The Maias

Another Campinas Discovery

2008-08-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of Vagner's friend's took us to a park we hadn't been to as of yet. And wow, it was sooo beautiful. Huge and green and this one, and unlike the Taquaral park, is paved with bricks and has an inhouse zoo. And the only thing that costs money is if you get hungry. The forest is so thick in there you can't see or hear the city. I felt like we were exploring in India or something (if we ignored the school groups on field trips around us). We had a great time.
Since I still have no [working] camera, I've found some great pics of it online.

Getting a Visa isn't hard for Everyone

2008-08-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well, Logan was delighted this morning to discover that the Tooth Fairy does actually come all the way down to Brazil if you lose a tooth. She left him 3 reis (in change, unfortunately- she must have been a little short).
Apparently, she broke tradition because when kids lose their teeth in Brazil, they just throw their teeth on the roof and recite a little poem. It was in this conversation with my husband that I realized (again)how materialistic we Americans are.

Me: So, they just throw the tooth on the roof?
V: Yep.
Me: And then...
V: They say the poem and that's it.
Me: No money?
V: Nope.
Me: Well, without money or presents, what fun is that?

Iguatemi Shopping-Home of the $10 Happy Meal

2008-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Today we went to one the cities "smaller" malls. I heard they had some good bookstores with books in English (and, I admit, am dying to get my hand on Breaking Dawn). I am just amazed how modern and clean things are here in Campinas. The mall was bigger than the malls I can thing of in Utah, and had high prices to boot. I feel like all I talk about is how expensive everything is. I told the kids ahead of time that we would be eating lunch at the mall. No big deal, right? But we get to the food court and there's so many choices, and none of them I'm familiar with except for Applebee's (WAAYY expensive here) and McDonalds. Because everytime I ask how much something costs, I'm sure my shocked face makes me look soooo classy, so I didn't want to go through that again today. Now those of you who know me know that if I have a burger I am a Wendy's girl. I rarely eat Mcdonalds, and if I do, only for breakfast. But of course, my kids love the toys in the happy meals, so I thought it would be nice to have a taste of home for them. And many Brazilians have assured me Mcdonalds here is way better than in the US (but now that I'm typing this all the people who told me that have never been so...). So we order 2 happy meals and a chicken club combo, and the total is 33 reis! That's like 25 dollars. I wouldn't mind paying that if we were having like nice food, or even decent food. But the Mcdonalds here is the same crappy stuff you have in the States. And there were a lot of people eating there, I just don't know why a person would pay so much for crappy food. They can't all have had my excuse of being indimidated by the language and the choices.
Oh, by the way, Vagner's cousin Isaias was impressed when the cashier was asking me what I wanted and I knew to answer what kind of drink and if I wanted crispy or grilled without translation. Little did he know I had those questions memorized! And no luck with the book. They had the first two twilight books in english though.

My favorite thing about Campinas

2008-08-06T17:12:00.001-07:00

This is the awesome park I was describing earlier. In the left hand corner you can see the pirate ship they're building, and in the middle the fountains and the tree covered area in the middle is where all the bird cages are. You can't see the other 2/3 of the park, but this gives you a good idea.

I knew it was a bad idea!

2008-08-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago Vagner bought Logan a Playstation. Well, that's not quite the whole story. After mutually deciding that Vagner would come home from Brazil in May, we told the kids he was home for good. He did come home, but after being scared by the current economic conditions in the US, decided to give it one more try. So he had his plane ticket to leave (I think it was 2-3 weeks after he got home) and hadn't broken the news to the kids yet. Keep in mind they had spent 4 weeks total with him since the beginning of December.
Vagner, mastermind that he is, knew Julia would be no problem. Tell her she's pretty, you see a balloon, or tickle her and she's pretty much a happy girl. Logan on the other hand is really sensitive and has the memory of an elephant. He also adores Vagner completely and thinks he walks on water basically. So we were driving in the car, and Vagner turns around and says to the kids, "Well, guys, I have to go back to Brazil the day after tomorrow." They start their protesting but then he continues, "but right now we're on our way to Walmart to buy a playstation". That was met by cheers and smiles, of course. So Vagner turns to me and smiles, what a sly dog. I had been putting off buying one for so long , I was afraid I'd be constantly fighting Logan (and Vagner) to keep the playing time to a reasonable level. But how could I say no now?
So here we are in Brazil, with a limited number of toys, all the books read and workpages done that I brought with me. All Logan wants all day long is to play playstation! If he isn't playing, he's asked about playing. It never stops all day long. I've had a recurring nightmare this week of Logan's future:

