beautiful day

Getting up this morning I showed heather the glowing orange sun rising in the sky. She insisted I take a picture in case Jeff and Charlie didn't get up to see it. After getting her off to school I loaded a complaining Charlie who "never gets to do what he wants" which is stay home and say, "what can I do" into the car and headed into Paria. After dropping off his school application for fall we headed to a "surfer spot" and decided since no one was there but a guy on a bike we would walk somewhere else. I managed to find the boardwalk that we had walked on before and off we went. On the way back I spotted a school of dolphins--probably 15-20--way out in the water. One did get all the way out on a little jump--tail and all. I guess that was my reward for getting out to do some excercise.

the rest of the weekend

Whew! The rest of our weekend was very busy. After the t-ball games Saturday we headed out to enjoy the warmer weather. The kids wanted to look for shells and play foosball so we went down to the beach and walked along looking for shells. The kids played on the playground in the sand then we headed up to a barish place where they have a foosball table. For .50 euro we can play and the kids have a great time. There is never anyone in there in the afternoon so we have the place to ourselves. On our way back to the car we stopped for ice cream (right before dinner) then made our way home. After a quick dinner we went to a neighbors house to have s'mores over their fire pit and hang out. It was chilly by then so after shivering outside for a bit we headed in. Sunday we got up a little late and headed to the sulfur pits which was kind of cool. After a short hike around we looked for another hike but ended up backing down a few hills which was a bit scary. It was a nice day to drive around and we hit half the island on our way back along the coast. The kids were tired, Heather napped on the way home and the boys all took a nap when we got back. Because it was nice there were lots of kids to play with on the playground until dinnertime.

Monday a neighbor who speaks Portuguese took me to the school to get Charlie signed up for next year. Perfect we'll find out in September if there is a slot for him...She also took me to a few of the preschools where they only speak Portuguese in case he doesn't get into the school near the base. Yesterday both kids went to teh dentist. Charlie did great-doing everything he was asked while Heather did not like the x-rays and threw a fit when they tried to put the flouride on her teeth. Apparently it didn't taste good. Charlie did grimmace when they did it so i should have been more prepared...All in all they have healthy teeth and came away with stickers and a new tooth brush for their cooperation. Last night we went to watch Jeff play volleyball. His intermural team is in the playoffs and according to Heather he "saved the game" with one play midway through game 2. In 3 close games they won and will play thursday in the semifinals.

tball games

Tball was pretty fun for the kids as you can see. Heather did great standing in her position, getting "ready" for the ball that only ever came if you were the pitcher...the kids had a good time.
Heather hit the ball well and paid attention the whole time. Charlie'steam was a bit crazy but he had a lot of fun hitting and even knew to run from base to base and wait until the next kid hit the ball. He did prety well with the chaos that was 4 or more kids running for 1 ball.

T-ball

T-ball has begun! Heather had her first t-ball practice this week which was pretty fun. The coach lined them up to practice throwing which was a bit crazy--they threw at the fence but he didn't initially tell them to wait to go get their ball until all the kids in their row had thrown. Picture a line of 5 year olds throwing the ball while 1 or 2 run to get theirs...they moved on to the bases--Heather pointing the wrong direction for first and second base but catching on for third and home. i guess the field looks different with bases instead of frisbees and concrete! She did great hitting and proudly hi-fived jeff at second base. First game is tomorrow which should be pretty cute. Charlie also starts tomorrow and he is pretty excited. He had a fun week playing several times with his friend Andrew. We're working on preschool for next year but it's going slow and we'll see how it goes. Cameron has taken to waking up at 4 am and looking at me with a big smile perfectly happy to be awake and hanging out. Fortunately he is going to sleep with minimal fussing.

fun weekend

We started off this long weekend with Heather having no school on Friday. To celebrate we went bowling--2 moms and 7 kids (if you count cameron!!). It was lunch and bowl--the kids were really good and had fun bowling. Heather and Charlie got a few spares and were pretty excited. Friday night we went to our last in a series of birthday parties which was fun. The kids are going to have to look for a new weekend sugar fix. Yesterday we started out the day with a trip to the "basket man" a guy who makes baskets in his garage and barely speaks english. Not having anyting in mind I made no purchases but know where he lives in case I ever have a basket emergency...We then went on to the coast and climbed around some coastal lava rocks to find some tidepools with fish, crabs, and some shells in areas that the water was no longer occupying. The kids had a good time and it was a pretty cool area to meander through. We also had a picnic lunch before heading to a friends house to check out the car races. Apparently there is a "circuit" on Terceira--and a few other islands--where the cars race around the "country roads" with stone walls on either side. We climbed up on the walls and watched these cars "race" by. It was fun--a different way to spend an hour or so. Two of Jeff's co-workers who are portugese raced so that was fun. We had dinner at Heather's friends house who lives near the race "track".
Today we headed out to the same lava rock coast but found the "trail" that we were going to hike to be non-existant so we tried to find more cool stuff along the coast. We also headed to a playground that the kids weren't too interested in so we came back home. I went to a movie with some girlfriends (all the girls I knew on the island just about were there!!) and Jeff took the kids to a museum in Angra, a nearby town. They had a good time and we all reconveined for dinner, outside bike riding (the kids) and games before bed. It was a nice, laid back, weekend with beautiful weather. Cameron enjoyed riding in the backpack, sleeping most of the chances he got to ride in it.

