Good-bye Brazil and a week in DC

Well, it  finally happened. Our family has officially finished our first post and are back in the states for a while. This is kind of a strange/big stepping stone for us because we are beginning to realise that  for the next ten to fifteen years, our lives will be broken into two and three year increments. When we look at it from that perspective, our kids are going to be grown and in college and serving missions before we even have the chance blink. It's strange...perpetually looking forward towards the next step. I guess life is made up of steps no matter how you look at it, but in the foreign service, those steps seem even more defined.

Our last few weeks in Rio were wonderful and sad at the same time. I went on as many runs as possible, we spoke/sang in our church, went to dinners with great friends, bought plenty of last minute souvenirs and gave about a million hugs and kisses. The kids came home very sad on their last day of school. Ellie was so worried that her class would all forget her, and the boys want to hang on to every piece of school material they have. I can't really say I blame them. They loved it there. They each got a t-shirt signed by all their friends, and different cards and special good-byes. It was really very touching.

The last day at our church was very special. I could feel the spirit so strongly there. We have learned to communicate with and love our little church family in such a humbling and significant way. Our whole family will never forget our time with them. We miss them already.

I could go on and on, but I'll just finish with Brazil by saying that we left with tears and happy memories, and enough emotion for the country and the people we met there to break our hearts a bit. I'm coming to understand that saying goodbye is not one of my favorite things in life, but I suppose it's something I will just have to get used to.

Our week here in DC has been really nice. Dan's had some meetings, but we've also had some free time together. On Sunday and Monday I got to spend time with my little sister and her boys. I'm so happy they took the time to drive out and see us! We visited the National Zoo together and wore our kids and ourselves out really well! :)  On Tuesday Dan was off, so we visited the Museum of Natural History and the National Art Gallery. I think Dan and I were more into reading all the information available than the kids were, but they still soaked in a lot and had a really fun time. Wednesday was spent taking things easy. Logan's been fighting a cold for a few weeks and needed some time to rest. Thursday I took the kids to the Air and Space museum while Dan had meetings, and afterward, we got to meet up and hang out with our good friends from Rio, the Carters. They were kind enough to give us a ride in to visit them in the old apartment complex we lived in while Dan was training in A100. The kids loved to run around their old stomping grounds, especially with their old friends. Finally, today we took off and hiked all over the national mall. We visited Lincoln's memorial, Korea's, WWI, Dr. King's, Roosevelt's, Washington's and Jefferson's. It was a LOT of walking for little legs, but we were determined! Logan helped us map out what to see. :)

We are loving being here in the states, and very excited to see family. It's strange walking around and understanding almost everyone around you. I've answered a few people in Portuguese already our of habit! We bought fresh milk right off the bat, and Liz and Dave brought us donuts. It really is the little things that make us just so happy to be here. I guess that's all for today. I'll update more later about our family visits. Here's a few pics to leave you all with! Beijos!!

 Our Rio Family Picture! Praia Ipanema, Post 9.

 Lindas

 Dinner with these wonderful people! Obrigada Bispado e Mirka!!

My beautiful primary women.

Love this family!

Ellie's good bye party. She really loved this class!

Owen's Career Day.

Field day boys trying to stay warm!

Girl's night out. 

Noite de Futebol! 

My last morning beach shoot. So pretty.

DC

Love these guys!

 My little monkeys at the zoo.

Watching the seals with little cousin.

Logan with a really big python. Glad he was on this side of the glass!

My sweethearts hugging a flat-faced frog.

Museum of Natural History

Yep O, T-rex would have chomped you.

National Art Gallery

Lincoln Memorial

MLK Memorial

Playing with a caterpillar.

Jefferson Memorial

That's all for today!!

Four Weeks To Go...

Time flies when you're an exhausted foreign service family getting ready to leave the country for your first time! We have about for weeks left until we arrive in Brazil and I think one word that sums up what we are experiencing well is actually the two-word phrase, "crazy-busy". Everyone warned me about the paperwork...they tried to prepare me for it, and I brushed their words aside with a laugh. How bad could it possibly be...really! Well, for a couple with four kids, all about school age, it is bad! We have a form for just about everything, on top of the pages and pages of information we need to soak up so we don't make any small mistakes that could cost us a pretty penny. We are trying to decide if we should enroll Ellie in kindergarten next year or not (she has a September birthday), sell Dan's car, find insurance that will cover our van in Brazil and over the ocean, and all our possessions we are leaving behind in storage, prepare our endless legal documents, passports and visa's, set up a pack out date and decide what we can leave behind and what we can bring with us. Our apartment will be furnished, so we are trying to bring only what we NEED. It seems that every evening is full of things Dan and I can finally get to together. It's hard to get some things done without information from one or the other of us.
Anyway, I thought I knew busy before, and usually I enjoy having plenty to do, but this is a little too much. I hope it's just hardest this first time 'round and that things will get easier as we become more experienced with all of this!  As for today, I am getting this post up and then taking a little break to "play cameras" with a friend before tackling my list again.
       We've been having so much fun here in DC, I am really going to miss it here. It's good to know we will be coming back, so anything we miss this time, we can hit on our return! The highlight of the past few weeks was the chance I had to take the boys to the White House Easter Egg Roll. We got our hands on some tickets at the last minute and I even had enough to bring my friend Diana and her oldest son. It started out as a very eery, foggy morning with a long wait in line, but ended up bright and sunny, and very fun! I was so mad that my camera wasn't working (dead battery...long story!) but luckily Diana brought her point and shoot, so we still had some pictures! We also got to take the kids all over Dc to visit the top monuments. Lincoln finally got to see the Lincoln memorial!
 I also took a morning last week while Ellie was at her little pre-school to run downtown and see the famous DC cherry blossoms. They were absolutely breath-taking! I posted a ton of pictures from that trip on my photoblog. I am so glad I took the opportunity to go. It really was incredible.

Okay, enough jabbering for now! Here are some recent shots, and I am off to clean up before my friend gets here. Have a good day everyone!

Egg Roll at the White House...

The morning started out like this!

Adrian Peterson was there, yeah we're buds! :)

 

Silly boys!

Easter Bunny at Oakwood!

Visiting the monuments with the Toones...

Owen's picture idea, falling in the Potomac 

Linc and Linc

One of my favorite families!

The boys being naughty.

Logan's picture idea. Nice one huh?

Ahhh Owen...Nice

Vietnam Memorial

Linc's pose!

Blossom Pictures