I've tried distracting him with puzzles, charades, hide-and-seek, leaf people (don't ask), but he doesn't like playing alone so unless I am right there playing with hime, everything is "boring". Yesterday I suggested we do an obstacle course with jumping jacks, situps, etc at different locations all around the apartment. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Logan, it's not good for your brain to be playing playstation all the time.
Logan: I know... [brightening up]How about disneychannel.com??!!??
Me: Same thing. You need to do something that gets your body moving, exercises your muscles.
Logan: [sighs, then speaks very slowly to make sure I understand] Mom, don't you know when I'm playing playstation, MY HANDS ARE MOVING THE WHOLE TIME!! That's exercise, see?
Me:[silence-feel free to insert cricket sounds]

I love you like a Kumquat

2008-07-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Something I love to do here is try all the tropical fruit that isn´t available in the US. I´ve tried passion fruit (eh...) cashew fruit (eww!), and yesterday I had kumquats for the first time and they were delicious! It looks like a tiny orange and you squeeze the contents into your mouth and suck it out. The outside is sweet and mild and the inside is sweet/sour. My mouth is watering as I´m typing this.
I´m going to spend the next two weeks with the kids in Itauna with Vagner´s family. He´ll be really busy with work and school this week (oh, did I mention he decided to get an MBA?!? crazy boy) so it´s just easier for his mom if we spend time here instead of her coming with us. He left an hour ago, and I miss him already.

Due to Technical Difficulties....

2008-07-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Ugghh! In the past two week, my laptop stopped working, and tonight Julia broke the camera. So, my posting will be "photo-free" until I get home in August and electronics are actually affordable.
The only pictures I've taken in Brazil are when we first walked into our apartment and I wanted everyone to see where we were living. We live in a pretty busy part of Campinas (at least it seems that way to me) We live in a little building on a fork of a one-way street. Underneath us is a hot dog stand, a little bar, a pharmacy, and a filtered water shop.

Every morning I wake up and walk down the street about 50 feet and buy fresh bread for breakfast (so much for losing weight while in Brasil). At about 11, I start making lunch, which is the big meal here. I always make rice, which was a disaster the first 2 days, and beans (ditto), some kind of meat, and butter leaf lettuce with lime sqeezed on it and salt. Cooking this way is a learning experience. Since Brazillians make just about the same thing everyday, they are really good at it. After 2 days of trying to cook with the limited utensils/ pots that I had, and using a pressure cooker for the first time, this is what happened!

Actually, I'm lucky b/c it's actually really dangerous to use it incorrectly, and I hadn't been taught. So my friend Fernanda was nice enought to come over and give me a cooking/Portuguese lesson. She doesn't speak English, but we were able to communicate pretty well (with some help from her husband over the phone). She was a great teacher and now my meals are very good if I do say so myself!
After the meal we went to the Don Pedro mall (or "shopping" in Portuguese). It's the largest mall in Latin American and only about 5 minutes away from me. It was beautiful, really modern and clean and lots of windows (and A/C!)tons of stores and activities for kids, and a theatre, a huge grocery store, and even rides for kids. I can't wait to go back!
Another cool thing in Campinas is this HUGE park with a lake in the middle and paddle boats, train rides, exotic birds in cages (although I guess here they aren't exotic!)a huge pirate ship, and (dirt) soccor fields, and a playground (playground seem to be really rare here). If you circle the whole park is like 5 km, so all the time there's tons of people exercising. Right next to the playground is a weight lifting area, with a scale and a "mist machine" in case people get hot. I've never been to such a nice park. The first time we went there we say a possum, and a capybura, which I didn't get a picture of but here's what it looks like:

We've had a lot of fun visiting friends and family in Brazil. That's our main form of entertainment here- just talking. Brazillians are such great company. I just hope I can learn Portuguese quickly! I mostly stay home and walk around near our home during the day since I'm afraid of getting lost while driving in these twisty, turny, one way streets. But then Vagner gets home and we go out!

