Petropolis Brazil

The timing of our trip had a lot to do with this city in Brazil.  Mark served there for 6 months and it was there that he met, taught and baptized a really important family to him.  It is also the prettiest area he served in during his mission.  Petropolis is the old Imperial city and is about an hour and a half away from Rio De Janeiro.  It has a very different feel than a lot of places in Brazil (or so Mark says).  It is much more European and is surrounded by mountains.  Mark wanted to be sure that we were there on a Sunday so he could attend the ward he was in for that time period.  We got there Friday and left Monday morning.  Petropolis is not exactly a happening place, if it weren't for being there for church we could have done it in one day but it was a relaxing place to visit and it was really touching to see the impact that Mark had on people there and how they impacted him.  It was fun to walk around and see the places I have heard stories about over the years.

Its a 6 hour drive from Campinas and you have to go on some scary mountain roads.  The real problem with those roads is that they are narrow, right next to a rock wall on one side and a cliff on the other and you are competing for space with large semi's.  It got pretty tight at times.  Mark really did an amazing job driving there.  The car was a stick shift which he rarely ever drives and Brazil's Department of transportation doesn't seem to believe in left hand turns.  They also have crazy long circular access ramps.  To go back in an opposite direction you can't just turn left or take an easy exit.  You have to drive until you reach a "returnio".  Often they are not super close together either.  His skills were quite impressive.  There were some very pretty parts of the drive and it was nice to see more of Brazil.  I was not expecting it to be anything like the places we have recently visited but I also didn't expect to be reminded so much of Egypt.  This was mostly due to the way houses were constructed, the streets, and neighborhoods.  The people seemed much happier and freer in Brazil.  There also wasn't the distinct separation of men and women like Egypt but everywhere I looked I felt like I was there again.  It wasn't really a bad thing exactly I just wasn't quite expecting it.  Driving seemed way safer there though.  We stopped for gas and happened upon a great restaurant.  One thing they do in Brazil is have you pay for your food by weight.  You dish up the food you want from a buffet and then pay a certain amount per kilogram.  We loved these places and tried to eat at one each day.  I think we had rice and black beans everyday we were there and loved it.

Standard "on ramp" in Brazil.  They were huge.  

We have no idea how many cans of Guarana we drank.  We both love it. 

 We don't really drink soda at home but the Brazilian ginger ale like drink is so good. 

Sharing the mountain road with all the semis crossing into our lane with their wide turns.  

We got there early afternoon and checked into our Air b-n-b.  The host was nervous about communicating since he didn't feel his English was very good but Mark's Portuguese came right back to him.  It was great (as always) to travel with Mark and have him speak Portuguese so well.  Our place was very nice.  We were quite surprised to learn that the bathroom and kitchen were not connected to the main room, that we had to go outside for both but it was clean and well maintained.  They even had a pool in the yard which had it not been winter I'm sure we would have enjoyed.  We did get a lot of rain while we were there.  So much that when we passed some rain boots on sale for 10 American dollars I went ahead and got them.  I think out of all the trips we took this summer I was the most poorly packed for this trip.  I knew it was Winter and saw the rain but just didn't think it would be that much rain.  The Brazilians we talked were pretty happy to have some rainy days.  That being said I can't imagine visiting there in the high season.  We had lovely temperatures in the mid 70's which is my favorite.  It sounds super humid, hot and miserable there in the Summer.  It was pretty confusing to come from hot weather and summer daylight hours and then be somewhere that was dark by 6:30.

The open door is the living space and bedroom. 

 Behind his right shoulder is the bathroom and next to it was the kitchen. 

We think these were for the World Cup. They were fun to see. 

The neighborhoods are hard to describe.  They basically build up the mountains and to get to the top there are just long sets of stairs you walk up.  Mark has mentioned in the past how tired he would be (as a missionary) from walking up long sets of stairs every day.  And often the wealthier families lived at the top.  He explained how the surface of the house showed how well a family was doing.  If it was just the brick with no stucco on the exterior or interior they were not well off.  If the outside was done they were a little better and if the inside was finished with dry wall they were doing well.  The finishing was a clear sign of status.  

