Brazil With Dave:)

When Dave was 19 years old, he served a church mission in Brazil for 2 years and became fluent in Portuguese.

My Dad also served a church mission in Brazil when he was 19 years old, and so I have been hearing about this wonderful country my whole life.

My Dad really painted a picture for me through his stories growing up, and I loved it so much that I did reports on it, and learned a few Portuguese phrases.

The fact that Dave served his mission there too, was a fun plus when we were dating:) 

We talked about going back there together someday, but we thought that would be much later in our lives if we went at all.

Then my Dad got called as a mission president, and we could not have been more excited about where they were asked to serve.

The first time I went to Brazil to visit my parents, 

Dave was unable to come because of his busy residency schedule. 

So, we were counting down the days till we could go again and he could come.

Here are the kids in front of our countdown chain:

We arrived at the Cleveland airport and were told our plane would be very late and that we would miss our connecting flight.  We were very disappointed, but knew we could catch the next one.  

They told us that the next available flight would be days later.  

That would cut our trip almost in half.  

I was devastated, but some kind airport staff worked for hours trying to figure out a way to get us to Brazil ASAP.

Finally, they found a flight out of Boston that would leave the next day, so we waited in the airport for what seemed like forever, hopped on an extra flight and stayed the night in Boston, flew to Florida the next morning and then to Brazil late that night

It still cut a day off our trip, but was much better than the alternative.

The kids were troopers and loved staying in a hotel.

This was the sunrise view flying into Brazil

My parents are in charge of a group of about 200 missionaries.

They lead guide and help them in every aspect of their lives while they serve.

Physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health.

They love the missionaries like their own kids:)

When we first got there they had a group of missionaries who had completed their missions and were going back home to their families and a fresh group coming in, excited to serve.

It was fun to be there and watch it all in action!

Our kids adored the missionaries

One of the major high lights of the trip was visiting the beautiful temple that Dave entered 13 years ago when he was in the Brazilian MTC(missionary training center).

We didn't know if he'd ever have a chance to go back.

Words cannot describe the tender feelings we both felt visiting this beautiful, sacred place.

Being there with the missionaries and my parents was a special experience that I will always cherish.

We also did a little morning Yoga with my Mom:)

Sergel's ice cream was a must!

My kids loved this beautiful park 

It had elephants,

(Only Oaklie was brave enough to climb the giant elephant.  Her brothers wanted no part of it)

giant boats,

snakes,

and a coconut stand right outside.

The kids, and Grandpa were in heaven:)

We attended church there.  

The kids made some new friends at church.

These little friends didn't speak the same language, but what they lacked in words, they made up for in love and laughs.

I was touched by the way they focussed on what they had in common, and found unique ways to communicate and show love.

Children really get it don't they?

The Brazilians were warm, loving, and accepting.

They were patient, and helped me with my Portuguese, and made us all feel so welcome!

Hammock time!

We went on quite a few double dates at night!

My favorite one was probably our wild and crazy hover board date:)

It was my parent's idea!

My parents are down for anything and I love them so much!

We had a blast!

The most amazing thing about this picture is that we all managed to simultaneously inch our hover boards close enough to take a picture without falling over like a bunch of dominos.

There was lots of pool time and snorkeling.

Rain or shine, they couldn't get enough of the pool!

Play dough is way more fun a Grandma and Grandpas.

The lego store, Brazil style.

Paxton was completely unaware of where he was and was perfectly content with the simple things in life, like stairs:)

He played with toys and jabbered away, while we all joked that he was speaking Portuguese:)

He has already been to Brazil twice in his little life.

There were many other activities like amusement, and water parks that we visited, but we must have been too busy having fun because I don't have pictures of those things.  

One of the neatest things that we did while we were there is we started a new family tradition(If you know me at all, you know how much I love traditions).

Landon is getting baptized soon and we decided in preparation for that, that we would go on a special outing with him to the temple.

More on that in a later blog, but it was a beautiful experience that we plan on having with all of our kids before they get baptized.

Watching Dave back among the people and culture that he served and loves, speaking portuguese, doing a few missionary things, and eating the yummy food he remembers from his mission days was a treat.

There were tears from me and the kids on the night we flew home.  

It will be almost a year and a half before we see my parents again.

But we had a wonderful time, and made lots of memories.

I think it's safe to say the kids were thoroughly spoiled.

One time while we were there, I told Oaklie she couldn't do something.

She frowned, stuck her lip out just like this and declared to me, "I am telling Grandma on you!"