Blumenau. . .

We chose to visit Blumenau because it was in one of our travel books as a tourist destination. We were less than two hours away while in Florianopolis, so we figured it would be worth it. Blumenau is known for hosting South America's largest Oktoberfest during the month of October. People from all over Brazil, as well as Germany, come to visit and enjoy celebrating German traditions. Well, we were in the area in December, so it was convenient to go then. Unfortunately, most of the stores were closed downtown and the only area worth visiting was the German village where the Oktoberfest festivities are held. Aside from the buildings themselves, we were pretty disappointed with the place.

Part of the disappointment had to do with the Oktoberfest propaganda. It felt like everything from the t-shirts, coffee mugs, and aprons, to the wall hangings and every other souvenir were covered with half-naked people, sexual comments or beer jokes. I mean, I know Oktoberfest involves a lot of beer, but even without people there, the place reeked of debauchery. Not exactly a family-friendly place to be.

Some of the Christmas decor was cute, as were the trash cans below.

This guy was fun.

As we were leaving, we saw a little store with dress up clothes next to this arch. Emma, who normally doesn't care for the camera, grabbed her daddy and said, "Mommy, take a picture!"
Then she grabbed the clothes and had a blast dressing up!

I think this was actually the only family picture we took during our entire vacation!

Our daughter could play dress-up all day long! She loves pretending and of course it was much more fun that day because the clothes were new.

We left Blumenau and drove about four hours to Lajes, where we had stayed on our way to Florianopolis. I woke up early the next morning with abdominal cramps and knew I was going to be sick for the day. Unfortunately, we needed to drive about 7 hours to get back home! Bless his heart, Kevin drove the entire way while I went through sweats and chills and other unpleasantries! I never did vomit, but came close a few times. That was the third time I've been sick here. (I was certain I had learned my lesson, but then last week happened.) We made it safely home on the Thursday before New Year's. Because I was out of commission, we didn't go anywhere or do anything on New Year's Eve. We just relaxed and recovered and listened to the celebrations going on in the city! Emma loved being home with her own toys and bed. Kevin was happy to have a few days at home before returning to work and I was grateful for his help!! In general, our house is just a happier place when he's in it!! Except for the last day, we had a great family vacation! I'm sure future Christmases won't be as warm as the one we just celebrated!!