After settling in we headed downtown to find a something to eat and walk around.  There was a burger food truck that Mark loved to stop by when he lived there.  He has been home since 2002 but the food truck was still in its same spot right by the cathedral with the same guy making the food.  Mark started to talk to the guy and mentioned how he was a missionary there.  They guy looked at him and said "extra bacon!"  He remembered Mark and how he always asked for extra bacon on his burger.  When he lived there the burgers were a good deal only like 3 or 4 Brazilian dollars.  They are not the same deal now but they were worth the price.  Mark always talked about getting burgers with eggs which I had never really heard of or done so I went with it and it was delicious.  It was fun to see Mark so excited to be there.

Circa 2001

The next day we went downtown again and checked out the Imperial Palace.  Don Pedro and his family came to Petropolis in the Summer to escape the heat in Rio.  It was a good tour.  After that we went and checked out the cathedral in town and found another pay by weight place to eat.  That evening we went to visit some members from the ward.  The brother was serving as the ward mission leader while Mark was there and was instrumental in helping teach this family.   When Mark speaks Portuguese I can understand a decent amount of what he is saying.  With context clues I can piece together decent amounts of conversations but I can not speak any Portuguese.  It was really nice to visit with them and see how happy Mark was.  

Imperial Palace and Cathedral

On Sunday we went to church and then to the familie's house for lunch.  It was fast and testimony meeting and two members of the family Mark taught went up and bore their testimonies and both made Mark cry which then made me cry.  It was amazing to hear and see how their lives changed by being taught the gospel and to think Mark was able to be a part of it.  They have 3 daughters and
1 adopted son.  All of them are active in the church, they have been sealed in the temple together, 1 daughter served a mission, 2 were married in the temple and the son will be putting in mission papers in March.  Mark was so thrilled to see them living and loving the gospel.  We chatted with other members he remembered from serving there and then spent the afternoon and evening at the familie's house.  The food was delicious and Mark loved catching up with them.  He was so happy to see them.  I know it meant the world to him to have this experience.  I loved being a part of it.

 

Ward mission leader and his wife. 

Then and Now:

I'm so happy Mark could have this experience.  As he was leaving the area as a missionary he told the members that he would come back after he was married.  It took 16 years but he did it.  I think this weekend really made the long nights working at the airport worth it.

Before and After Brazil

We were in Brazil for a week.  This was the longest time we have been away from Jared and Lydia.  Back in 2014 we left them with Sue for 3 nights when we came out to Virginia and a night here and there but never a whole week.  Overall they did really well.   Mark's sister Cathryn is at Sue's right now and she has 11 year old twins.  Mark's sister Laurie was also in town with her 10 and 12 year old.  It was fun for them to have some time with cousins.  The hardest part was food.  Jared and Lydia eat pretty well at home.  Most likely because we have all the food they like and are used to.  Sue worked really hard to try to cook them meals they liked but there was still more complaining then I would have liked.  They kept saying that they liked my version of meals.  I am not an amazing cook and wished they would have just eaten nicely.  We talked a lot about eating what they were given and being thankful before I left but it wasn't quite enough.  Half way through the week Sue bought some ice cream and told them if they ate well and didn't complain then they could have some.  I really wish they could have just dealt with it better but am happy it made mealtimes (really dinner was the problem) more pleasant for Sue.

Saturday night Lydia told Sue that she was scared to go to primary the next day.  For the record she has been to this ward before.  Sue told her that she could go to the Primary room and check it out then decide.  They walked down there after Sacrament meeting and she decided it looked too scary.  Sue told her she could choose to stay or go home and have Primary.  She opted to go home. They went to the house and Sue did a lesson on gratitude.  As the activity the made gratitude jars.  She told them that for everything they wrote they were grateful for she would give them a nickel.  Always motivated by money Jared wrote down 73 things.  Lydia made it to 35.  I'm glad it was a good lesson and as a follow up we had our lesson on gratitude this week and wrote thank you cards to all our family members who served us that last week.   Getting some writing/spelling practice in before school starts was great too!

