Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Our Weekend Getaway

Post-vacation posts always hang me up, thus the lack of posting. I like to avoid the ole, "come on over and watch our 5 hour slide show from the Grand Canyon" post, but, at the same time, I think it's important to record our trip memories.

Despite my pre-trip grouchiness, we had a great time and I was glad we had the chance to go.

We went to the mountains with a a guy that Guapo works with, his daughter and his very pregnant girlfriend/fiancee (not quite sure what's going on there). His family has an awesome vacation house on a big piece of land in this remote mountain town about 3 hours out of the city. It was like going to a private hotel-it had caretakers that cooked, cleaned-up after us and made sure we were comfortable at all times.

We spent the first day and a half trying to figure our the name of the pregant girlfriend. The guy kept referring to her as "minha amor" and I thought it would be a little awkward to ask the help her name since we had come with them as invited guests, so it was tough to actually crack the case. Guapo eventually did figure it out and then I overused her name the last day.

My stereotypes about Brazilians were only strengthened over the course of the weekend: they know how to relax and enjoy life and they really, really know how to EAT. We were eating full, big, yummy meals every 3 to 4 hours. I love to eat, so it was great.

The best thing about the trip was that it was pretty much the exact opposite of our big city life. Here, we live in an apartment smack dab in the center of busy streets, lots of buildings, tons of traffic, etc. etc. We have no place to set the kids free.


Our mountain retreat provided us with jungle hiking trails:




a large fresh spring water pool (Julio kept showing me how he could drink the water):



a fishing pond:



a brick oven for making home pizza:



a nightly bonfire:



and last but not least, dogs:



...one of which was the size of a small horse:

My kids were in heaven. I hope we're invited back sometime (now that I know her name and all...).

14 comments:

Awesome Mom said...

Rofl!! It looks like you had a lot of fun.

smart mama said...

see aren't you glad you went- how fun- i love an adventure!

Super Happy Girl said...

YES!!! Those are awesome stereotypes :D

Everywhere you go you get invited to do cool things, there can be only one reason: You guys are super cool.

Ballerina Girl said...

Looks great! Glad everything worked out..
maybe one day we can become friends with these super cool Brasilians and get invited to
hahahaha!!!
BG

Lana said...

wow, that looks awesome.

I have a friend who calls everyone honey or sweetheart, to avoid the whole what's your actual name confusion. I can't do it though and often struggle to get the names right so I feel your pain :)

neat jungle. My brother served his mission in Brazil (wow this comment is really all about me isn't it?) and he talks about the jungle a lot. And the snakes. I'm glad no one got eaten ;)

Ave said...

Wow, that looks so great! How do they eat so much and not get fat? It is not fair. I bought a strawberry cake mix the other day and thought of you (because of your December post)!

Janet said...

I don't know why you didn't just call her 'minha amor' too... :)

That place looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

What fun that must have been! Pedro looks so cute riding the "dog/horse".

marine's words said...

Oh,that looks so beauitful aren't you gald you went!!and you kids must of had so much fun!I would love to live there its just so pretty!!
ok, did you ever get her name?
and I would love too meet these Brasilians too and get invited!! marina

Unknown said...

I'm glad you all had a fun time and figured out the fiance's name. :-) What a beautiful place to spend the weekend!

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! What a fun place! I don't blame you one bit for wanting to go back.

Kari said...

Fantastic photos, Gabriella! Space is a wonderful thing. I felt your pain in the "pre-travel grumpiness," but when you reminded me that the house came with hired help, that just made it a true vacation for YOU, too! Excellent!

Nettie said...

What a fun trip. I SO am ready to get out of town and go someplace!

andalucy said...

I'm so glad you guys had a great time! Seems it was completely kid-friendly. My kids would have loved the fishing pond and probably wouldn't have left it.