'come on patrick'

This morning we wanted to leave by 9:30 to get the rental car back on time. At 945 Patrick was still downstairs getting ready. When Paul told him the time he had no idea. We got everything loaded up and waited, and waited. Dane was sitting is his car seat already when he yells out "Come on Patrick. Hurry up. I'm serious." Funny, funny kid.

Rio day 5 - catch up day

I welcome down days after a few busy days. Today we returned our rental car - $100+ for 2 days, but over $60 in gas! Yikes. Transportation here is EXPENSIVE. Except our plane tickets between cities (like $140 for all 3 of us!). After returning our car, we went to Roberto's apartment where Dane and I have spent the day here while the others went to the office to work. Very different from the beach house. Constant noise, horns, delivery trucks, etc and the view of the next apartment building across the street. Not the tranquil crash of waves and blue sea to look at. I prefer the beach house.

After doing some work, i decided to get caught up on here. And since nothing else happened today other than a lot of sitting around and Dane keep saying "I want to go home", i'll post just a few random pics that haven't been included yet.

Here is the bouquet that paul's coworkers brought to me at the airport. So thoughtful.
Family time at the beach.
We finally got Dane some beach toys so he was thrilled.
More playing.
This is taken from the living room into the kitchen. Dane's playing "Angry birds, i'm making something and who knows what Patrick is doing...
Sunset. I'll get better pics of these. The sun goes down so early - like 530. And is up by about 5am.
Dane got the camera and kept himself busy while i did a little work. As you can tell by my face, not my favorite time of the day but something that needs to be done.
And this is one of my favorite pics. Love this little boy!

Rio day 4 - Sunday feast

Today (Oct 9) was Sunday. Paul, Dane and I went to a local Brazilian ward. Dane wasn't too hot on not being able to understand anything. I was glad it was testimony meeting because I was able to understand a lot more than I thought. I decided to share my testimony. I cried. Brought back a lot of feelings from the mission. And there were two missionaries with their investigator there. So tender. As soon as I started talking, the room was silent. I think there is something about the spirit when someone is talking about the gospel in a language they don't understand. The spirit can speak stronger than anything that's actually said. Next week is stake conference. If we have a car (since it's a 25 min car ride away) Paul will go, but I dont think Dane will make it through 2 hours of Portuguese church.

Patrick, Paul's business partner is staying at the house with us. He invited a friend of his over and we also invited the corporate employee (Roberto) and his wife (Flor) to stay. It was nice having company.

Here we are just getting ready to eat. (Dane was napping.)
And this is what we ate. So yummy! Flor made a traditional brazilian dish with chicken, rice, beans.

And then we had to do a little laundry because we are leaving for the week to go to see some historical sites and for Paul to do a couple of meetings in other cities. It's been a LONG time since I've had to hang my laundry out to dry. Off for more adventures...

Rio day 3 - Sightseeing

Today (Sat Oct 8) was a long, long day.It started at 630 am. This was how it ended at 1130pm.

We all survived and Dane was a trooper. We had plans to do more but with traffic, tourists, lines, etc we didn't get everywhere. (Pictures ended up out of order.)

The day ended with a trip to Walmart (notice shopping cart). We went to pick up a business partner's wife from work so they could come back to the beach house for the night. She works on the opposite side of town in the rich part where all the good grocery stores are so we took advantage to get groceries. It took about 2 1/2 hours from the time we picked her up til we got home (about 1130 pm). Partly because it was far, partly because of a wrong turn - not Paul's fault I'll add. In fact, he's the one who got us unlost.
Most of the time was spent at the Christ the Redeemer statue. Since is was made one of the wonder's of the world, it's become even more popular so it took awhile. lots of different lines. Once we got up there, while looking up at the statue Dane said "I don't like that guy. That's not Jesus." I guess he realizes at 4 yrs old that Jesus lives. He isn't a statue. Or that it was a good depiction of Him? Not sure but it was pretty funny.
Rio has amazing topography. We are standing on a mountain. The photo above you can see a lake, then some buildings, then the ocean. A smaller hill, etc. Below you see more city. There is just so much variety. Great views from up here.