They really did have a good time.  Highlights include:  swimming every day, going to the Curiosity Museum twice, playing at a park, the Provo Rec Center for swimming and slides, being with cousins, morning cartoons snuggled in bed with Grandma Sue, selling lemonade, water and golfballs to the golfers from Sue's backyard, watching the Christopher Robin movie at the theater with Grandma Sue, a shopping spree for a new outfit and lots of Harry Potter reading.  We are so thankful for Sue and Cathryn taking such good care of Jared and Lydia.

Curiosity Museum

One day the Kids were playing outside and they found this little bird that decided to play with them.  They named it Perchy. This was the same day Jared lost his Ron Weasley wand.  They looked for over an hour with no luck. As he was beginning to break down Cathryn went over to the neighbors to ask them to look our for it and found it in their grass!

There is a golf course on the other side of Sue's fence.  A few years ago Ian and Anya sold Lemonade and golf balls and Jared has been dying to do it since then.  They made a few dollars and he was happy to sit and sell.

Ian and Jared also went on a mile run together.  I love how happy he looks running.  We are going to do the Earlysville 5K together on Thanksgiving and I know he is looking forward to training for it.

One of my favorite parts of Utah was getting a chance to meet up with the Lenox's.  They happened to come down to Utah from Idaho where they were visiting family to drop Tom off at the airport.  Tara kindly stayed in Utah a few days so we could meet up.  That was also why I flew out as early as I did.  I would do whatever I could to meet up with her!  Originally I was just going to go, drop them off and leave the next day but I really wanted to see her.  We went swimming for awhile and then they came to play at Sue's.  It took Lainey and Lydia a long time to warm up to each other which surprised me.  Before we came Lydia could not stop talking about seeing Lainey.  I think part of it was Lydia having her cousins there too.  Tara and I had no such problems.  It was so great to see her.  They eventually ended up having a great time together.

 

We were so happy to meet up with Jared and Lydia in Arizona.  Sue flew down to Phoenix with them on Thursday.  They played with more cousins and swam at the Air b-n-b Sue rented.  Once we got there Friday we went to a play zone with Mark's sisters Laurie, Kristi and Cathryn and their kids.  They were all there for the wedding and it was fun to have another family reunion.  Mark's oldest brother Steve has 2 sons getting married this month.  6 of the 8 siblings came to AZ for this wedding.  Before we could get to the play zone I wanted to change clothes.  I went out to the rental car to grab some clean clothes and then came into change.  As I walked in the door I handed Mark the keys.  After changing we went out to the car and it was locked but nobody knew where the keys were.   I remembered setting them on the floor of the trunk while I got stuff out but didn't remember handing them to Mark and he didn't remember me giving them to him.  He got in the car to drive with Kristi's husband Ben and took the keys with him.  Sue and I stayed at the house and waited for the locksmith.  He got there really quickly and then had a really hard time getting the door open.  Once he did I climbed in to look for the keys and they weren't there.  As I was looking my phone which had been left in the car rang and it was Mark calling to let us know he had the keys.  I was so relieved.  I felt awful wasting the time and money.  Mark came and picked us up and we met everyone at the play zone.

Anya, Giselle, Ian, Jared, Lydia, Ashton, and Felicity

Jared and Lydia loved the place.  Kristi booked us for 3 hours and it had laser tag which Jared thought was the most amazing thing ever and some little rides to go on.  There was a buffet and everyone had plenty of junk food.  Jared and Lydia hadn't been to a place like that in years.  I think the last time was in 2014 before we came out here.  We went to one in Utah with Mark's family as part of a family reunion.  They had a blast. We ate dinner at Kristi's after more swimming and then went over to check out her new house.

