Once again it has been quite a while since my last post. I have been fairly busy at work trying to get ready for an extended turnaround. For my mother's benefit I will briefly explain a turnaround - we stop everything involved with the production of oil and gas, open it all up, climb inside and ensure that it can keep running until we have to do this again. From a project perspective, this is my opportunity to implement several millions of dollars worth of equipment and piping modifications.
I am somewhat torn by these off shore events. From a professional level, its a lot of fun to see inside the process, think on our feet to address unexpected problems within the turnaround duration, and see over a year's worth of planning come to fruition. From a personal level, I'll be out here and away from Vic and the kids for a month or more. I do get to hear things like "We need to stay away from the poop this afternoon cause its gonna get hairy". Of course the "poop" is the poop deck and this is an entirely legitimate statement, but it still makes the kid in me chuckle.
All right, enough about work. Since my last note, Sawyer has started preschool. He has spent the last year watching his sister go to school and telling us that he wants to go as well - not quite that articulate, but you get the drift. His first few days, he was typically out of the car and running through the house that serves as the American School P-2 Barra at mach 2 to get to the back. It was just more than his little heart could stand. It has been interesting to hear the behavior reports for Sawyer and comparing them to those we got for Ansley. I typically do not pick him up, so my account of the morning (half day only) is based upon Vic's description, but, upon hearing the account, I envision the two pre-school teachers having slightly more disheveled hair than when I dropped him off, breathing a little heavy through their mouth, and laughing manically with relief very quietly under their breath. Vic will tell you that this just isn't so; however, his first week and a half the teachers asked Vic to get him early every day, and they have since decided that maybe the problem is that he was going three days in a row (WThF) and have moved him to MWF to see if this helps. Oh well, they'll get over it...they probably need the exercise anyway.
On to other topics - one of the the common occurrences with expat life is that it is not uncommon for the spouse to be stuck at home with the kids while the husband is travelling on business of one kind or another. The best case scenario here is that the timing of the business trip aligns with a friend's business trip as this means the spouses can join forces and deal with the kids together. Just before Carnaval the stars aligned and I found myself offshore for a week while Adam Webb found himself away in the jungle looking for iron. This meant that his wife, Annette, and Vic could get together. The nice thing about this particular event was that the two of them decided to plan a three day trip and Adam and I were stuck tagging along when we got back - tough life. They chose a Brazilian tradition - Buzios. Bridgette Bardot found this place back in the day and put it on the map. It's about two hours out of Rio along a beautiful stretch of beach and it deserves its reputation.
We went over there the Wednesday following Carnaval and were driving into town as every one else in Brazil and Argentina drove out. We didn't have the place to our self, but we had a pretty easy time of it as far as crowds are concerned. Vic had found a Poussada about a block off one of the nicer beaches and promptly booked it. My only responsibility was to tell work that I wasn't going to bother coming Thursday and Friday - done.
At this point, you may be asking "What the hell is a Poussada?" My description is that it is the Brazilian version of a bed and breakfast. The owner's of this particular poussada had bought all the houses over a two block area and converted them into separate apartments. Our block had two houses - one for couples and one for families. The Webbs took a two bedroom apartment upstairs and we took a two bedroom apartment downstairs. There was then a common area downstairs that consisted of the pool, a TV room (complete with three channels), a kitchen and a dining room. It was ideal for us. Sawyer, of course, decided he preferred the couples house to our own. This choice only posed a problem when he proceeded to go streaking through their common room with his father chasing after him yelling at the top of his voice. The Poussada also had a fantastic aviary off the outdoor dining room. Apparently, children are sadistic, they saw the birds and decided to start playing a game called "bang on the cages and yell as loud as you can and see if any birds faint or die of fright". The owners were very impressed.
Buzios is known for two things - food and beaches. We had some great meals and certainly enjoyed the food, but we had the most fun at the beaches. Adam and I got an early start on Thursday morning and rented a couple of surf boards. We spent the better part of an hour tiring ourselves out trying to surf. As it was only my second time, I thought I did pretty well. At the end of the morning, I was tired, bruised, and had a broken board, but I was happy with the effort. I managed to stand up a couple of times and only ingested a couple of gallons of the Atlantic through my nose.
The kids had been watching us try this with a certain amount of excitement as they anticipated that when we came in, it was their turn. Not wanting to disappoint, we used the white water near the beach and gave Ansley and Charlie some shots...the little punks did considerably better than their old men. Both of them managed to stand up multiple times and ride waves to the beach. Charlie was down right amazing. The kid looked like he had been surfing every day for the past three years. Ansley enjoyed it, but was more interested in her new boogie board. I'm hoping that before we leave, she and I will be heading out weekend mornings to surf together. Sawyer tried the surf board, but he was more interested in throwing sand and digging holes. I tried them both, and, I must admit, they were surprisingly calming. We only quit when Vic and Ansley told us it was time to clean up and get ready for lunch. What a buzz kill. 
Following our return to Rio, we had a night and day to recover from our vacation before we went to the Parade of Champions at the Sambadromo in Rio (sans kids). While we were here last year for Carnaval, we were still trying to get our feet under us and elected to partake in some of the smaller family events in Barra. This year we decided to see the main event. My mistake in this whole endeavor is believing that the Carnaval Parades must be similar to a Mardi Gras Parade. They are similar, but its like comparing a lamp to the sun. Carnaval is huge. Mardi Gras has its visitors, but they are more interested in watching girls lift their shirts for beads and drinking beer until the person they are with looks good or they pass out or both. Carnaval is this entire country's way of life. The only arguments to the contrary that I will entertain are those given by residents of New Orleans or the surrounding area. To these people Mardi Gras is something more and it is a legitimate comparison. All you others can stuff it because you are wrong.
Carnaval Parades are held in the Sambadromo. This is a one kilometer road with stadium seats on either side. Ground rules:
- Friday through Tuesday leading up to Ash Wednesday there is a parade.
- Six samba groups march in each one and each group is judged. They are judged on things like costumes, music, lyrics, floats, pace, the ability to keep their clothes on, etc
- The group has one hour and fifteen minutes to go from one side to the other.
- They each write their own song and it is played by a band at the back of the parade over the stadium loudspeaker for the duration that they are on the road.
- The first parade starts at 9:00pm and the sun is typically in the sky when the last parade ends.
- There are fireworks between each parade.
- The people of Rio have their favorite parades and cheer for them as you would a sports team.
- The night we were there (Saturday after Ash Wednesday) was the six highest scoring parades of the previous week.
- As in Mardi Gras, anyone can pay some money and join in the parade. You even get a costume. 
The floats are massive, intricate and typically move. The costumes are loud, tight and difficult to keep in place (hence the one judging category). The music is cool when you play it yourself, but at the sambadromo, it is loud. Insanely loud. We watched three and a half parades and my hearing didn't return to normal until Monday. It didn't help that we were sitting in a Frezia with a speaker pointing right at us. It was so loud that the speakers actually generated a nice breeze for us - a plus. The only real disappointment of the night was the beer they served at the Sambadromo - it was cheap, weak and tasted like crap. I felt like I was back in New Orleans drinking Dixie Beer. At this point, I can't remember if my hearing returned to normal or the taste of the beer left my mouth first. Whichever it was, it wasn't all that bad. It really was an amazing experience and it's hard not to enjoy yourself when you have however many thousands of people around you cheering and going nuts.
Hope you are all well. Atê proximo vez. Here's a video of Sawyer nearing the end of our trip in Buzios. He just couldn't stay awake another minute.
