….at least if you are in Brazil that is… yes, it was a great week for everyone involved and I am still trying to clean out the last bit of sand that keeps on reappearing everywhere all.the.freaking.time. Where were we? Oh yes, last you heard, my parents were coming to visit the chaos known as our life and spend a relaxing (?) week at the beautiful beaches on the Sao Paulo State coastline (bet you didn’t know that the words “Sao Paulo” and “beach” could be used in the same sentence with a beautiful connotation?). The kids looked forward to … Continue reading Life’s a beach….

…and enjoying your big old turkey, we were taking in the sun and enjoying Brazilian beach life… recap to follow once I have successfully removed all the sand we managed to bring home with us… Continue reading While you were freezing away…

…and yes, labor we did (well not in the pregnant “labor” sense – thankfully – but speaking of which, we need to stop a moment and announce the arrival of another McDaniel [our youngest nephew!] who joined the world just before Labor Day officially outranking Jules as the youngest of the McDaniel clan) … but now back to our story….in our trip, we literally labored up and down (and up and down again) steep hills schlepping two little ones wherever we went as we were definitely off stroller terrain – I mean, did you see these pictures? But, I get … Continue reading How we spent our Labor Day weekend…

…of how we spent our Labor Day weekend in Brazil… that’s right. It was time for another fun family road trip – this time to the beautiful gold mining town of Ouro Preto in the Brazilian State Minas Gerais. The 8-hour drive (yes 8 hours with 2 kids!) there was uneventful and perhaps too easy so that we opted to make a stop on the way back to visit another city (Tiradentes). Unfortunately this side-trip resulted in navigational chaos as Emily sent us in the wrong direction for 2 hours [and no, we did not miss any obvious signs … … Continue reading Sneak Peek..

Memorial Day weekend – for some, it’s the arrival of summer, for others (like us), it means we’re heading into winter. To make the most of our impending winter weather, we escaped to the beautiful winter get-away region of Campos do Jordao – a truly beautiful part of Sao Paulo State, very much worth the 3 hour drive into the mountains. In case the picture don’t sway you, suffice it to say that the area is also known as “little Switzerland” where chocolate and fondue are plentiful food options (and yes, we ask our Swiss readers if there is a … Continue reading Campos do Jordao