Finally Home!

 It was nice to finally be home! We were tired, but there was still so much stuff to unpack. And lots and lots of laundry. The kids started school stupidly early, July 31st otherwise we would have stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few more days. We got back home July 30th and the kids started school the very next day, we cut it close haha. Here are the pictures:

We came home to find this. Our pool liner had torn from itself, no thanks to the sun (this was the exposed end).

I gained some weight on the trip, haha. I have since lost about 5 lbs but we will see where I'm at after the holidays!

A hug for dad after giving the kids back-to-school blessings

Gabe on his very first day of High School! He has to get up a little earlier than he did in his previous grades.

Dad drove Gabe to his bus stop, which is a lot further now.

These two cuties off to a great start! Ian in 3rd grade and Elisa in 7th

Anniversary Trip: Day 5 - Adeus Brasil

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Our last day in Brazil (or so we thought). We woke up again to a nice big breakfast slightly early to catch our flight. We had avacado pudding, watermelon juice, scrambled eggs, fruit (honeydew, oranges, grapes, strawberries, pineapple), fresh breads, muffins, sweet bread, and a caprese dish (mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, deli meat). After stuffing ourselves, we finished loading our suitcases and checked out. Luckily, the same guy who carried our luggage up the stairs carried them down the stairs this time. Erik gave him some of our last Brazilian money as a tip.

We got to the airport with just under 2 hours to spare to catch our flight. As we stood in line to check in our luggage, we noticed that the line stopped moving. The workers kept coming to people in the line to tell them something in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Finally, they told us in English and in Portuguese that they couldn't check anyone in due to "meteorological problems." It was raining lightly in Rio, but we saw on our phones that there was no rain in Panama City. Erik asked if the flight was cancelled, and they said "no." Finally, they took our passports and gave us vouchers for the same flight the next day, a $500 credit on a future flight, and an overnight stay at the airport hotel. Our best guess is that they overbooked the flight and stopped checking people in when they reached full capacity. We walked to the other side of the airport to get to the "hotel." While we waited in line to check in, Erik looked up flights online. We could take a United flight that night with a layover in Houston for $700 each for premium economy. The people in front of us overheard, and Erik told them to look up flights on United and American if they didn't want to wait until the next day. They were traveling back to Atlanta, and we ended up seeing them several other times before leaving the airport. They warned us that the hotel room was quite small and didn't have a window. We saw them leaving the the restaurant as we sat down for our complimentary meal.

I ordered fish, and Erik ordered chicken. I wish I had substituted fries for the rice.

After eating, we went back to our room and booked the flights on United for that evening since we had to get back to Phoenix for the kids' first day of school on Monday. Erik wanted to try to get some sleep in the afternoon since the flight would be a redeye. It was kind of noisy in the hotel hallway, even with earplugs. After a few hours, we got our stuff together to check out. We assumed that all of the treats in the room were complimentary as well (guaraná, cashews, ferrero rocher), so we stuffed them all in our bags. Unfortunately, they charged us full price for all the snacks, which came out to over R$100 ($20). I told Erik to put them all back, but he said he didn't want to bother and just paid for them.

We walked and walked across the airport again to check our bags. For some reason, our bags were heavier when we checked in for United, even though we should have been under the weight limit even with our extra snacks. We rearranged some clothes, and Erik threw away his sandals because they were still wet and smelled bad. It took a while to walk to our gate, and we took our time checking out the shops. Erik found a Rio Hawaiian shirt that he liked, but they didn't have his size. At the gate, I got singled out for enhanced security screening. Once we got on the plane, we discovered that premium economy was worth the price for an international flight. The seats reclined farther, and we had a foot rest bar. They gave us a packet with travel goodies like before (toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, ear plugs, sleep mask), and meals were served with real plates, utensils, and glasses. Erik tried to get some sleep while I watched episodes of the Office.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

We arrived fairly early in Houston. They had us pick up our luggage and check it in again as they shuffled us through another security line. We didn't have to wait too long to board our flight to Las Vegas. Once in Vegas, we got our bags, hopped in the van, and drove to pick up the kids at a nearby gas station from Grandma and Grandpa. Then we made a shorter than usual drive back to Phoenix and went to bed to be ready for the first day of school and work the next day.

