Overall we made the most of the day but it was another reminder of how much we love our country and the things it has to offer. God Bless America…and to getting back there soon!
Friday, July 11, 2014
God Bless America
Being abroad on the Fourth of July was harder than we thought it was going to be. Something about not being in the USA felt off. We tried to make the most of it, but it just wasn't the same. Fortunately with the holiday falling on a Friday, Andy was able to work from home and spend the day with us. We wanted to make it as "American" as possible, so we set out to play some mini golf, drink Budweiser and dine at our local Pizza Hut. In true Portuguese fashion the Pizza Hut did not open until 8:00, so had to tailgate outside for 30 minutes in anticipation of the buffet!! Fat Americans :)
Overall we made the most of the day but it was another reminder of how much we love our country and the things it has to offer. God Bless America…and to getting back there soon!
She loved mini golf for about the first 5 holes and then decided it was more fun to lay on the concrete pads instead. Their courses are made of concrete, not AstroTurf, so you are putting on concrete through concrete shapes and designs. Unique...
Just passing time before dinner!
Overall we made the most of the day but it was another reminder of how much we love our country and the things it has to offer. God Bless America…and to getting back there soon!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
USA vs. Portugal Futbol Madness
Not only have we been able to experience the World Cup in Europe this year, we ironically were placed in the same group with Portugal. As the game approached Andy and Bob did a lot of smack talking…as much as you can when you can't understand much what the other is saying. We were super excited for the game and to cheer on the USA. Unfortunately the game time was 11 p.m. in Porto Sunday night, which made for a very late night, but was well worth it!!
We were the ONLY Americans at the watch party and did ourselves no good cheering when the USA scored. The Ostrega's, a couple from Andy's work, happened to be in town and were staying with us that week, so joined us in the madness and futbol fun. Wish we could have pulled off the win, but had a blast watching and experiencing the game over here. Nothing like standing in a crowd of over 1,000 people sticking out like a sore thumb. Go Red, White & Blue!
I made a friend…she kept throwing her Portugal scarf over me and hugging us when Portugal scored.
The girls representing!! Red, white and blue.
We were the ONLY Americans at the watch party and did ourselves no good cheering when the USA scored. The Ostrega's, a couple from Andy's work, happened to be in town and were staying with us that week, so joined us in the madness and futbol fun. Wish we could have pulled off the win, but had a blast watching and experiencing the game over here. Nothing like standing in a crowd of over 1,000 people sticking out like a sore thumb. Go Red, White & Blue!
AB loves her futbol games! Don't mind the mid-drift in the background…it's the cool thing to wear over here.
It's 2 a.m. - please take me home!
Back to America
I cannot express how amazing it was to walk off the airplane in America! We had been anticipating and talking about our trip back home for what seemed like eternity and it was finally here. Unfortunately Annabelle and I had to travel alone, as Andy's travels arrangements had to be altered and could not get on our flights, but we made it back safely and in one piece!
Stepping off the plane in Newark was the most euphoric feeling I think I have ever had. It was such a sense of relief, happiness, excitement, so many emotions all bottled up inside me. Annabelle did such a wonderful job traveling AGAIN. Many people commented on how good she was and of course how cute she is too!
Being home was such a whirlwind, with our days jammed packed. I felt like we went from one thing to the next the full 3 weeks. There were still so many friends that I didn't get to see and things that we wanted to do, but think that is part of coming home for a limited amount of time.
Fortunately we were able to spend a full week in Destin, Florida with my family, which allowed us to unwind. I can't say staying in a house with 4 kiddos was relaxing, everyone up at 6 am, but it didn't matter because we were with the family! Annabelle had probably the best week of her life running around chasing her cousins, playing on the beach and getting extra love and attention from the fam. Being with my sisters was so amazing and to watch them as moms was so heart warming. I love that we are all on the journey of raising our kids close together and can help each other out. The boys decided over the holidays that they were going to drive down, so created many memories over their 14 hour trips, some weird chants, chest bumps and boys club private group. Thanks to Honey and B, the kids were able to have a night out on the town and leave the littles back at home. We all over served ourselves, danced our hearts out and crammed into taxis to take us to Destin's hottest night club. The week was filled with so much enjoyment and gratification…of which we needed so badly!