Houston Update

2008-07-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we're on our last day in Houston, and we've had a really good time. The best part of course was reuniting with Vagner, I wish I had taken a picture when the kids saw him for the first time, but he snuck up on us to surprise us and I wasn't prepared. They have been hanging on him ever since, arguing over who gets to sit by him, hold his hand, sleep next to him (we're in the hotel, remember? My turn is later;) ). One thing that has been hard for them is he came here to Houston to work, so we don't have him with us all the time. Last night he went to an evening event, and he told us he would be gone until around 11, and that he would play video games with Logan after (we've given up on trying to get a schedule- Brazil will through everything off), and those poor kids checked the window of our hotel every 10-20 minutes. Aaww. So anyways, we bought a Ciypass here which gives us tickets to like six different attraction for a little discount. We used one in for our trip to SoCal too. The first day we went to the Downtown Aquarium. It was very cute, and had lots of cool animals to see and touch. I forgot my camera that day sorry. The picture above is actually Logan's first time eating calamari :) Then we went to the NASA Space Center. That was actually really interesting, although it was very crowded and HOT, so a few people didn't smell too good. I think Brazilians are on to something if your live in a place thats so humid and it gets hot, you should shower twice a day, for everyone's sake. Ugh. I doubt the people that stunk weren't showering, but when you get into this like heavy, hot air you're sweating within 30 minutes, so maybe their clothes weren't clean or something. Anyways, while we were there we got to see the largest rocket in the world. They also had an old shuttle you could walk through (small inside and in close proximity to others, I was wanting noseplugs) and a little astronaut training camp. I don't think these are things the astronauts really do (they are too fun) but they were a big hit and definately worth the long line. The other things we did were the local museums and the zoo. It turned out to be a very educational trip for the kids and they learned a lot. We did some of the activities by ourselves but had a great time while Vagner worked. Speaking of work, he was here in Houston for a convention for companies that partner with Microsoft. He said he had a really good time, met a lot of people from all over the world, made some really good business contacts, and he was really excited to attend a meeting with Steve Balmer (CEO of Microsoft). Vagner also got to attend a luncheon where he accepted an award for his company (only four other companies were awarded as well at this particular luncheon). So today we're off to Brazil... I feel like I've told this story so many times, so if you're one of the people I've already told I'm sorry, I honestly cannot remember who I have and haven't spoken to about this (horrible memory). Vagner has been working in Campinas Brazil since February, and so now that he's sure he wants to stick with this (you know Vagner) we're headed down there to see how the kids and I adjust, and if we can find a school with a good fit that we can afford. I have to say I'm hoping it will work out because I think it could be a good thing for our little family. The kids and I will learn Portuguese(hopefully), and Vagner will be at a challenging job that he likes and feels valued(not an intern position), and I will get to be a stay at home mom. My family in Utah, of course, isn't hoping for it to work out, and I don't blame them. Brazil is really far away. Thank goodness for blogs, I'll be updating often so you all will know I love you and am thinking of you! Wow-this was a long post, sorry!

Wow, now I'm really ashamed!

2008-06-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

I took the test for Vagner (from my point of view of course). I'm a lucky lady!

As a 1930s husband, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Sorry Honey!

2008-06-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

End of first grade

2008-06-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today at school Logan read from some of the books and poetry he wrote throughout the year. I can't believe how much kids can learn in just 9 months. It's absolutely amazing. Sorry about all the proud mama posts!

6 months is too far away!

2008-06-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to see this movie, but not quite as excited as I am to read the new book in August!

Logan's 1st Grade Music Program

2008-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Logan did SO well at his music program. This post probably sounds just like the last one, but at all the previous church and school things, if singing is involved he does not participate. He just stands there. Sorry if the videos are kind of long, I want Vagner to be able to watch them in Brazil. Ironic isn't it that the theme is amout America?

