Wrens are Everywhere

This little Fellow was singing his heart out on top of the neighbors house today. I thought I was home and the pair that is raising a family in the Georgia O´Keefe birdhouse was here in Brasil. Don´t know where this one lives, but there are lots of trees, buildings etc that would make good nesting areas.

We saw the little squirrel sized monkey in a dormant tree near the house today. They are very fast but quite cute.

Septic Repair

This view is the backside of Sara and Wem´s house. Between the houses is a concrete septic tank that has/had a plugged pipe and the houses were getting sewer odor. Behind the houses is a concrete walkway which covers the pipes from each apartment. A 3-4 foot concrete retaining wall holds back the hillside The concrete lid had to be divided so they could repair the problem. Yesterday afternoon they were pounding on the cement and the kids were napping about 15 feet away in their bedroom. They did fine!! Wem is not convinced that the repair they did will correct the problem, but he is not in charge of maintenance and doesn´t want to cause any troubles at this early entry into the WEC complex.

Yes, the afternoon air was filled with fragrance, not exactly the odor we wanted to smell.

A Bubble Blowing Party for Sammi´s Birthday

We couldn´t come to Sammi´s birthday party, so we had a bubble blowing party with some of the neighbor kids. We hope the cake was delicious, Sammi. Did you blow out ALL the candles on the first try? It gets harder as you get older, but then you also get bigger lungs and more breath!!

Lucas Pointing

Grandma Carol, Lucas is pointing for you. He was very excited this afternoon about 4pm when we tried to get you on the web-cam. Everytime the call would ring thru the computer he would point and give a little jump. This picture was taken a couple of days ago on the grassy area between rows of houses. We did some grocery shopping with the kids this afternoon while Wem studied with some other students. Sara is taking a cooking class as an elective for credit and has learned how to make pao du casio (cheese bread balls) using an oven on top of the stove. They don´t last long, as they are REALLY good. Right now Sara and Wem are showing a young couple some of their pictures and talking loud. The kids are having a `picnic` on the veranda/porch. Today was quite hot but the evenings get pleasantly cool for me and cold for the Brasilians.

Lego Trains That Max Loves

Sara would like to have a set of lego trains and tracks for Max. If anyone sees them on garage sale or flea market let us know. Evidently the tracks can be put together many ways. This set belongs to Big Lucas, the son of the administrator of WTC Montes Claros. Big Lucas caused a scare in his private school, yesterday, as a toy fell on his forehead and made a cut that bled profusely. They took him to a doctor who put in one stitch. Evidently the blood caused concern but the doctor wasn´t even concerned and probably put the stitch in to satisfy the teachers and parents. The schools have insurance for such events, so Big Lucas´s parents told him he can only get sick or hurt at school. The MTC insurance program is merely a plan that allows for payment after the fact and gets about 20% discount.

A nice sunset to the west of the complex

This is a fairly typical scene about 5:45 pm (17:45) each evening. That is about the time I head to the cafeteria area for the evening meal. With the dry season starting the clouds banks are not quite as predominant. The foothill straight ahead is pretty common, but they don´t seem to build much on them. Most of the housing and businesses are in the valleys or gently rising hillsides.

Max putting on the paste

Max enjoys brushing his teeth so grandpa took a photo of him doing it all by himself. He even knows enough to brush his tongue. Do you??