As the time came to an end, I was dreading coming back, but knew it was part of the deal and would be back later this fall. We are so thankful for the time, while limited, that we got to spend with our family and friends and for those that made their schedules work to be with us. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system and cannot wait until we are home for good and can embrace the small things with family and friends. Until next time…
Stepping off the plane in Newark was the most euphoric feeling I think I have ever had. It was such a sense of relief, happiness, excitement, so many emotions all bottled up inside me. Annabelle did such a wonderful job traveling AGAIN. Many people commented on how good she was and of course how cute she is too!
Being home was such a whirlwind, with our days jammed packed. I felt like we went from one thing to the next the full 3 weeks. There were still so many friends that I didn't get to see and things that we wanted to do, but think that is part of coming home for a limited amount of time.
Fortunately we were able to spend a full week in Destin, Florida with my family, which allowed us to unwind. I can't say staying in a house with 4 kiddos was relaxing, everyone up at 6 am, but it didn't matter because we were with the family! Annabelle had probably the best week of her life running around chasing her cousins, playing on the beach and getting extra love and attention from the fam. Being with my sisters was so amazing and to watch them as moms was so heart warming. I love that we are all on the journey of raising our kids close together and can help each other out. The boys decided over the holidays that they were going to drive down, so created many memories over their 14 hour trips, some weird chants, chest bumps and boys club private group. Thanks to Honey and B, the kids were able to have a night out on the town and leave the littles back at home. We all over served ourselves, danced our hearts out and crammed into taxis to take us to Destin's hottest night club. The week was filled with so much enjoyment and gratification…of which we needed so badly!
As the time came to an end, I was dreading coming back, but knew it was part of the deal and would be back later this fall. We are so thankful for the time, while limited, that we got to spend with our family and friends and for those that made their schedules work to be with us. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system and cannot wait until we are home for good and can embrace the small things with family and friends. Until next time…
And back we go :(
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Family Pics
Ever since we moved over to Portugal I have wanted to get some family pictures of the three of us, to capture our time here. In addition to Maritha being a saving grace as a friend, she also was a photographer back in Sweden as her full-time job. Double bonus. We set out last Monday night to take a few pictures of us along the main walk-away that we stroll multiple times a day and down at the beach, our home-away-from-home. She did a great job of capturing some of our candid moments and Annabelle's vivacious personality. It was very last minute so was not able to coordinate outfits, kept it very casual but got a few keepers that will forever remind us of our journey over here.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
World Cup Watch Party
Let the World Cup madness begin! In anticipation of the World Cup, Porto has been prepping stations across the city for large watch parties, one of which is right down the street from us on the BEACH! We saw them starting to put up stadium type seating and enclosing a large area off the beach a couple weeks ago and as the tournament approached we realized they were setting up for the World Cup.
We were excited to see what it was all about, so went down there with our friends, Maritha, Johan and Ture (Sweedish friends), last Friday night and had a blast! All the World Cup games are being played on a huge screen, with multiple beer stations and good tunes during half-time. Overall it's an awesome arrangement and cannot wait to spend time down there during the tournament! Let's go USA!
Matching family scarves. While our loyalty is obviously for the USA, we felt like we had to embrace the culture and cheer for Portugal during their Germany match. How better else to do it than wear matching scarves? We fit right in!!
We were excited to see what it was all about, so went down there with our friends, Maritha, Johan and Ture (Sweedish friends), last Friday night and had a blast! All the World Cup games are being played on a huge screen, with multiple beer stations and good tunes during half-time. Overall it's an awesome arrangement and cannot wait to spend time down there during the tournament! Let's go USA!
Getting Back in the Swing of Things
We were quickly reminded how differently the Portuguese culture operates upon our return as we sat at a restaurant for a good 20 minutes before ever being attended to. I don't understand how they can think people would want to wait 20 minutes to even be greeted and handed the menu. I guess I think if you are at a restaurant, you are either hungry or thirsty, so probably want to start with either somewhat soon.