Can you believe he's almost 7? Part of his personality is so much like me, I feel bad. He's so shy, that he makes things hard for himself. For example, on the last video, if you notice he starts clapping when the audience does, and so to cover up is mistake he starts looking at his hands like they are so fascinating and that's the whole reason he put his hand up in the first place. That is exactly what I would have done. I would walk right by people I knew when I was younger b/c I was too shy! I never said hi first- so silly. My job really forced my to get comfortable talking to people. It's so much easier that always worrying what people think of you! I wish I knew what I could do to help him break out of his shell so he can enjoy his school years more. Any suggestions?

Julia's Dance Recital

2008-05-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I can't believe the end of the school year is already here and Julia had her last dance recital. I was so happy she actually danced! And if you watch the video during her tap number she slipped and fell, but got up and kept dancing. That was big because last time she was too scared to even dance in the first place. She just stood and looked around (but she looked so cute doing it!). By the way, next time you see Julia her new nickname is PB because she likes peanut butter any time she can get it. Logan's nickname is Stu, for stuntman, because he's always throwing himself around with no regard for his safety. When the kids were discussing this and I said, "What about me? What's my nickname?" Logan gave me a thoughtful look and said "St!" I don't know where that came from and I still don't know what it means, but in restaurants he loves to keep making that noise,"st, st, st, " until I realize he's talking to me. It literally sounds like a sneeze or something. It's so funny!

Can't Vacation last forever?

2008-04-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I keep saying I won't go on any more vacations unless Vagner can come too, but this time it was actually really fun! We had such a great time on our California trip. We were gone for a little over a week. I drove the whole way with NO navigator (other than Dad and Kathy's car that I was caravanning with) and didn't get lost once. Katrina and her family were at Disneyland at the same time too. We went to Sea World, Disneyland for 3 days, Universal Studios, and San Diego Zoo. We also took Kathy's niece (our fave babysitter) Julia Haglund and the kids loved having her with us. My Dad rented a house across the street from the backside of Disneyland and it had a pool, which was so great. On the last day the kids and I drove to Camarillo to see my aunt Martha and her family. I realized it's not just Disneyland that I love. I think it's just that I really like California. I really love the weather, and having the beach right there. Maybe instead of Brazil we should move to Cali!

Deep thoughts by Logan Maia

2008-03-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

"Mom, do you know there are more than a hundred things in the world?"

Things to do when your husband is out of the country (Again)

2008-03-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

1) Check your email every 5 minutes.
2) Check your blog and everyone's blog you know every day
3) Think how nice it would be to be successful on your diet so when he comes home you are skinny! Then go eat some peanut M&M's.
4) Don't clean your house- No one will see it anyways
5) Serve whatever you want for dinner- or just cereal (the kids love it)
6) Don't shave your legs.
7) Google everyone you know and everyone you can think of weekly (How did I ever live before the internet?)
8) Give yourself a pedicure- you deserve it.
9) Give Julia a pedicure.
10) Try to give Logan a pedicure- but to Vagner's relief he refuses.

Julia's 4th Birthday

2008-02-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

Goodbye for Us, Welcome Home for Him

2008-01-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

The first thing in my mind last night when I heard about President Hinckley passing was how excited I was for him to see his wife again. It was so sad how much he missed her and you could see it when he spoke about her. What a great reunion they must be having right now! Just imagine the reception a prophet like him must get! The second thing is how lucky I feel to have been blessed by his leadership. What a difference one person can make! He will definately be missed but it's not sad news.

Tagged!

2008-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules:-Link to the person who tagged you.-Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.-Post the rules on your blog.-Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself.-Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.-Include links to their blogs.-Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1) My sisters and I were standing in line to get into the park at Disney's California adventure. I was the first of all of us, and I was talking on my cell. I heard my sister and her husband whispering "Steve Buschemi, that's Steve Buschemi" and I said loudly, "Who's steve Buschemi? what are you talking about?". Turns out he was the hairy dirty guy in front of me. I recognized him just in time to see him roll his eyes slightly and turn away from me. Pretty good disguise, though. He had way long hair and beard and a hat pulled down. He looked pretty awful. But, hey, to each his own, right?