The next day was the wedding.  We made sure our stuff was all packed as we would be leaving right after the sealing.  Jared and Lydia stayed at Kristi's house with all the cousins while we were all at the temple.  It was really nice to be at the sealing and we are really happy for Zac and Shaelyn. Afterwards Cathryn went to the house and picked up all the kids to bring them to the temple.  I was unaware that this was the plan and was so embarrassed.  Here we are at the temple at a wedding and my kids show up in old play clothes while everyone else looks great.  Why couldn't anyone tell me that was the plan?  As far as I knew Jared and Lydia weren't going to be at the temple so I put them in  comfy clothes for traveling.   I couldn't wait to get out of there.  Plus we were in AZ standing outside to take pictures so we were all sweating like crazy.  Poor Lydia was completely over it all and so uncooperative.  I know she was just dealing with a lot of emotions and me feeling stupid about their clothes.  She just wanted to be with us and go home.  We left as soon as the group picture and Sue's "grandma" pictures were done.

 

Xavi and Staci (married 9 years), Amy, Shae (its funny that Zac's sister and now wife have such similar names), Shaelyn and Zac, Molly and Steve, Christian and Ammon. 

We are so glad we could go and also so happy to be home.  Taking the trip to AZ was a little too much I think but we really did want to go and we had to be out West to pick up Jared and Lydia anyway.  By then the three of us had been away from home for almost 2 weeks.  Just 1 day short by the time we got to our house.  It was a lot for us.  We will try to make it to Ammon's wedding on the 25th but its tricky since school is in session and again, its out in Utah which is an early morning departure and late at night arrival home with the time change.  They are also getting married in the evening on Saturday so Mark would probably miss church which he would rather not do.

Getting to and from Brazil

We did it!  We made it to Brazil.  The map above shows all the flights it took to get there and back.  Jared, Lydia and I felt out of the Charlottesville Airport on Monday July 31st.  We flew to Atlanta and then on to Salt Lake City.  Flights went great.  Our plan was to have me drop them off at Mark's Mom's house and then meet Mark in Atlanta on Thursday to then fly to Rio De Janeiro together.  This is where things got tricky.  Due to some severe thunderstorms our flights getting to Rio looked bad.  Mark texted me Tuesday night asking if I could be ready to leave Wednesday (August 01st) instead of Thursday and fly to JFK to meet him and then fly to San Paulo instead.  He would need to find coverage for Wednesday night and would let me know if it happened but this was the only way we were going to make it Brazil in the planned timeline.  He called me Wednesday morning and said to go ahead and go to the airport.  Mark's Mom dropped me off and I headed to JFK.  Mark did find coverage and planned to meet me at JFK.  Unfortunately his flight from Richmond to JFK was canceled because of more thunderstorms.  The desk agent pointed out that he could get to San Paulo via Detroit and should make it but it would be tight.  I landed in NY and had over 5 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave.  I ate a leisurely dinner at the Shake Shake in the airport and had all kinds of time to kill before my flight left.  Mark did not have the same situation.  His seat from Richmond was one of the last rows and he had to wait for his bag that was gate checked.  He was majorly stressed.  He had less than 25 minutes to make it to his flight.  He got his bag and started hightailing it through the Detroit airport.  As he was on the escalator he actually ran into a friend of ours who lives there now.  It was crazy.  Mark explained as best he could as he ran by and our friend told him he had a place to stay that night if he needed it.  Not only was he worried about making the flight but also about what I was going to do or where I wold stay in NY if he didn't go to Brazil.  I am pretty comfortable traveling to new countries but did not really want to be in the airport waiting for him.  As I was waiting to see if he made his flight I read some reviews about the San Paulo Airport.  It did not look good.  Fortunately Mark got to his gate just in time.  The agents told him he just made it.  My flight was leaving after his and I was so relived to see he made it.  I was lucky enough to get Delta One for the flight out while Mark was in Comfort plus.  Still an upgrade for sure but I felt bad since he was the one working to make the flights possible.   We both arrived safely and lucky for me his flight arrived about 15 minutes before me so he was waiting for me at passport control.  

So we made it to Brazil but we were in the wrong city.  Brazil is huge and it is a 6-7 hour drive from San Paulo to Rio De Janeiro.  Not only were we in the wrong city we didn't have a place to stay that night and our rental car was going to be way more expensive than originally planned because we were not returning it to the same airport but you do what you gotta do.  Everyone of these trips has had some expense like that.  Its too bad we couldn't break our record with this one.  Well, except Canada.  Canada did not have any added expenses so yay Canada! 

