My Boys of Summer

Today we went on a walk.

It was a pretty day. Sunny. Hot, in fact!

Why don't you put your suits on?
Why?
Because you might want to get wet!

So along the way Andy and Sam decided they should stop at every rinse off spot along the beach. (We usually avoid the sea water because, unfortunately, the salty water stings Andy's dry skin.)

The water was cold, but refreshing!

You don't realize just how many rinse off spots there are until your children make it a goal to stop at ALL of them.  They started calling them checkpoints. 

"Time to stop at another checkpoint!"

This past year they've been renovating the kiosks along the beach at each canal.  They've turned out very nice!

  

The landscaping along the beach is so pretty.  I love these red plants in the background.

One of the main tasks was to visit our friend Valda who makes pasteis.  She and her husband have two carts.  One is closer to our apartment, and then they have this one on the beach. 

Yummy.

Container ship coming in.

Valda and her helper hard at work.

She was telling us that she had a group of gringos come by a couple weeks ago that didn't speak any Portuguese, and they had a hard time communicating and figuring out what they wanted to order.  So she said they are going to have signs made up with English translations.  We volunteered to do the translating for her! So I took some pictures of the menu so we can write it up.  :o)

On our walk back, we visited the lion statue...

and ended our outing with the swings.

Beautiful few days for a bike ride....

Sunday afternoon Otto and Andy went out for their first official bike ride since we've been here. Yesterday the weather was even nicer so Sam, Andy, and I went for our first bike ride together. There is a very nice bicycle path that runs the length of the beach in Santos, and several that are popping up in other areas of the city.  (Av. Ana Costa has one for anyone familiar with Santos.)

Sam had all-day school today, so Andy and I went for a ride just by ourselves this morning. I didn't take the camera along, as one of the things we learned yesterday is that the official bike path is not necessarily for lollygaggers. People are using it as a serious means of transportation, so get on, get to it, and stop looking around!!  At times this was difficult with the 7-year-old. We decided after yesterday that getting  on the surrounding concreted areas may be better, then at times hop onto the bike path only when we couldn't continue on any other way. This morning Andy and I were on the path quite a bit, but it was easier with just me and the older kid, and it wasn't as busy today. 

We live about in the center of the beach (a few blocks away), near Canal 3, so yesterday the three of us rode west to the Emissario (near Canal 1), and today Andy and I traveled east towards the aquarium and Ponte da Praia (near Canal 6).  Neither day did I take my camera because I wanted to ride, not stop and take pictures.  But I got to personally see a couple of statues that I had seen on the internet, but didn't quite know where they were.  Here are two, both images are from this webpage.

I really like this statue of a surfer with the water spraying on him like he's really surfing!

 

 

I also like this one very much, which is near the one above, of Osmar Gonçalves who was apparently a pioneer of surfing here in Brazil. Imagine, if you will, me riding around and around and around and around this statue. After a while the boys got tired of going around, but I continued a bit longer, mainly because I didn't have to worry about hitting anyone (there were lots of people out, as is the norm on a pretty afternoon) and the view was nice. :o)

And please visit the link above to see lots of other neat statues along the beach and around town. The credits below each of the photos seem to be different, so thanks to all the people that took the images, whoever they are!

First Family Visit

A quick note to anyone that may be connected with Blogger that might possibly be reading - I'm not a fan of the new blog editor!!  And now on to more important things....

Mom and Bill were here for a couple weeks!  Luckily we had lovely, sunny, warm weather while they were here. We've had many chilly, rainy days since their departure.

We took them to my favorite place to eat feijoada, the traditional Saturday meal, at Hotel Parque Balneário.  I love the two gentlemen that perform bossa nova music while you eat - should have taken a picture of them!

Here was the view through the window.  Such a pretty day.

A picture of the dessert table that Mom took.  She took the picture, not the dessert table.  But she might have been tempted.  I know I was.

                           

Andy and Sam wore their new Santos jerseys.

Here were Mom and Bill at Praça Independencia on another beautiful day.

We relaxed a bit at Praia de Pernambuco on their last Sunday here.  (Mom and Bill took these shots.)

We had a great visit, but still have lots to do that we didn't get around to, so come back soon!

Praia do Tombo

A couple weekends ago we checked out Praia do Tombo in Guaruja. It was FULL of people. And a bit rough, which is where its name comes from. Tombo means tumbling.

Note the PERiGO sign - danger. We kept the kids close. Their boogie boards with leashes were handy to keep them afloat.


And there was lots of running to and from the water because the sand was HOT!!!


After we ate lunch, I walked over to the less-busy area of the beach near the rocks, as my monkeys wanted to climb.


The view back to the busier part of the beach.

And back to the rocks.





On the way back to our umbrella, we stumbled upon a hunt. I think the crab was finally captured, but he got a 10 in my book for his posturing.


A beautiful day, in beautiful surroundings.

Brazilian Independence Day

Sam and I were able to catch the tail end of the Brazilian Independence Day parade a couple weeks ago.


Here was a military band performing Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by CCR.

Parade goers, after the parade.


We also thought it would be a good time to check out some of the street fare that we'd been seeing around. Primarily because we were hungry.

Sam's first churros. I had eaten these in California years ago, but these were thicker and hallow on the inside so they could be filled with either dulce de leche or chocolaty stuff. Then a bit of the gooey inside stuff was squirted on top as well, and sprinkles were added. He liked it.


Next up: pasteis. These can be filled with cheese, chicken, beef, shrimp, etc. They're kind of the Brazilian version of empanadas. Sam has cheese and I had chicken. And this was the SMALL.

After our tummies were full, we found a playground at the beach.




Some fellas kicking around the futebol.

A cathedral on our walk home. It wasn't open; Ill have to go back to see the inside.


Fun time!