This was the start of the day. Our bus ride to get our car rental. Dane loved the bus. I did not. Bad roads, car sick, boo. My hair is already hammered. Stupid humidity. But i love this photo. Dane looks so happy and he's holding my hand. Awww...
This is us picking up our car. Behind us is Sugar Loaf. Another tourist area where you can ride a gandola between two peaks but we didn't make it there. Maybe another day. It took about 2 hours to finally get the car. So we left at 730, rode the bus and didn't leave the car rental place til 11.
Just dane and mom chilling, while we wait...
Above this is looking out at Christ the Redeemer statue towards our place. The beach we are staying on is just to the right of Dane's head. you'll see a sand strip. We are at the far end of it.

We also drove past Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. Super famous beaches. I didn't see what all the fuss was about. I've seen prettier.

day 3

Day 3 was yesterday and pretty much the same as day 2, other than Paul worked from the beach house.

And we got home super late so day 4 will wait til tomorrow - sorry, Dad. :)

Rio day 2

Paul left early today to go into the office, leaving Dane and I to ourselves all day. It was nice having no time schedule or agenda to follow. Totally unlike me. Completely welcomed. I'm tired so this will be a much shorter entry than i intended. Here is how the day played out:

7 - paul left

745 - dane woke up

830ish breakfast

9ish - i did some work emails while dane played

10ish - preschool time

11ish - 1st attempt to go to the bakery/store. Dane wanted to be carried and being 4 months prego, i didn't want to haul a 40lb kid up the hill. turned back home.

1130ish - went to the beach

1230ish -lunch

1ish - 2nd attempt to the bakery. Success. Bought bread, bananas and a ice cream bar for dane

2ish - nap

4ish - more work emails, then dane woke up. played, etc.

6ish - fix dinner (started to get dark and lighting is poor here so I used the lamp to see what i was cooking.

7ish dinner - spaghetti

930ish - Paul and Patrick finally made it home

Tomorrow I hope to go for a small run, read a little more and write about a few of the sights, smells, sounds that take me back...

Rio day 1

So a lot has happened in the Barlow house in the last year, but now is not the time to play catch up. Maybe another day. Then again, if i didn't write in a year, maybe not. The quick highlight, Paul's business with Revvnrg has really taken off down in Brazil. Rather than splitting up the family for a month, we (Paul, Dane and I) all hopped on a plane and headed to Rio de Janiero to be near Paul while he works.

This was Dane's longest flight and going international too. He was an absolute trooper. I'm so glad we started travelling with him at such an early age. I think his first official flight (not counting all those while in the womb) was at 4 months. And we haven't slowed down since. He slept almost the whole flight from Atlanta to Rio. I did not.

We were greeted at the airport by about 10 distributors that Paul works with. They brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The whole thing was a pleasant surprise.

We just spent the day getting settled and loving our view.

Our greeting committee
Finally arrived in Rio.

no license needed

Today Dane decided he can do anything on his own. I was in the kitchen and Dane came in, reached up on the counter, grabbed the car keys. As he turned to walk away the conversation went as follows:

me - What are you doin?
Dane - I'm leaving. I'm going to Cotsco (how he pronounces it).

I guess it's time to keep the keys put up/hidden. The scary thing, is he'd probably try to drive there. He's 2. I'm in trouble.

And earlier this week he got out of bed and my niece found him outside about 8am. I was at work, and dad was still asleep. Doorknob covers were purchased that night.

holding hands

I always insists Dane needs to hold my hand in the parking lot. This was today's conversation.

"Dane, you need to hold my hand."

"I'll hold my own hand." And then proceeded to clasp both hands together and walk to the car. Funny kid.

cut the grass

Mom: "Dane did you see mom finally cut the grass?"
Dane: "I want to cut grass."
Mom: "Ok, maybe next time."
Dane then goes into the house to get something.

Out he comes with this...
In case you can't tell, it's a butter knife. Let the grass cutting begin. I love my little helper.