A happy little piggie filling her belly with goodness:
Now a shot of the little piggie's older sister:
And the piggie's mother:
Well, this didn't happen in December, however, I'm only getting around to posting the pics now ... so, yeah. Laurie wanted to cut her hair really short because it was bothering her. This happened during Alina's birthday party. Actually, she was whining and throwing a fit about her hair during the party, so I cut it then and there. Of course, I did not do a good job, but she was happy with her bob and rejoined the party. We took her to get a decent haircut the next week.
Laurie had a dance recital at school and she did a great job. So proud of her! I know this is an awful pic, but I wasn't too worried about taking pictures because Daddy was able to film the whole event. She's the second kid from left to right.
Alina felt like hitting a wasp hive one fine day and got no less than a dozen stings. I sure know how much it hurts since I had my fair share of wasp and bee stings when I was growing up. In a way, I'm glad she did this stupid act because she'll know now why we don't hit hives and [hopefullly] refrain from doing so not just because "Mommy told me not to". The next day her aunt Marina destroyed the hive for her, fully protected, as you can see. What an experience! :)
We had a barbecue to celebrate the (symbolic) end of our work year. Yum!
The chef:
A friend was back in Brazil on vacations with her son and she stopped by for a visit. Alina sure was happy to have someone her age to play with.
Alina and Lorenzo doing handstands:
Piggy-back ride:
Alina wanted to celebrate her birthday with a pool party, again, so we had it last Saturday. Thankfully, it didn't rain (only sprinkled a few times), and everyone had loads of fun!
The happy birthday girl:
A blurry shot with Mommy:
Let the fun begin!
Laurie swimming like a big girl:
I didn't take any pictures of it, but the kids had a water balloon fight (boys against girls and then everyone against everyone) which was oh-so-much-fun! Marina's boyfriend had the grand task of filling bucketfuls of balloons ... which were gone in a couple of minutes.
The folks chilling:
Happy birthday time:
Alina with some of her classmates:
Still swimming after most everyone had gone:
Daniella, a childhood friend whom I hadn't seen in almost 12 years, was visiting Brazil with a family and fortunately it worked out for me to see her. I traveled to Rio and spent two fun-filled days sightseeing with her and the family she was traveling with. Naturally, we had soooooooooooo much to catch up on. It was just so awesome to get to see her again! That is definitely one of the highlights of my year! My parents were in Rio for the holiday, so they got to see Danni as well. Yay for all of us! :)
We had some trouble meeting up, but thankfully I was staying 3 blocks away from where she was at and so we managed to meet up at the apartment shortly after I arrived. Even though it was pretty late by then (past 11 p.m.), we went out for a few drinks at a nearby bar and my parents, who were already in Rio, met up with us later on.
The next morning we were going to go to the Cristo, but it was too cloudy (and ended up drizzling), so we went to the Botanical Garden instead.
A huge jack-fruit:
Later on we went to the Maracanã soccer stadium but since it's undergoing rennovations we couldn't go in.
The next day we went to the Cristo which ended up being a HUGE ordeal. It took us over 5 hours, 4 of which we spent standing in lines ... ridiculous!! They better change things drastically before the World Cup!
A shot while climbing the stairs:
Danni at the top:
The Sugar Loaf in the distance (the highest rock to the left):
That's the Niterói bridge off in the horizon:
Circular thing is the Maracanã soccer stadium:
And obviously, this is the Cristo. There's a chapel underneath it (inside that black part) and this was the first time I went there that it was open. Amazing, I know.
The view was stunning! Obviously these pictures don't do the subject justice.
A goodbye pic after rushing down from the Cristo. My parents almost went back home without me! I had NO idea it would take SO long to go up to the Cristo and even longer to get back down, so I was 2 hours late.
A last pic together ... sigh ... sniff ... sob.
