VACATION

March 4, 2017

If you read my last post, you know that if we didn't need a vacation before we started the drive, we definitely needed it now.  

Thankfully, once settled in, we were able to relax.  This (picture below) is the awesome place we rented. It is actually our second time to rent this house.  I cannot imagine how much it is during peek season, but since we always go the week after, it is very affordable.  It’s the perfect place for us – a pool, soccer field, ping-pong, fishing pond, play ground, and lots of space inside and outside. 

 One the first day we swam, Julia could barely stand at the shallow end with her head out of water.  On the second day, she announced, with her head now easily out of the water, “I’ve grow since last night!”  The reality is that we just splashed that much water out of the pool the day before.

And then there's the beach.  My kids enjoy the beach.  We all do.

 The little kids didn’t remember the beach.  They had so much fun at the water’s edge chasing waves and letting the water rush over them.

 Makayla was found her two middle fingers to suck.

She sleeps at night from 10:30 – 7:30.

Coos and goos and makes the sweetest baby noises.

Loves to be swaddled.  She’ll give Jeff the biggest grin at night when he begins to swaddle her for bedtime.

She grabs for toys.

She’s almost rolling over.  She’ll swing her hips over but her shoulders have yet too follow.  So close.

She blows bubbles.

It was extra special to have Jeff's parents join us.  This is the second time we’ve met them in Brazil.  We are thankful they are willing to travel all this way to see us and we are thankful for all the American goodies they brought us.  It’s been a year and a half since we’ve seen them and the first time for them to meet Makayla.  Of course, they were smitten with her and she with them.

We played lots of games  old and new.  My family loves games.  Julia and a couple others love doing puzzles with grandma.

 We went to a water park and had so much fun.  My kids are brave.  This kiddie pool was perfect for Julia to practice swimming.  By the end of the day she was doing great.

Football on the beach.  I love seeing these boys pay together.  I love hearing these boys laugh.

I love how the ocean makes you feel so small.

 A bit of brotherly love.

This afternoon we hiked to a remote beach.  Grandparents graciously watched Josiah and Claire.  The hike was tough (or maybe I am just that out of shape).  The hike took over an hour and I am sure it was all uphill.  I kangaroo carried Makayla on the way up.  She slept the entire time which was nice.  Coming back was a different story - she cried and nursed the entire way back.  Julia did great on the hike.    

March 14, 2017

And now comes the exciting part - getting home.

Our hired van came at 2:00pm and drove us to the bus terminal.  We caught the 4:20pm bus, arriving in Foz do Iguazu at 8AM.  That’s 15 hours on the bus!  In Foz, a van picked us up and we drove 6 hours to Asuncion.  That’s 26 hours of travel!  Thankful we made it safely and with our sanity intact.  

We sat at the bus terminal waiting for our 26 hour marathon of a day of travel to begin.  Our 10 bags (Jeff’s parents were so generous to bring us 4 tubs full of American goodies) and 10 carry-ons were piled high around us like a jenga game.  I am nursing the baby when Julia says she needs to go to the bathroom.  As Jeff stands to take the baby, he slips in a puddle of water at his feet.  Claire had opened the thermos nozzle and had let the water drip, drip, drip.  As I bent down to ask Jeff if he’s ok, I noticed that my skirt now has a huge blob of what we call “mustard” (baby poop) on it.  Makayla’s clothes and hands are yellow too.  I grab the closest blanket to lay Makayla down.  It too was soon covered in poop.   Now baby is naked and crying.  Julia is doing the pee pee dance.  Claire is stomping in the puddle.  Josiah chimes in, “I have to go poop.”  The rest of my kids are glued to electronics devices  and are completely unaware of the world just next to them.  New baby clothes donned.  1,000 baby wipes have been used on the baby and my skirt and the blanket.    We had the baby off to a sibling.  We hand the two year old to another sibling.  Jeff grabs Josiah’s hand and goes to the right in search of a bathroom.  I take Julia’s hand and go left in search of a bathroom.