Because we arrived a day early we needed to make a plan for that extra day.  We decided we would drive to Campinas which is an hour and a half away from San Paulo and stop by the temple.  We had talked about going to the San Paulo Temple but the Campinas temple has lodging on site and San Paulo has truly horrible traffic so we wanted to get out of there as soon as we could.  We drove to the temple, set up lodging there and then attended 2 sessions and did sealings.  It was great.  They have a cafeteria on site and a small place for breakfast at the lodging.  Mark was really happy to be in the temple with Brazilians and go through the temple work in Portuguese.  We met a group of members who were there from Brasilia which is 12 hours away.  They form a caravan and come to the temple for a week four times a year.  There is actually a temple being built in Brasilia currently which will be a great blessing for these Saints.  We were assigned different rooms in the lodging which was funny.  We each had a room with 8 bunk beds all to ourselves.  Since we had a long drive ahead of us we left around 8:00 Friday morning and dove to Petropolis an area of Mark's mission where he served for 6 months.  

The first of many stops for Pao de Queijo, or Brazilian Cheese Bread.  We didn't even make it out of the airport before we had to get some.  I love it so much.  

Our plan was to leave Rio De Janeiro Thursday the 09th (which is also Mark's birthday) and fly to Phoenix through Atlanta to meet Mark's mom with Jared and Lydia for Mark's nephew Zac's wedding.  We got to the airport with time to spare and as we were talking to the very friendly desk agent she dropped a bombshell on us.  While there were plenty of seats on this flight it was a flight with weight and balance restrictions.  Apparently most of the flights out of Rio to the states are this way.  It means that even if there are seats if the cargo is at a certain weight we will not be given seats and you won't know until they are boarding.  I had never heard of this but Mark had.  He did not know ahead of time that this flight was one of those and all the stress came oozing into him.  He jokes that stand by flying is like the machine in the movie Princess Bride that takes time off your life.  We made it to our gate and checked in with the agent.   I wanted one less serving on Brazilian Cheese bread so after we found some we settled in to wait.  I ate my bread and read my book while poor Mark stressed.   Finally our names were called and we even got Delta One seats.  Mark was so happy and relieved.  We made it to Atlanta and then onto the first flight to Phoenix.

We were so happy to see Jared and Lydia and relieved to know that they had no problems traveling with Sue, Mark's Mom.  Mark and I were in Phoenix for just over 24 hours.  By this time we were all ready to be home.  Especially Lydia, poor girl.  Lydia, Jared and I had not been home for just under 2 weeks.  They arrived in Phoenix with Sue around 10:00 on Thursday and we arrived Friday around 11:00.  We attended the sealing which was at 9:15 on Saturday and headed to the airport by 10:30 so we could make our 1:20 flight to Atlanta.  The flights were delayed out of Phoenix so the waiting game began again.  The original flight we wanted got pushed back to 3:00 and by the time you add the time difference from AZ to GA we would barely make the last flight of the day.  Luckily we did.  We tried to get on an earlier flight to Richmond that had been delayed but the gate agent had no idea what he was doing.  We were waiting with some other stand by people and none of us made the flight even though we were at the gate and there were seats left.  Mark was ticked.  To top it off once everyone was boarded we found out that we didn't have a pilot.  The assigned flight crew was not there so people were being asked to fill in.  We sat on the plane for at least 45 minutes waiting for the new pilot to arrived from Florida and then it was another 20 minutes before he had gone through all the pre flight checks.  Therefore we did not arrive in Richmond until after 2:00 in the morning.  So we got home around 3:30.  I somehow managed to stay awake and keep Mark company for the whole drive back.  He had meetings at 8:30 so he was pretty tired but we made it back in time!  Well he did.  Jared and Lydia were sleeping and I saw no need to wake them up.  They woke themselves up around 11:00 (when our ward starts) and we made it to the last 2 hours of church.  It was amazing that even if we didn't make it with our original plan we did make it there and back pretty close to when we wanted to.  This trip was most likely our last big international trip.  Mark thinks he will work through September to make sure all the exit fees are taken care of and then call it.  If there are openings I will most likely apply but even then we won't take any big trip for awhile.   It has been an unforgettable Summer!  

