Traveling with Kevin. . .

Early last Wednesday morning, we left Horizontina and drove to Montenegro, which is about half an hour from Porto Alegre. Kevin spends at least one week a month at the tractor factory where he also has responsibilities. Although I'm still not used to him traveling so much, I love that we sometimes get to go with him. Emma and I stay in the hotel in Porto Alegre while he works and then we're together as a family in the evenings. We arrived at the factory just after lunch, so Kevin went to work and Emma and I went to check into the hotel. We wore our swimsuits to the outdoor pool and dipped our feet in, but it was so windy that she sat on my lap, huddled under the towel. Soon enough I'm sure we'll be swimming all the time!

On our drive, there are many sights to see. One of my favorite (or least favorite) sights are the stores along the road. You can find all sorts of junk at these places! We've actually never stopped, but I saw a stuffed giraffe that was like ten feet tall, so I told Kevin we'd have to go back sometime. Pretty sure he'll conveniently forget to stop, though.

I love this dress! My sister Lori sent it to Emma for her 2nd birthday. We were already here, so she sent it through JD mail, along with some other goodies for our family. Well, we received an email saying our gift had been "seized" by customs and that it would be impossible to ever see our package! We were so bummed, but gave up trying to get it. Over a month later, Kevin received another email from a woman at JD. She said our package had been sent back to the States and was sitting at headquarters. One of Kevin's colleagues was visiting the States and packed our gift in his luggage. Almost three months after my sister sent the package, Kevin brought it home and we opened it!!! I'm so happy it finally made it! The dress is beautiful!

Emma and I went to the mall on Thursday morning and walked around for a few hours. We found a grocery store that had wholewheat pasta, so that was exciting! After lunch we found my favorite dessert place ever! For the second time (once in August when we were here), we shared chocolate-covered strawberries on a stick. Definitely the best I've ever had!!

Friday we played at the hotel and went swimming in the morning!! The water was a little chilly, but the sun was warm and Emma had a blast! Oh, so a lot of women here wear thongs for the bottom part of their bikinis. Emma noticed a women laying on her tummy and couldn't stop staring at her almost-bare bottom. She kept starting to say, "Mommy, that lady doesn't. . ." and I'd stop her and say, "Ooohh, let's splash in the water, Emma!" At least three times Emma wanted to point out that the woman's bottom wasn't covered!! Oh boy, just wait 'til we take her to the beach!! Friday night we went out to a cute Churrascaria. Basically, at these places, there's always a huge salad bar and then men come around to the tables with many different cuts of meats: filet mignon, cutlets, chicken hearts, sausages, lamb, pork tenderloin, picanha, etc., along with grilled balls of cheese (aka "heart attack in a ball"), grilled pineapple with cinnamon, and more! Each person is given a circular card that's green on one side, with the words, "Sim, Por Favor" and "Yes, Please" and red on the other side, with the words, "Não, Obrigada" and "No, Thank You". As long as the green side is up, the waiters will continue to bring food to our table! We can eat as much or as little as we'd like and we normally err on the side of too much!

The restaurant even had a van come to our hotel to pick us up for dinner! Although it was less than a ten-minute drive, we're in a big city and we've been told it's not safe to drive at night, or even during the day for that matter. We opted for the driver! It was fun!!

We realized Friday night that Emma will smile and look at the camera when we set the timer. She performs and shows quite the goofy side when the light is blinking at her! Ooohh, I might be able to take our own family pictures for Christmas!!!