Rain and Saturday Night Fun

With spring finally here, I thought I would focus this week's post on a typical Spring Saturday Night in Rio. Today's technology has allowed those of us in foreign climes to not miss a single pitch or snap; therefore, last night Vic and I went to dinner at a friend's apartment. Dinner was traditional Brazilian fare - Fried Chicken, Cajun Potato Salad and Jambalaya followed by the Auburn-LSU game. Almost everyone there had an affiliation to one team or the other so it was a very fun night despite the outcome (LSU won 26-21 0n a late touchdown). This was possible because we all have slingboxes - a device that allows us to access a cable box in the US over the internet. Other than the game, the weather this week was miserable. Thursday night, Vic and I went to a movie and actually wore sweatshirts and jeans. In our minds it was very necessary. It is amazing to me how fast we have acclimated to the weather here. In less than a year, we consider a 70 degree day downright chilly. Vic and Ansley made a shopping run to pick up some extra cold weather gear for the kids. Don't worry about us though, I am certain we will be in bathing suits on a beach or by the pool next week. That's just how the weather here goes. You can all point to this post in a couple of months when I am writing about how miserable the heat is without air conditioning. Bad weather means that the kids are stuck inside much more than usual with few outlets to release their pent up energy. This has unfortunately resulted in the demise of one of our favorite gadgets. Vic went to get Sawyer from his nap one day to find him released from his tent/bed. He has finally managed to rip out of it. We will mourn it's loss as it means we return to the days of finding Sawyer in various sleeping locations and listening to him play with his toys at 1 in the morning. Finally, I will mention one of my favorite things about Rio (and Vic's least favorite). There are no "boxed" foods here. You can't get pancake mix or cake mix or even Kraft Macaroni n' Cheese (never fear, we import). This means that the kids and I get some seriously good home cooked meals. Yesterday morning Vic made all of us buttermilk pancakes and this evening we are having home made meatballs. My new all-time favorite cake is her cheesecake. I don't think she appreciates having to put forth effort quite as much as the kids and I appreciate enjoying the results. This weeks pictures include a shots of Vic and Ansley making the pancakes, Sawyer impersonating a beached whale while watching TV, Sawyer prepping for the Auburn/LSU game, and the shell and the still unnamed venus fly-trap I mentioned last week. Hope everyone is well.