3) and 4) For those of you from Utah, I have met Frankie and Danger Boy from 97.1 (used to be 94.9) on separate occasions. I(or stood next to) DB as he flirted with a girl.
5)I was walking by Marie Osmond as she filmed a commercial in Disneyland when I was eight years old.

6)I met Rafael Arujo (he played basketball for BYU then went pro) at the Portuguese ward in Orem. Vagner knew him better though- he came by Wendy's a lot apperently.

7) The great futbal player Pele! On my last trip to Brazil..... Just kidding! I ran out of people. But wouldn't that be cool?

So I tag, Bonny, Trina, Leslie, Shannon, and Brooke

Go Utes! I mean Cougs!

2008-01-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

We went to the Utah vs. BYU game at the Huntsman center. Being a transplanted Oremite loyal to the blue, I changed when we moved to SLC and Vagner graduated here, I work for the University, etc. We dressed all in red (except Vagner, always the rebel) and were excited for a good time. But all the Utah fans around us were crude and really rude to the Byu fans sitting nearby. I'm not just talking about cat calls. Like aggressive behavior. I was ashamed of the color I was wearing and from here on out, I'll be wearing blue!
The kids had a great time riding Trax to and from the game, but they were pretty bored throughout. I think we'll wait a couple of years before we try again.

Will winter ever end?

2008-01-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

I don't remember a winter that ever bothered me as much as this one has. I don't remember ever having so many storms, and so few warmer days in between. I heard the term seasonal depression and that vitamin D can help that. So maybe I'll try that. But in the meantime, Let me show you our first snowman in our new house! (I guess winter can be fun sometimes!) These pictures are about a month old. I haven't seen grass in my yard for weeks!

For us Chubbies

2008-01-11T10:27:00.001-08:00

http://lanebryant.charmingshoppes.com/pagebuilder/010708_giftcheque

you're welcome!

Brazillian Chocolate is Evil

2008-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

So Vagner, wanting to bring something we would love from Brazil, brought like 6 huge bags of different kinds of chocolates. I know most of you haven't had them but think like Ferrero Rocher, but in a whole bunch of different flavors. They are so good, and I am not supposed to have sugar at all right now. So these were just beyond my self control. But they were absolutely delicious. My diet was going so well too. That's all I have to say about that.

Daddy's Home!!

2008-01-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

Vagner came home last night and we are all so happy to have him back! Here's some pics from his visit to Brazil.

Ta-Da!

2008-01-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

These were from Julia's first ever Dance Recital in December. She was soooo excited to be on a big stage in a fancy theatre (Rose Wagner Theater in downtown Salt Lake City). She did a great job with her little group and we can't wait for the next one in May

So Far, So Good

2008-01-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well this way of eating seems to really work, because I have lost 8 lbs already in less than a week. The book says that you lose a lot of the water/bloat that your body has been holding onto when you liver is gunked up with bad fat and sugar. I would love some cookies right now though!

The big suprise this week is I have been making separate meals for myself, and making the usual for my kids in an effort to use up the bad food(Vagner's still in Brazil until tonight). But when I set down my food, which was some grilled fish/chicken and kale and salad and veggies, they wanted that instead of potatoes and chicken nuggets, etc. I was planning on forcing them to switch eventually don't have my tastes. They have Brazilian appetites all the way. I can't keep enough fruit in this house!

The Happiest Place on Earth

2008-01-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

My family and I are so excited to go to our favorite place in just 78 days! In honor of the 78 day milestone, I present the following: (prepare yourself for warm fuzzies)!

New Years Fun

2007-12-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow's New Years Eve, and just like plenty of other fat Americans I will be eating healthy, working out and losing weight. No really :). Well call it the masochist in me, but this diet is really strict for the first 2 weeks, but I think the more specific and brutal it is, the likelier I am to do it. I bought the book yesterday, and I am very excited to start. I will post my progress here so I have to be accountable to you guys ok?

Work it Covergirl!

2007-12-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of Julia. It's pretty old- I think 2 years old? She is even more of a poser now :)