Dean has been busy with his classes here as well as his ACSC correspondense course. He has been doing a lot of hiking with his geography professor. As you know this is really his thing so he is really enjoying it. The next month will be very busy for Dean as he finishes up his first semester at PUC.
We are STILL waiting for our license plates, which means that we haven't gotten out much. We did borrow a car and make a trip to Buzios, a beach town about three hours from here. We had a wonderful time there. We went on a boat ride, where we got to visit different beaches and spend a lot of time in the water. We enjoyed the clean water and beautiful beaches there. We also enjoyed being away from the hectic city for a weekend.
We also visited a fazenda here in Barra. They had a lot of farm animals for kids to see and touch. They also had a lot of ropes courses. Grace was too young for most of them, but she was able to try the zip-line. Naturally our fearless little girl loved it!
We are getting used to some aspects of Brazilian life. Of course the easiest thing to get used to is the maid-it's wonderful having someone else clean my house and cook for us. EVERYONE here has maids, it's a part of life here. We've also gotten used to the warm weather. The other day it was in the mid-70's and we were actually cold! One thing we still cannot believe is how late the kids stay up here. We hear them on the playground when we go to bed at night, it's unreal. I'm not sure when they sleep. Of course they are all down there with their nannys, parents are rarely seen with their children here. We are definitely living in a different world...
