Ola do Brasil!!!

Bom Dia! It's day 3 for us in the beautiful, tropical land of Brazil. We are loving every relaxing minute of it!! We have mostly adjusted to the time change (+6 hours for us) and the kids are adapting amazingly well (all considering...we'll spare you the details!). We purposely planned a few open days in the beginning of our trip here in Sao Paulo to ease into things, a very wise plan (Nate's idea :).

The trip here was pretty smooth. At 6 am we were mostly ready to go, the kids were super excited after weeks of asking every night "how many more nights??" to FINALLY be the day!

Lucas was our most enthusiastic bag handler. He got lots of adoring looks in the airport. If only he was as fast as he is cute :)

We got to see Grandpa Holloman during our layover in Atlanta. He brought some fun Valentines and we had dinner together and played chase around the atrium. It was a perfect way to burn off steam!


Grandma & Grandpa Hill met us in the airport with a van fully equipped with carseats so we could transport all our stuff to the place we're staying. It's called the Alojamento and it's right next to the Sao Paulo temple, where people who are coming from a distance to do temple work stay. It's quite nice - with a kitchenette and a pull-out bed and everything, we feel right at home. And the best part is, it's right across the wall from their air-conditioned office!!


Elijah and Grandma getting some long-awaited hugs!


That smile says it all - Natalie is beside herself with glee to be with Grandpa!


The kids loved making friends at the park next to G&G's apartment building. They have an old style merry-go-round like I remember playing on as a kid but probably for some silly legal reason doesn't exist in the states anymore.

They found lots of big furry catepillars, and there was a guy playing the saxaphone in the park. Very fun. the Brazilians are so happy and they know how to relax and enjoy life. I love it! I hope it rubs off on me :)


We had some tired kiddos by afternoon. The floor was looking really comfy.


The next morning I actually felt rested enough to go on a little jog around the neighborhood and managed to not get lost! Angel Moroni guided me home :)


They have these beautiful purple-flowered trees everywhere called Ipe - I love them!



We went on a walk around the neighborhoods and I loved the landscaping. This house was especially cute.


Mom remarked that they must really value trees since they let the sidewalk move around it!


Today we rode a bus to a place called Butantan - it has a huge collection of all kinds of different snakes, and some rainforest too. It was a fun adventure.


I'm pretending to like snakes :)

Actually, they're quite beautiful from outside the glass!



The kids loved the fun umbrellas G&G Hill got them from the street vendors. And just in time for the flash rainstorm on our way home!

On Thursday we head to Rio - we're very excited to see Nate's mission, and his brother Joseph who'll be joining us on Monday. In the meantime I'll compile a little list of 'observations' (Katie style!) to share.