46...how could that be?

I used to always be the young one on every committee or team. Not so much anymore. 46 seems really old. My status update on Facebook this morning was an Abraham Lincoln quote, "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." How true. I am very blessed. My kids are great. I am married to an amazing man. My friends rock. My parents (and Dan's parents) are healthy and fun. I am running a half marathon in October. I have a great job that is always interesting. I have lived in the US, Brazil and Japan. But 46? Wow, that's old. I better go take a nap or something.

Like my birthday presents? Lynne left me the Havaianas and Ro bought me these pretty earrings. I am spoiled.

The Party's Over

What a fun two weeks we've had here in SP. Our fab neighbors from the D, the Santoscoys, came to Brazil. We did our best to point them in the right direction of things to see and do and every chance we could, we ate and ate and ate. The power of the rodizio will live with all of us for quite a while (especially around the waist!) They were troopers though. Everyday at 7:15 Lynne took part in the "death march" around the hills of our complex. Nathan even went to school for a day with Hannah and Jackson. (Check out the sand sculpture behind Lynne and Dan. They had carved Barack Obama's name into it to attract gringoes like us!)

The highlight of the trip was a three-day jaunt to Rio. We had never been so it was a great excuse to go. We rented a beautiful beach house at Mirante de Itacoatiara and then used that as our headquarters. We jumped in the ocean waves, drank a few cervejas on the beach, visited Copacabana and Ipanema (yes we..ok me...sang the appropriate tunes), boogied to a samba band on the train ride to Christo, took the cable car up to Sugarloaf and went to a hippie art fair. What a beautiful city. I wish we had more time to spend there but the kids are in school now so we had to come back to Sao Paulo reality. Jackson put together an album on Facebook with some of our pictures. Click here if you want to see it.

We are so lucky to have such good friends. We had traveled with them to Playa del Carmen a few years ago and Noah's famous quote on the last night then when we were pulling out the margaritas was "No. The party is over." We use that all the time.

It was an amazing two weeks. So many laughs. I think Hannah said it best on the last day, "Mom, it is like I have Detroit and Brazil in the same place." So sad that this party is over.

First Day of School

Hannah and Jackson were there for the first day of school this year. They didn't start until October last year so this wasn't something they experienced last year. Jackson had to be there at the crack of dawn (OK, 6:30) for a special senior sunrise event so I couldn't even get the two of them together for a photo opp today. This is Jackson's last first day. Heavy sigh.

Forget it Santoscoys!

Here's a story I saw today that cracked me up. We don't encourage this in the Robar House.



Brazilians Urged to Urinate in the Shower

(Aug. 5) -- It sounds a wee strange, but a leak can save lots of water. That's the message an environmental group is sending in a new ad campaign.

Spots running on several Brazilian TV stations promote urinating in the shower.

In one commercial, animated characters such as King Kong, a trapeze artist, a basketball player and an alien show viewers how it's done -- usually in silhouette behind a shower curtain. There's even a momentary homage to the shower scene from 'Psycho.'

Children's voice narrate as a bouncy tune is strummed in the background. At the end, the kids shout: "Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!"

The ad campaign is "a way to be playful about a serious subject," according to Adriana Kfouri, a spokeswoman for SOS Mata Atlantica in Rio de Janeiro.

The group says eliminating just one toilet flush a day can save more than 1,100 gallons of water in a year.

Hilarious Photo of the Day

Sorry this photo isn't better. We took it from my car with Hannah's phone. The motoboy and his passenger were transporting a huge mirror on the back of the bike. The guy in the back had to fully extend his arm to hold the mirror with one hand. We were cracking up. You could see our car in the mirror. Wonder if they made it to their destination?

That Evil Piggy!

OK, Sao Paulo has dozens of cases of the swine flu. The metro area has a population of 20 million people. I feel bad for the sick people but come on...talk about overreacting. We had to fill out special H1N1 paperwork on the plane. School is starting a week late for the kids (and two weeks late in the Sao Paulo school system) so people can get it under control. Even in church today, no wine and no sign of peace.

All of this is especially stupid given the warm way Brazilians greet each other. Everyone gets a hug and a kiss on the cheek as a hello. Germs abound on a regular basis. We could have a pandemic on our hands!

Hannah and Jackson are ready to go back to school. Jackson is a little behind in his summer homework so he wasn't heartbroken but I know he would have rallied and been ready. The kids really need to return to academia and their friends now that we are back in Sao Paulo. If the break gets extended longer, I won't complain too much because Lynne, Dan, Nathan and Noah are coming on the 11th. We'll see what happens.