Poor Hugo

This is a photo I took through Skype of my Dad's new blue cast. While we were at the Falls, the rails were all wet and he slammed his hand the wrong way against one of them. It swelled up and turned funny colors while we were traveling but he didn't have it x-rayed until he got back to Michigan. The hand specialist gave him the U of M colored cast this week. Looks like he got out of snow shoveling for this season!

It just amazes me that I can take a picture of my Dad's hand 5,000 miles away. Skype has been my salvation for this journey to Brazil. I can talk and see everybody and it is totally free. Al Gore sure invented a way cool Internet.

Here Fishy, Fishy

The day after Christmas we got up ridiculously early, jumped in a taxi and flew to Rio. Ro and Jackson had booked two days of charter fishing and Hannah and I just came along. I have no clue what kind of fish the guys caught.

We had been to Rio with the Santoscoys in August and stayed at a great beach house and did the tourist thing then so this was our chance to just hang and soak up the city. We stayed at an OK hotel in Copacabana a few blocks off the water. Copacabana was a great area for early morning runs among the beautiful people (and a whole lot of ugly ones too!) They were setting up for the big New Year's celebration. Brazilians all go to the beach dressed in white and watch huge fireworks that are shot from barges in the water. At midnight, the party moves into the ocean. Copacabana Beach is the largest celebration in all of Brazil. The stages were mammoth.

But we left before the madness (and astronomical hotel rates!) started. Instead we beached, went to an art fair, shopped at a local mall and toured the botanical gardens. Much fun! The guys joined us the last day for a tour of the Neimeyer Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi. Such a funky building.

Quiet Sao Paulo Christmas

It is 10 a.m. on Christmas morning and the kids are still sleeping. I remember one year when Hannah and Jackson woke us up at 4 a.m. because they were so excited. My, how times change! We purposely went very low key on presents this year since we are leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Rio. Ro and Jackson are going sea fishing and Hannah and I are just going to hang around the city. That was the gift we gave to one another this year.

It doesn't make today any less weird though. Our family and friends are a long 5,000 miles away. Hope they have a wonderful day! I'm sure we'll give them a call before the day is up.

I bought a small ham and I'm going to attempt a holiday dinner. Hannah and I made cookies the other day so we have the essentials ready to go. It will be strange to have Christmas dinner in shorts and flip flops though. Merry Christmas everybody!

Abracos and Beijos (hugs and kisses) from the Southern Robars.

FYI: This photo is the Ponte Estaiada Octávio Frias de Oliveira suspension bridge that we pass almost everyday. They light it special for the holidays.

HF and DJ do SP

My Mom and Dad are such troopers. Over the past 10 days, they ate mountains of beef, went to several amazing parties, visited the ocean, toured the city, critiqued an art fair, walked through parks, dashed through waterfalls, marveled at birds, danced the samba and just enjoyed some great family time. My Dad is now a Caipirinha (Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca rum) fan. (I am spelling it out here since my Dad must have asked me a 100 times, "what is this drink called again?") Ro and I are so blessed to have two sets of healthy and fun parents. This trip also proved to me that Jackson is developing many HF tendencies.

Igacu Falls (some people spell it Iguassu) was an amazing place to visit. We flew out on Thursday and walked through trails on both the Brazilian and Argentine sides of the falls. So much bigger and more natural than Niagara Falls. On the last day, we even took a hydroplane boat ride through the Falls themselves. We had a fabulous and patient guide, Gunter, who helped us with every detail of the trip.

Such a nice Christmas present to have them here with us!

Accepted!

Today, all the Graded High School seniors carried out their ritualistic scalping of my son. There is a weird tradition at the school whenever a senior gets accepted into college, the other kids shave their head (badly). Jackson found out last night that he got accepted (and even got a bit of an academic scholarship) to SCAD, Savannah College of Art & Design. Jackson is pretty geeked about this choice because they have industrial design, a baseball team and a ROTC program. Once he submits his portfolio to SCAD at the end of this year, he will be eligible for art scholarships too. He has applied to two other universities: College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University in Detroit. Still waiting to hear from them. Sure hope Jackson doesn't get scalped again. He's in the bathroom now trying to fix it. Good luck dude.

My Mom and Dad arrive tomorrow morning for 10 days. I'm so looking forward to their visit. We are going to take a few days next week and go to Iguassu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border. It is supposed to be beautiful.


HAIR UPDATE: It's gone! Jackson came out of the bathroom with a dull razor and smelling like shaving cream.

Our Little Tree

In Detroit, we have a 12-14 foot live tree in our foyer filled with treasured ornaments we've collected for decades. I didn't bring any of them. Our Brazil "Feliz Natal" is a little different. We bought a Christmas tree just as we were leaving the US and put it on the shipment so we decided we had to use it. We got some cheap ornaments from the nearby Extra store and decorated it last night. It didn't take too long. We each got to pick our favorite Christmas tune and by the time the four songs were done, so was the tree. As Hannah said, "Mom, it looks better in the dark with the lights on."

In case you were wondering which tunes we chose:

Ro--Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer
Jackson--Eminem Christmas song
Hannah--All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
Me--Bruce Springsteen Santa Claus is Coming to Town