Brazil and Birthdays

Things you may see at a birthday party in Brazil: 

Cake presentation with party favors filled with candy. 

More party favors filled with candy. 

Fully casted "live" show. And then some more candy.

Cameo theme with party favors (filled with candy) at a video-arcade. 

Unlimited games and rides. 

Vibrant Transformer displays. And candy. 

Bumblebee cameo, fog machine, and dancing. 

An unbreakable pinata.

Homemade cake with peelable cake topper
that won't actually peel off.

Star Wars sugar cookies.
And candy... collected from past parties.

Swim noodle light sabers, Star Wars crafts, and capes.

Fancy parties or not, the effect is the same: elated children, molding international friendships, and creating memories. 

Marcos Pontes and Space Tavel

Astronaut turned life coach/
motivational speaker/
engineering consultant

After dragging my kids around a few too many beaches in the pouring rain, I decided to spice up the kid's "winter break" in Recife by taking them to a mall. Sort of. Specifically, a mall that advertised a month long "Children in Space" exhibit in honor of Marcos Pontes, Brazil's first (and currently only) astronaut who blasted into space back in 2006, spending a week at the International Space Station with the Russians. The exhibit's claim to fame promised a strict thirty minutes of unfettered space learning; with blue suits, hair nets and shoe covers. We watched a 6 minute video, walked around a few model planets, and stared at tiny models encased in glass. Well, I did all these things while the kids staggered under their ill-fitting, giant space helmets, totally distracted. 

I felt their space experience lacked any sense of awe and wonder but chocked it up to the stale circulated mall air. But then they lead the kids to a looming space capsule lined with 3 inch foam and spray painted stars for a galactic dance party. The kids went absolutely insane, dancing and body slamming in the black light. They refused to leave that sweaty fun pit for thirty more minutes, but to the space employee's delight who put the songs on repeat. In the end I managed to peel off their uniforms but immediate freedom allowed them to run back into the dance party. I'd say this made up for Schlink rainy day death marches in the sand. 

Margonaut

A slightly underwhelmed astro-tot
before the foam pit throw down.

Praia do Paraiso

I love when TDYers come visit. These "temporary duty" officers often arrive with fresh perspectives and want to travel as much as possible since they are usually only posted for a few weeks or months to help with staffing coverage. So when my unwieldy children started to suffer from rainy season cabin fever, I called up a TDYer here from Sao Paolo, Brazil and set off on another dirt road to check out the smallest beach in Pernambuco: Praia do Paraiso. Indeed the tiny praia stretched a mere 70 meters wide filled with grainy sand and high sea-weed content, but of course the kids relished hunting for treasure in the pouring rain. We hung around just long enough for me to slip on the rocks and smash my phone to pieces- which went completely unnoticed by a fisherman, clad only in a winter hat and Speedo mending his net. I lay there, spread out like a starfish dazed but the impact and ocean drenching my hindside. So we hiked back to the car which I had parked at the top of the hill due to massive worm-hole openings in the road.  At least it warranted spectacular views of Pernambuco's famous outlying reefs, and I enjoyed good company with a new friend; without her I would have been a total weeny. 

View from the top.

Where we decided to hike instead of drive.  

 

Beached seaweed

Deets hunting for dinosaur bones