Catching up

Well, the house is pretty much set up to our liking. Blake is working quite a bit, but still manages to come home for lunch most days. That is such a special treat. He never could do that when we lived in Michigan. The Guardian office is only 7 minutes away while the site is 20 minutes away on the other side of town. It is nice having him home more!
Garrett is enjoying homeschool. His favorite subject is recess/video games. He also enjoys math and puts up with reading and learning Portuguese. We usually start the day with an hour walk around the neighborhood with Tootsie. Garrett rides his bike and Tootsie sniffs everything!!!!! We say "Bom Dia" to the other people we pass in the street. Quite a few of them comment on how big Tootsie is and of course, they comment on Garretts "lindo loiro com olhos azuis" (beautiful blonde with blue eyes). The girls absolutely adore him, and want to touch him. This, of course, makes him shy, but honestly, I think he loves the attention. He's such a Cutie!!
Garrett is really enjoying the fruit. His favorite fruit are the bananas which are about half the size of the ones you would find in the States, but OH WOW the flavor is AMAZING! The mangos are delicious and plentiful, as are the strawberries and oranges. Garrett also loves the rice and beans which you can find with just about any meal here. The little breads (paozinho) are made fresh daily and don't last more than 24 hours. I make a point of picking them up every day at the local restaurant. They only cost R$1.80 for 6 of them. Delicious!!!!
I am trying to get a rhythm going with our new life here. We walk first thing after breakfast, and then come back and do school until lunch time. We work on Portuguese and typing in the afternoon and then go to the tennis courts or the empty field to throw the ball for Tootsie. By then, it's time for me to start dinner. Pretty simple life....... until later. Tchau

Settling in.

We've been here for a couple of weeks now and it is starting to feel like home. We have been introduced to a couple, Heather and El, from Canada who have 4 sons, ages ranging from 11 to 7. Garrett is absolutely thrilled to have boys to play with, and the boys are completely excited to have an American friend to speak English with. All four of the boys go to school here and have had to learn to speak Portuguese. They won't speak it with Garrett, so I am trying to teach him as best I can with the help of Rosetta Stone and a book I got from Heather called
"Portuguese in 10 minutes a day". Garrett used his Portuguese the other day when he said "Obrigado" to the waitress. She was VERY surprised, and responded "Que lindo, ele e aprendendo Portuguese" (How beautiful, he's learning Portuguese). Blake and I were very pleased and Garrett was pretty proud of himself!
We only have one car (it runs on alcohol) so getting around has been limited. We have been very fortunate to have a lady named Simone helping us to get settled in. Honestly, she has been a Godsend. She is always very patient and helpful with everything. She helped me put together the house with the furnishings, electricity and phone. She even managed to get the internet installed into the house (AMAZING) within 2 weeks. Simone is AWESOME.
Our internet is up, so our phone now works both ways. If you would like to call us, the phone is the same as always, and the time is an hour ahead of eastern time.
Love and peace to all, Tchau