem only when you consider #11 above. :)
14. On the beach, you will see everything you can imagine - but tons of thongs and speedos. Which is funny if you think of #6 above.
15. They have this sport called Foot Volley. It's so awesome! It's volleyball w/o using your hands! So you can use anything else but your hands and arms. It's really cool to watch and the men who play it are UNREAL!!! They are ripped from top to bottom. I wanted to pull up a chair and watch all day.
16. Brazilians are very very friendly. People smile and help you and it's just very nice.
17. Everything is super expensive in Rio. Dinners - average $50 for 2 people at an ORDINARY place... We went to the big Balla Mall - which is a HUGE mall - the biggest in the southern hemisphere but I couldn't buy anything really cuz it was CRAZY! A pack n play was $600! I bought a paperback English speaking James Patterson book (I read 3 books on our trip - lots of traveling and beach time!) that I would have bought in the USA for about $12. It was $32!!! $43 with taxes! Cars - I don't know how anyone can afford to drive! The gasoline was about $6/gallon and the buy a car about the size of a Corolla is about 35K w/o any fancy bells/whistles. We were blown away. Ryan took this pic of a high def TV we found... It's roughly $4500 for this tv which is the same size as one we bought here in the USA for $700.
18. Brazil is known for it's gems! They have imperial topaz that you can only find in Rio, blue topaz, aquamarine, etc. H. Stern started in Brazil so there were many H. Stern stores around but we got to go to the factory to see how they make their jewelry. I scooped up some blue topaz gems to have put in a set later on. Hopefully, I'll have a little girl someday I can pass them down to.
19. Graffiti - it fills up the whole city on every wall, billboard, sign - everywhere. Sometimes its incredible how good it looks.
20. You don't tip in Brazil unless is over-the-top superior service.
21. When you get gas, you don't have the option of self serve. They always do it for you.
22. I got to see a lot of bathrooms! The toilet paper is already cut up in pieces for you. So there is no need to break it off cuz it's almost like little Kleenexes.
23. Also in the bathroom - the toilets don't flush with a handle - they have a button you push or a cord you pull.
24. Favellas - this was the saddest part of everything. These are abandoned buildings that are all up these huge hills and 1 million people live in the them. I really don't think words can explain this. Just know it's bad over bad over bad. My heart just broke thinking of all the little children who are forced to live in those conditions.
25. Lastly, Rio is AWESOME!!! The beauty of this area (besides the favellas) is unreal - picturesque! These huge mountains that are all off in the ocean just take your breath away. It would be hard to take a bad picture of this area cuz it's just stunning!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil!
Ryan and I got back from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday... We left last Wed about 1130am but didn't get to Rio until 6am Rio time (2 hours ahead). It was ONE HECK OF A long long LOOOOONG flight. We flew XNA to DFW to MIA to RIO. That last leg was 9 hours long so needlesss to say, for a 5 1/2 mo pregnant woman, not too comfy! However, when we arrived to Barra (the area in Rio we stayed in), it was SO worth it!!!! Ryan's uncle Alex has been working/living there for about 15 mos and was kind enough to let us stay in his suite for free.... This is the view from his 13th floor suite!
On our first lunch, Uncle Al drove us to this amazing location where their were surfers surfing right next to us!!! Brazilian food is SO good too!
Ryan and Uncle Alex
The farmers' market the next morning proved to be very fresh and yummy!
We went to Sugar Loaf Mountain on Friday - the highest point in Rio and a "must see." You have to take the cable car up the 2 mountains to get the full view!
That point in this pic is the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) - we were going to go there but they were doing maintenance on it so it has all these steel beams all over it. It's one of the "new" seven wonders of the world.
On the mountains, there are marmosets all over the place! They come right up to you!
Rio must be known for it's incredible graffiti artwork... it's everywhere!
This part is sad - this is what I called the "shoeboxes" - these are abandoned buildings on top of each other - w/ no windows in most of them. 1 million people live in these things. It's unreal. Very very sad.
Barra Beach!!
Our hotel
Ryan in the lobby of the hotel...He keeps me laughing!!
More of those buildings - the Rocchina.
Of course, we had to stop in H. Stern. He actually started in Rio so there are stores everywhere. We got the whole tour of the factory where they make the gems. I even picked up a few blue topaz!!
Foot volley - a sport in Rio. This is Imanema Beach.
Too funny. These people do not care at all what they look like.
Lunch at the Sofitel - looking out onto Copacabana Beach.
The farmers market has a bit of different regulations as far as refrigeration. It was in the mid 80's this day.
Street performers.
Hippie Fair!!
The beach has coconut water... pretty yummy!
I had a non alcoholic drink at the pool. At least I can feel like I'm drinking.
At the hippie fair, I got matching "Brasil" (that's how they spell it) shirts for my 2 boys (Jackson and Ethan).
At Wal-Mart.
Our new friends! Uncle Alex's co-workers treated us to a TRUE Brazilian dinner and it was incredible... good food and even better company!!!
At the Brazilian steakhouse...
This was another dinner place we went - it was AWESOME! We had to take this boat over to it! It was outdoor and so peaceful!
Ryan LOVED the ocean!
YAY for our last trip before we are a family of 4!!!
On our first lunch, Uncle Al drove us to this amazing location where their were surfers surfing right next to us!!! Brazilian food is SO good too!
Ryan and Uncle Alex
The farmers' market the next morning proved to be very fresh and yummy!
We went to Sugar Loaf Mountain on Friday - the highest point in Rio and a "must see." You have to take the cable car up the 2 mountains to get the full view!
That point in this pic is the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) - we were going to go there but they were doing maintenance on it so it has all these steel beams all over it. It's one of the "new" seven wonders of the world.
On the mountains, there are marmosets all over the place! They come right up to you!
Rio must be known for it's incredible graffiti artwork... it's everywhere!
This part is sad - this is what I called the "shoeboxes" - these are abandoned buildings on top of each other - w/ no windows in most of them. 1 million people live in these things. It's unreal. Very very sad.
Barra Beach!!
Our hotel
Ryan in the lobby of the hotel...He keeps me laughing!!
More of those buildings - the Rocchina.
Of course, we had to stop in H. Stern. He actually started in Rio so there are stores everywhere. We got the whole tour of the factory where they make the gems. I even picked up a few blue topaz!!
Foot volley - a sport in Rio. This is Imanema Beach.
Too funny. These people do not care at all what they look like.
Lunch at the Sofitel - looking out onto Copacabana Beach.
The farmers market has a bit of different regulations as far as refrigeration. It was in the mid 80's this day.
Street performers.
Hippie Fair!!
The beach has coconut water... pretty yummy!
I had a non alcoholic drink at the pool. At least I can feel like I'm drinking.
At the hippie fair, I got matching "Brasil" (that's how they spell it) shirts for my 2 boys (Jackson and Ethan).
At Wal-Mart.
Our new friends! Uncle Alex's co-workers treated us to a TRUE Brazilian dinner and it was incredible... good food and even better company!!!
At the Brazilian steakhouse...
This was another dinner place we went - it was AWESOME! We had to take this boat over to it! It was outdoor and so peaceful!
Ryan LOVED the ocean!
YAY for our last trip before we are a family of 4!!!
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