Right now, we really look forward to the weekends! We still only have one car (I have applied, but not received all my documents for us to 'buy' one) and we still do not have all of our things. They continue to float their way to us and are scheduled to arrive in port this Friday! However, it all has to then make it through customs and if we get 'randomly' selected or if something triggers on a scan, we may not see our things for 4 more weeks.
So weekends are exciting because we get to leave our condomínio and explore the area around us.
Friday, we went out for dinner to Fratello pizza bar & restaurante in Valinhos. We ordered WAY too much food, but it was delicious. We started with onion rings and mozzarella sticks. Then, ate a tasty Palmito pizza, which is heart of palm. So good! In addition, this restaurant sells a decent IPA!
Waiting for food is so hard!
Heart of Palm pizza with a silly boy in the background!
Saturday, we slept in a bit and woke to a farmers market outside our door! We explored, but didn't purchase anything. Seems they do this often.
We walked to the gate and registered myself (I can now go in and out!!!) and then decided to explore a fun park/lake in Campinas. Parque Portugal/Parque Taquaral/Lagoa de Taquaral is a place with lots to do. The park has a path that goes around the lake on the inside of the border and the outside of the border. Inside is about 2.5K and outside is about 5K. This park is always full of runners!
There are multiple entrances to the park and each of them are surrounded by food trucks and stands.
We started by taking the boys out on the water! The swans were little paddle boats and the boys had so much fun. It was a warm day, but a little chilly in the shade. We saw lots of different species of birds on the lake and the boys enjoyed finding as many as they could.
We took a walk around the park and found an amphitheater. We learned they do all kinds of shows here, including shows for kids. We look forward to attending one there.
And, we finally found them! This Capybara family was peacefully enjoying a nap by the lake. The boys could not have been more excited. The were surprised at how BIG they were.
After our walk, Greg went to get us some yummy, fresh fruit smoothies and we waited for the trolley. The trolley takes you on a 20-25 minute ride all around the park.
Zane had coconut, Alden watermelon.
By this time, we were all hungry. We jumped in the car and drove to the nearest shopping to find some food (and Greg wanted to show the boys a neat pet store).
We ended up at Churrascaria Montana Grill. This was a restaurant that had a salad bar of sorts and the servers walked around with all the different meats and carved them right onto your plate. The boys tried lamb and chicken hearts and thought they were both good! I was also impressed at the things they chose to try off of the bar, and even if they did not end up liking it, they could tell me why. Alden chose a salad on a small cheese tortilla, I thought they were delish, he explained the sauce was too spicy for him!
After our bellies were full, we started to walk around. We passed a Lego store in which no Lego set was below R80!
And we found the pet store. We picked out a few toys for Chewie as he seems to have destroyed the couple we packed to bring with us. Then, we enjoyed the different animals.
After all this fun, we headed home to take a nap. Since dinner is not usually eaten until 9pm, days are longer! We had plans to meet up with some other Expats at a combined Festa de junina and Canada Day celebration! We headed that way around 730. The boys were given a yummy Canadian dessert (that I am unable to recall the name of - but Greg referred to as diabetes in a square!) and some enticing Brazillian cakes, one was corn and one was coconut. It started to get chilly and windy, but it was a blast meeting with so many people. I had the privelege to talk to a high school teacher from the UK that is here teaching English at a private school, as well as a local college engineer professor who taught in Canada for a few years. There were people from Columbia, Canada, UK, Brazil, US, and The Netherlands. Maybe even more, but that is what I can recall. The gentleman from Amsterdam is known for his ability to make the best caiprinhas, a local drink. He did not disappoint!
We did not leave until after 11pm and the boys were amazing, though they conked out as soon as we started to drive!
Sunday we slept in a little again. I say 'slept in' but we have Alden who is unable to do that. So we consider sleeping in anything past when the alarm would go off!
We got ready for the day and headed into São Paulo (3rd largest city in the world!) to have lunch with some friends. This is the first day that it was "CHILLY" and windy. We dressed in warm clothes and off we went.
The area we live in is mountainous, but a lot different than the mountains of Colorado. I forget that we are in the mountains until we start driving somewhere. Pictures from a car never do it justice, but here are a few.
Mountains in distance
Entering the town of Jundiaí, a 'small' city.
They live in a beautiful house on the outer edge of the city. Alden has instantly taken a liking to Claudio and Joyce and was even more so once he met their puppy! They were wonderful hosts and we had so much fun eating, talking and enjoying beverages!
After we said good-bye, we drove the hour back home (after being rerouted 8 times because following the GPS directions home were a little difficult with all the roads, and on/off ramps) and stopped by the grocery store. I have started to get back into menu planning, but it is difficult as we are still stocking our shelves with basics. Plus, trying to figure out what ingredients I can find here is still hard. Not every grocery story has the same things, so sometimes we have to venture to multiple stores to find things! This time, we tried the Carrefour in Vinhedo as we were told it was good. What we did not realize is that it is a smaller version of the real store . While we found MOST of what we needed, Greg will have to stop to look for a few things.
Goals for this week: power to washer and dryer fixed (guys are here working on it), find Portuguese teacher for Amber, meet more people in the neighborhood, take boys to their school for tour and placement testing, bank account access for Amber (not sure Greg is happy about that one!!) and using more phrases in Portuguese with the boys!
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