Rio Anniversary Trip: Day 4 - Museu do Amanhã, Escadaria Selarón

Friday, July 28, 2023

Our 18th anniversary! We woke up to the sound of "Fur Elise" playing in the street. Apparently, the propane salesman uses the tune to let people know he is nearby, much like an ice cream truck. He also shouts in his bullhorn "the gas man has arrived!" We had a nice, huge, multicourse breakfast that kept us full all day long. After breakfast we swam in our private pool for a few minutes. The water was still a little chilly.

Frozen aҫai with granola on top

Watermelon/Papaya juice, fresh fruit (pineapple, guava, kiwi, papaya, plum), fresh bread (whole grain, sweet rolls, honey oat), cake, and tarts

We took an Uber to the Museum of Tomorrow. There were lots of vendors outside. We stopped and talked with one guy who gave us a ton of samples of all sorts of Brazilian treats. We ended up buying some dôce de leche (Brazilian caramel) and passionfruit merengues. There were several displays inside the museum about Brazilian art, ocean currents, DNA, climate change, and other random topics. It was a bit underwhelming. The museum is almost on a pier stretching out into the bay, so we walked around the water after exiting. One guy tried to sell us some candy in several different languages. When we told him no thanks, he said "congratulations, you are a beautiful couple."

Inside the Museum of Tomorrow in front of the displays for ocean currents and DNA.

Walking around the museum.

The Island of Spadefish is involved in building and maintaining the marina.

Next, we took a taxi to the Municipal Theater. Erik was hoping to book a tour for the afternoon. However, when we got there, the tours were all sold out, so we were in the middle of downtown with nothing to do. We walked around a little and checked out some of the feiras (markets), but we didn't buy anything. Erik found directions to the Selaron Stairs close by, so we started walking in that direction. The Lapa Arches were on the way, which are the remains of the old aqueduct. Apparently, there is a trolley that has part of its track on top of the arches. We didn't get a picture of the arches because we were trying to get out of the area as fast as we could. There was a huge line of homeless people in the square receiving something from several nuns dressed like Mother Theresa. I don't know if they were taking food, communion, or a prayer card, but we didn't want to hang around to find out. 

O Teatro Municipal looked pretty impressive from the outside.

Floriano Square honors the second president of Brazil, Floriano Peixoto.

After passing the homeless people, we found some big crowds of tourists just outside the Selarón Stairs. There were more vendors selling souvenirs and food along the cobblestone street. The stairs were decorated by the Chilean artist Selarón as a tribute to the Brazilian people. Luckily, our bed and breakfast was about a half mile away following the stairs, so we started to climb. We kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing. Finally we reached the top, and we turned into some stairs that went down. Then we found our cobblestone street and had to climb up that hill. When we got to our bed and breakfast, we had to climb all the stairs inside the entry as well. Our legs were pretty tired.

Climbing up the Selarón Staircase.

Climbing down the stairs to our street.

Climbing up the hill to the bed and breakfast.

We decided to take advantage of our private pool one more time and go for a swim. The infinity pool below us looked nice, so we jumped in. Brrrr! It was at least five degrees colder than our little pool, so we jumped back into our pool for a while before dinner.

For our anniversary dinner, our host Claudio recommended we eat a romantic dinner at Aprazível, which was located on a hilltop overlooking the city. It took our Uber driver a while to figure out which street to take to get up the hill. Once we got inside the restaurant, we had to walk down a bunch of stairs. It was more of a collection of gazebos than an actual building. They seated us right next to the overlook. Claudio suggested we try the roasted palm heart, which took quite a long time to cook. It was kind of plain, but it was served with a pesto sauce. I ordered the octopus with potatoes and "ratatouille," and Erik ordered the spinach ravioli. For dessert we tried their specialty chocolate cake with cashews.

