Fun with Dad.

I forgot to put the tractor and wagon picture above, so here is a full shot.  They spent about $2000 having the tractor rebuilt and painted.  If you look in the Nov 09 blogs you will see the old view.  We had just finished looking at the 12 cows in the field down below this coveed parking area (garage)

Lucas is deciding whether he wants to take the huge leap to daddy from the wagon!!

He finally did the deed11

Max was not as tentative and gave Wem a face full!!  The tractor and wagon are mainly used on work day when they mow, rake leaves and clean up the grounds.  |It becomes the carrier for the debris which is hauled to a dormant pasture and dumped.

The Guys!!!

One guy!

                                                          Two Guys!!

Three Guys!!!

We had gone on a car trip and had an ice cream treat.  When we came back we saw the tractor and wagon, so the boys wanted to play.  I was the photo man and got a few good pictures.  More pictures to follow of the hula hoops.

Max

Max is growing daily.  He has many expressions and has a sensitive quality about his interaction with others.  The color on the left is the better of the two, but the impish smile on the right is a favorite.

I didn't get any photos of him this afternoon, but he learned how to twirl a hula hoop on his right arm, then his left arm and finally BOTH arms.  The hoops are smaller than I remember, and this old man was unable to do the hip hoop twirl!!  We did roll them around and chase each other.

A respite from the rain.

The sunset was after it rained almost all day.  We walked to the main gate and threw rocks into the ditch.

I had a couple of rough days with a really nasty cold that made it difficult to sleep at night, but that seems to be getting better.

Max played most of the afternoon with a Fernando and two Korean boys.  They normally have school in the afternoon, but the teachers strike that was active in Belo has moved to Montes.

Mateus at 6 days.

We drove across town to see 6 day old baby Mateus.  He is the grandson of Tia Auria, who takes care of the kids while their parents are in class at MTC.  She has been helping her daughter for the past week and they had substitute "sitters" at the the day care building.

Lucas, Max, Sara, Auria, and Mateus

On the lime green couch.  Evidently this color is "in" right now.

Leoandro, Emily, Auria, Mateus, Lucas, Sara, Max, Wem and I am the camera guy.  The new parents live in a 2 bedroom house provided by Leoandro's father.  It has a mother-in-law room that Auria was using while helping out with the newborn.

Saturday morning shopping, May 8, 2010

We went grocery shopping this morning (5/8) and were going to use these carts, BUT the elevator was broken and the store is on the second floor!!  Since it was before 10am the mall elevator was only open for employees, so we abandoned the cars and walked up 2 flights of stairs to grocery shop.  The aisles are really narrow and many, not all, Brasilians are oblivious to others - much like in the states!!  My diet tonic water was on sale for 50 US cents per can.

After grocery shopping we went to the mall food court and had snacks and drinks.  Wem needed to make some phone calls, so I had to invent things to keep busy.  The can to the left is peach juice for the boys, flavored water for Wem and Sara and Zero for Gramps.  I used to be able to get diet Coke, but it is getting hard to find, even in the grocery store.  The plastic plates were used for chicken empanadas.

The food court has the movie theatre to one side.  Alice in Wonderland(1), How to Train Your Dragon (2), and Ironman 2 (3) were the three offerings for the weekend.  Sara was diverting the children while Wem was making phone calls about flights to Rio for May 20.  Show times didn't start until 14:15.

Hi GRANDMA!!

We had been shopping and were waiting in the car for Wem to do some banking.  It was getting hot and LONG waiting for daddy so we started playing peek-a-boo games.  Lucas really enjoyed the interaction.  He does smile a lot, but when the camera comes out he gets serious.  Grandpa made him cry when he took Lucas's hand off the radio knobs that Lucas was pushing.  It was a VERY delayed reaction, as he must have been thinking hard about doing something else or having his feelings hurt.  Mean old grandpa.