Happy easter!

We started off easter early when Cameron woke up and the easter bunny hid eggs outside on the playground in the back yard. The kids were very excited to get up and got ready together nicely, "charlie do you need any help picking out clothes?", "Heather I'll go to the bathroom after you.." if only it were always that easy. They peeked out the window and were estatic to see eggs in the yard. After rummaging through their easter baskets they were ready to go look for eggs. 43 eggs each later they were done and getting dressed for church. We went on base which gave us the chance to get out on the island afterwards for a hike. Armed with a backpack for Cameron, PBJ, and a few fruit snacks we headed out to the middle where it doesn't feel at all like you're on an island. It was threatening to drizzle but we headed off anyway. The kids did great and it got sunny for a while. We hiked over lava rocks, in a lush forest kind of setting, and cow fields--yes with cows!! About halfway through it started sprinkling and was on and off the rest of the way. By the time we left it was 51 out (it was 66 to start) and chilly. The kids were troopers though and said that they would like to do the hike again another time. It was labeled "hard" due to some of the climbing around the lava rocks and unsure footing but it was really fun.

Cameron is sitting up really well now and playing with toys from a seated position. He hates to be on his back and will roll to his tummy within a matter of seconds when placed on his back unless there is something above him to play with. He isn't crawling but can pretty much get anywhere somehow. He doesn't roll but uses his belly as an axis and swirls and scoots. He's never in the same place we left him...

spring break is almost over!

Whew--spring break flew by quickly! Thursday and Friday we did some errands and the kids earned checks for being good--it was the only way we were going to survive 4 stores a day with the three of them! Friday Heather went to a friend's house and Charlie had a friend over so both of them got to have some special time with friends...Today we went to Angra, a town nearby, and picked up information from teh tourist office and wandered the streets there--lots of quaint little shops including a beautiful flower shop which smelled GREAT. We also walked along the harbor and found a beach to re-visit. We then headed home for a party for Charlie's friend which was fun and over to two parks that Charlie hadn't explored yet. The other night I decided Heather needed some mom time so I went out and threw the frisbee with (at) her. Then she said, "hey mom. want to swing?" We did for a bit and it made me realize that we don't get to "play" as much as we should so my new goal is to "play" more and be in charge less. Hopefully this new plan will also lead to better respect and behavior if the kids get some more attention--this is not the goal but maybe an added benefit of playing!

spring break day 2

WE had a fun day with some friends today. We went to Charlie's playgroup and he had an Easter party--egg hunt, coloring, chaos...then we went with one of Heather's friends families to a boardwalk on the other side of the island. There's a nice sidewalk right along the ocean that we walked on for a bit (well the kids ran) then we went back to the beginning where there is a beach and sat and had a picnic. The beach was pretty dirty with garbage, hopefully they clean that a bit more in the "summer" but it was a beautiful spot with waves crashing and sunshine. The kids climbed on some lava rocks and somehow Charlie didn't hurt himself as he was off balance half the time...Then we came home and played outside even more at the playgrounds near our house. It was a gorgeous day...unfortunately we woke up to rain today...

spring break is here

Although it's certainly not a break for me ;-). We ended the day Sunday making easter bunnies out of tin cans which turned out cute. In the morning we dyed easter eggs which was quite fun. the colors weren't dynamic but the kids had fun dying their fingers, paper towels, and the cardboard under their egg dye. All in all the eggs turned out like a 6 and 4 year old did the work and they were delighted! It turned into a beautiful day so we spent a good deal of the afternoon at the park with one of Heather's friends then finished up playing a few games before bed. Heather has become a good "reader" and read a whole book that her grandma gave her. Charlie doesn't want to be left behind and is actually very good at sounding out short words and both are good at using the pictures to determine what is going on in the story. Camreon is sitting up pretty well on his own and playing with toys that are left nearby. Left to his own he will not be in the same spot if he gets the chance to wiggle and squirm his way around--no crawling yet but the determination is there.

birthdays are over...

Charlie celebrated his birthday with a few friends on Saturday. It was looking cloudy so we didn't set up the obstacle course right away but in the time it took to set up a hoop, some tunnel type stuff, hockey and soccer nets and draw a "racetrack" it was a beautiful day. The kids played outside for a while then had the traditional presents, cake and ice cream...Charlie was pleased that it was finally HIS turn with HIS friends. Friday Jeff had off so we went on a hike around an edge of the island. While it was beautifl to the right and cow fields to the left (actually still beautiful) it was a bit scary to realize how close we were to the edge of large cliffs. We did see some beautiful scenes of waves crashing and a natural cave that was pretty cool. The kids have started "practicing" easter egg hunts in the back yard and actually had a real one on base which was fun for the kids who were happy to run and get eggs with candy!! Spring break this week so Heather is excited to be home for all the fun we usually have without her ;-)