We had a nice view of the bleachers for watching the Carnaval parades and of the Yup Star (giant Ferris wheel).

We didn't know the roasted palm heart would be so big.

Left to right: Sambadrome (Carnival bleachers) in white lights, Santa Teresa de Jesus Parrish (cream-colored tower), Yup Star Ferris Wheel (pink-purple light)

Rio Anniversary Trip: Day 3 - Pão de Aҫucar

Thursday, July 27, 2023

We enjoyed our final breakfast at the Windsor California Hotel before packing up to go to our bed and breakfast, Casa Geranio. The hotel let us check out late, so we just hung around, packed, and planned the rest of our day. We took an uber to downtown Rio to our bed and breakfast. The road got a little rough as we drove over cobblestones and old train tracks from a street car that's no longer in service. Once we got to the gate, we had to climb up several flights of stairs just to get to the main area of the Casa Geranio. Luckily, they had a guy carry our suitcases all the way up the stairs and put them outside our rooms. The bed and breakfast must have been a small neighborhood before because all of the "rooms" were spread far apart like little houses, each one with its own staircase and walkway.

We had a small, private swimming pool outside of our room overlooking downtown Rio. The Ventura Tower on the left has a space in the middle in the shape of a cross. The pyramid-looking building is the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Looking up at the windows of our room from the main swimming pool.

We had just enough time left in the afternoon to visit Sugarloaf Mountain. An uber took us to the ticket booth, and we decided to buy the fastpass since we wanted to be off the mountain before dark. The tickets are good for riding the two gondolas between the base and Urca Hill and between Urca Hill and Sugarloaf Mountain. That's a total of 4 gondola rides with a line for each ride. The fastpass cost a little extra, but it was worth it to skip all those lines. We spent some time on top of Urca Hill enjoying the views. I bought myself a sterling silver heart pendant necklace with the Brazilian flag on it. We were also able to find some coxinhas for R$13, which was much more expensive than the R$2 Erik paid back in 2003.

Riding the first gondola up to the Morro de Urca.

Views of Christ Redeemer from Urca Hill.

We found some overpriced coxinhas on top of Urca Hill.

Left to right: Christ Redeemer, Botafogo Bay, Santos Dumont Airport, Rio-Niteroi Bridge

Getting ready to catch the next gondola to Pão de Aҫucar.

Next, we skipped the line, and walked onto the gondola up to Sugarloaf Mountain. After taking some pictures we wandered around the shops, which were the most expensive of any shops we visited in Brazil. We bought a pressed penny for Gabe and a bag of candy-coated nuts. Lots of little monkeys were scurrying around looking for a treat. Erik said he never saw any monkeys on his mission except as pets. We eventually made our way back down off the mountains to a nice sunset view of Christ Redeemer.

Riding up to Sugarloaf Mountain

Flattening a copper coin souvenir for Gabe (no pressed pennies in Brazil).

Pointing out our hotel on Copacabana Beach

These guys were smaller than we expected.

Riding back down to the ticket office.

We caught an Uber to take us to dinner at the Churrascaria Palace. Erik thought it was inside the Copacabana Palace, so we walked around that hotel for a while. After asking a few people, we discovered that the restaurant was not inside the hotel but across the street. It was an interesting Brazilian Barbeque complete with sushi, oysters, and cheeses that we haven't had at other churrascarias. Surprisingly, they didn't have grilled pineapple.

Erik suggested we try pudim for dessert, which is like a Brazilian flan.

After dinner, we wandered around outside the Copacabana Palace. It has been around for about 100 years and has hosted many celebrities and politicians. Erik almost booked us a room there but decided to go with the other places because they were cheaper and newer.

We took another Uber back to our bed and breakfast. Erik was ready to go for an evening swim in our private pool, but the water was pretty chilly. I was too full from dinner to go swimming anyway.