Very fun (and tiring!) outing to Mangabeiras Park. The kids had a great time and would have continued hiking, playing, etc. if it hadn't been for dearest Gabriel who was wiped from the hike and wanted to go home :(.
At least we got to spend a few hours enjoying God's creation, seeing different things, and getting good exercise.
It's amazing how much energy kids have! I thought they were pretty tired, but shortly after we got back home they went straight to the pool and remained playing there for the next couple of hours ... crazy!
Well, well, onto the pics.
Looking for fish: Coatis: The easy part of the hike: Getting harder: "On a mountain, on a mountain ..." The weary hikers:
Last Friday we went bowling with the teens and some of their friends ... super fun! Of course, only Gabriel ended up bowling ... the girls and I looked on, ate, drank, etc. (aside from chasing Laura).
When we got home Alina quickly changed into her pjamas, got her current favorite storybook, and went to read under the Christmas tree (which had been set up the day before). Meanwhile Laura pranced around (dead tired) sneakily trying to mess with the decorations.
Thankfully, this year I did not have to decorate the tree since there was a kind soul who wished to do so.
Alina is sooo excited and is anxiously waiting for Christmas morning to arrive so that she can open her presents. Each day she counts how many presents are under the tree, who has how many, etc.
The Christmas season is upon us! Yay! ... That means lots of singing practice, booking presentations, wrapping up the school year, singing to contacts and supporters, making a thousand cards and baking a million cookies ... I do believe the teens will go on strike this year and refuse to make cookies, haha!
Anyway, here are pics from Friday evening.
The monkey on her way out: The teens:
The bowling champ :) The view from the bowling alley: The piggie family: Miche and Alina on the terrace of the bowling alley: When we arrived home: Laura being naughty and touching the decorations in the background: Daddy and the rascal: Uh-oh! There she goes again! A good-night kiss for Pooh bear:
Visiting daddy at the fair he was participating in: Laura having inter-species communication: We stopped by a pet-shop on our way home: Pretending to be a genius:
We're not into celebrating halloween (it's not part of our [Brazilian] culture), but it happened like this: my youngest sister had originally planned to have a dress-up activity with the kids with some snacks and what-not (to which I was not invited). The next thing I knew, her and the other teens were planning a halloween party (they were kind enough to invite me) and some folks from Juiz de Fora (the nearest Home which is 4 hours away) were coming.
Very exciting ... being that we'd never had party of this sort before.
Anyway, since the kids were not invited to this party and since their previous planned activity had been canceled, I dressed the girls up in matching halloween outfits that a friend had given to me last year (Alina's was kind of small, heh) and they pranced around in them for a couple of hours.
At least Alina was happy about that, although she did make sure we'd save her some of the party snacks :).
Laura saying please before going trick-or-treating (in the house): Looking for a kind-hearted person: Oops! Only found a totally uninterested person (Johnny) ... no success there. Alina all happy with her outfit: Laura running away: Trying to get a decent shot of both girls: Laura kept running away to her favorite spot (this part of the wall behind a small tree): No success ... Such a nut! Don't ask me what I was dressed up as ... The teens' cool set up/decorations: My very creative little brother came up with a substitute for pumpkins: watermelons! My sis Marina: Cri and Marina: Laura woke up in the middle of the party and thought she was invited ... aherm. Oh, wow! Someone took a pic of me ... special