Having Maritha to come back to made it so much better! We spent the weekend as a family getting the house put back together, grocery store runs, and reminiscing on our time at home. Come Monday I was dreading Andy going back to work, but thankfully had a friend to spend the day with. Annabelle seems to enjoy hanging out with Toodles although they cannot speak to one another. She still tries to hold his hand, give him hugs, scream her happy scream, anything to make him play with her. He still isn't fond of her hugging and touching him, but keep telling him he will like it one day :)
Porto Public Transportation - Annabelle and I experienced our first Porto public transportation ride. We needed to get to the supermarket in preparation for the Starr visit and Andy leaves for work so early I couldn't bear to wake Annabelle up, so decided that we would take the bus to the mall and get our groceries. Thankfully Maritha decided to join us and she had done it previously so knew somewhat where we were going. We picked one of the hottest days yet and after standing at the bus stop for 20 minutes in the hot sun, we boarded a jam packed bus with NO air conditioning. I had Annabelle on my lap, sweating and thinking that I was going to pass out and no one would know what to do with me. After almost an hour we made it to the mall, which is a whole 5 miles away and carried on with our day. Not sure we will be doing it again, but glad we experienced it…I guess :)
Fish at the Grocery Store - the smell…the eels…the presence is just…well…barf. Most days I walk down to a small local market about a mile away and the second I enter the doors, the smell of fish starts penetrating the air. I think I'm more sensitive to it, but try to get in and out…quickly. Some days they have some very interesting looking fish that I have no clue what they are or how you would even begin to cook it to eat it? Guess people like it.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, the exposure on the beach is getting higher. As in, very little to no coverings. Girls, women and even older women all wear these bottoms that are basically just strings that go up their bottoms, but not like a normal thong. Doesn't matter how small, large, fit, squishy, you wear them…and let it all hang out. There have not been as many topless women on the beaches, although with the cruise ships coming in almost daily, there is more of a variety of nationalities here and have started to see more bronzing topless beauties. Annabelle and I were playing on the beach the other day when this women came up in her workout clothes, sat down next to us and proceeded to take off her top, full show, then wrap this towel around her and hit the beach. I couldn't help myself and was snapping away. I'll spare you from the other photos I've taken along the way.
Waiting at the bus stop. Annabelle loves planes, trains and automobiles, so it was a great time for her riding the buses!
Yes, please read the bus line information in Portuguese...
The fish…
Take it off.
Having Maritha to come back to made it so much better! We spent the weekend as a family getting the house put back together, grocery store runs, and reminiscing on our time at home. Come Monday I was dreading Andy going back to work, but thankfully had a friend to spend the day with. Annabelle seems to enjoy hanging out with Toodles although they cannot speak to one another. She still tries to hold his hand, give him hugs, scream her happy scream, anything to make him play with her. He still isn't fond of her hugging and touching him, but keep telling him he will like it one day :)
Porto Public Transportation - Annabelle and I experienced our first Porto public transportation ride. We needed to get to the supermarket in preparation for the Starr visit and Andy leaves for work so early I couldn't bear to wake Annabelle up, so decided that we would take the bus to the mall and get our groceries. Thankfully Maritha decided to join us and she had done it previously so knew somewhat where we were going. We picked one of the hottest days yet and after standing at the bus stop for 20 minutes in the hot sun, we boarded a jam packed bus with NO air conditioning. I had Annabelle on my lap, sweating and thinking that I was going to pass out and no one would know what to do with me. After almost an hour we made it to the mall, which is a whole 5 miles away and carried on with our day. Not sure we will be doing it again, but glad we experienced it…I guess :)
Fish at the Grocery Store - the smell…the eels…the presence is just…well…barf. Most days I walk down to a small local market about a mile away and the second I enter the doors, the smell of fish starts penetrating the air. I think I'm more sensitive to it, but try to get in and out…quickly. Some days they have some very interesting looking fish that I have no clue what they are or how you would even begin to cook it to eat it? Guess people like it.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, the exposure on the beach is getting higher. As in, very little to no coverings. Girls, women and even older women all wear these bottoms that are basically just strings that go up their bottoms, but not like a normal thong. Doesn't matter how small, large, fit, squishy, you wear them…and let it all hang out. There have not been as many topless women on the beaches, although with the cruise ships coming in almost daily, there is more of a variety of nationalities here and have started to see more bronzing topless beauties. Annabelle and I were playing on the beach the other day when this women came up in her workout clothes, sat down next to us and proceeded to take off her top, full show, then wrap this towel around her and hit the beach. I couldn't help myself and was snapping away. I'll spare you from the other photos I've taken along the way.
Waiting at the bus stop. Annabelle loves planes, trains and automobiles, so it was a great time for her riding the buses!
The week of Annabelle and Ture. She just wants him to scream and play along with her.
Take it off.
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