Summer Fun list continued

We crossed two more items off our list this week.  Have a water balloon day and check out IX Art Park downtown.

Water balloons are way more fun when they tie themselves.  We got 2 packages of the self tying water balloons and had 200 balloons in less than 2 minutes.  We looked up a couple of games to play online and ended with a water balloon fight and Frosted Lemonade.  We launched them in the air and to each other with towels, played water balloon baseball and did "egg" races with them.  It was fun.  We had some friends we hadn't seen in a long time come over and play with us.  I think we will go ahead and buy the huge package of these at Costco next year.  They are great.

Checking out IX Art Park has been something I have meant to do for awhile.  I imagine its a pretty happening place Summer evenings.  When I told Jared and Lydia about it they were not too excited to check it out.  Jared especially was not looking forward to it and guess who loved it?  He did!  Its a pretty eclectic place with sculptures, mosaics and art exhibits.  People can wander around day or night.  Online it is descried as a "non commercial, interactive, space for spontaneous dreaming."  We enjoyed checking out the exhibits, climbing in and on structures and swinging on the porch swings.

SweetHaus Cupcakes is located across the parking lot so we made a pit stop there.  Jared and Lydia had no clue what it was and were quite excited when we stopped there.  They have fun flavors and a cute little play area.  I didn't anticipate them wanting to play in the play area (it has a little kitchen some dress up, blocks and an easel) but they were happy playing there for 30 + minutes.  Our plan was to head over to the splash park down the street and they kept saying they would rather stay and play there.  We did eventually leave and make it to the splash park.  Jared didn't spend too much time in the water but seemed to have a great time at the playground.  Lydia spent her time going back and forth between the water and playground.

The special of the day was Strawberry Lemonade so we split one. 

We spent a morning at Preddy Creek celebrating a friend's birthday.  We hadn't been there in quite awhile and the creek bed had completely changed its course.  The hike down was nice and they had a good time creeking.  There was a somewhat high ledge they enjoyed jumping off and held many mini rubber duck races.  Lydia was happy playing in the muddy sand and I enjoyed visiting with friends.  As we were getting ready to go Jared sadly sliced his finger pretty bad.  He had been throwing rocks into the water and somehow got himself really bad.  We wrapped it up tight with a towel and hoped he wouldn't pass out on the hike up.  He did fine and we got a bandaid at the car.

They also had dentist appointments.  Both needed X-rays.  Lydia could only do the pano ones not the ones that you bite down on.  I don't blame her, I always gag a little when they stick them in there.  It was determined the Jared needs to have 2 baby teeth pulled.  His permanent molars are trying to grow in and the teeth are in the way.  His bottom row of teeth are way too crowded.  He also has a baby tooth in front blocking a permanent  tooth.  We got a referral for an orthodontist which doesn't sound fun at all.  We will get the teeth pulled when we get back in town.  Lydia still occasionally sucks her thumb at night and the Dr gave us a suggestion to try to help her stop.  They suggested putting a bandaid on her thumb so when she tried to suck it she would feel it and stop.  It helped her last night. they said ti would take 30 days.  We hope it helps her kick this habit.  There will be little prizes (like a PB chip) when she wakes up with the bandaid on.

Our friend Laura picked up a bushel of peaches for us.  Mark was so excited.  We are down to 30 peaches left to cut up. We had over 100 peaches probably closer to 125 when we started.  Mark has been working the last three nights so I have had some quality peach cutting time.  Mark actually agreed to cover for someone who works during the day and was at the airport from 11:00 am - midnight two days in a row!  His schedule this week was: Wednesday from 6:00 pm - 2:30 am (the LaGuardia plane was delayed) then Thursday and Friday 11:00 am - midnight and Saturday 6:00 - midnight unless a plane is delayed.  Its been a crazy week for him there.  We took dinner over to him yesterday and then came back with dinner tonight and had a picnic with him.  We were glad to hang out with him for a little bit.