Recife: Life's A Beach!

Today we finally got out to do something fun and begin to discover our new city.  We spent the morning hanging out on Recife's famous urban beach, Boa Viagem.  For 20 Reais ($10, roughly) we were able to utilize a beach umbrella, 3 beach chairs, a tiny garbage can and a waiter for drinks.  It was time to sit back and enjoy the show, Brazilian style!

I'm too busy working and drinking coffee to be bothered right now!  (I know, I know, gratuitous baby pic!)

Morning coconut delivery.  This sight makes me happy.

Kylie and her dad enjoying the beach.  Looking good Eric!!

Relaxing in the shade.

An interesting, if not entirely safe, pass time.  These guys were being propelled by some kind of fan motor strapped to their backsides...flying these contraptions over known shark infested waters...hmmm...

An adorable bebezinha having a beach nap in her tropical swaddle.
She hadn't slept this soundly since we got here.

Vendors on the beach.  Locally-themed sarongs anyone?  Or beach soup maybe??

That's right, grilled cheese.  Not the sandwich.  We flagged this guy down for a bite.

 Perfectly charred and delicious...and on a stick!

These signs seem to go largely ignored...

Apparently the swings are more of a bird hang out than a kid attraction.

Eric making a call from his umbrella phone.  Like you do.

 

Free air conditioning with a view.

International McConfusion

We went to McDonalds for our first weekend breakfast, and it was a McDisaster as usual (see our McPancake fail in Mexico). Brazil has its own menu of breakfast items that does not include our go-to item, the Sausage McMuffin (which they had in Turkey). So, I decided to order one of each of the three breakfast sandwiches to take home and try. After some confusion over the McCroissant, I got my bag and left. Upon arrival at home, I saw that I ended up with a bit more food than intended. Oh well!

Two sandwiches and three croissants...McWhoopsie!

Five breakfasts for one American man must seem to be correct McMath here!

Clockwise from top:

McTostado

McCroissant

McQueijo Quente do Chef

#McExhausted #McTropicalSwaddle

Plugs!

There are so many different types of plugs here in Brazil! They have two prongs, and three prongs, large plugs and small plugs, even some U.S. type plugs. I've probably spent about 6 hours buying adapters and trying to plug stuff in this week.

Here are a couple of examples of the plug-zillas that I have created so far...

 All of this is for two lamps and a cell phone!

This one is a bit less complicated for the TV, modem and cable box.

NOTE:  These are all Brazilian products that won't plug into a Brazilian outlet without multiple adapters!

 Enough of that!

Let's go to the beach!

Back in Touch With Civilization

Last night, the internet guys came out and installed TV and INTERNET! Score one for Brazil that it only took one visit and one phone call to get it done...Sorry Mexico!

Otherwise, things are pretty similar here to the way they were in Mexico. Driving is hectic, "normal" things are scarce (i.e. a Windex that comes WITH the sprayer top), and it takes a bit longer to get anything done. Here's the weekend roundup in pictures. Skype with us any time! 

...Oh, and we're open for visitors!

 A bebezinha branca ready to head out into the sun!

 In Mexico City, Snob was a restaurant.

In Recife, Snob is paper towels!

Ocean View!

 Back to disinfecting our fruits and veggies! Yay!

 Gimme that coconut!

 Palms!

 I have two teeth!

I love my new playlandia!

We made it!

We made it down to Brazil yesterday morning. Kylie was a dream on the trip, and slept the whole way!! We should have Internet on Monday, so we will post more then.

New York

My mom came to visit this week. It was so great to see her and give her and Kylie time together. For some reason, we always end up in NYC when she comes to visit!

This time we had to go to New York to wrap up a last minute errand before our upcoming move, so we decided to make a day of it.

First stop was in Baltimore for a BBQ Pit Beef Sandwich from our Food Network 50 States - 50 Sandwiches challenge. After we checked into the hotel, we met up with Jake for dinner in Little Italy. There was a 2+ hour wait at Parm (state sandwich of NY), so we just wandered down cheesy (literally and figuratively) Mulberry St. and grabbed a bite at a kitschy restaurant complete with accordion serenading! After dinner, we stopped for churros and chocolate, then said goodnight. 

Autumn and I took a walk up to Times Square before heading off to bed. The next morning, we headed back down to DC. 

Thanks for the great visit mom!

 Hard to find, but worth the trip!

CASH ONLY!

 Mmmmm....beefy!

 Autumn's photo of the Manhattan skyline!

View from the room! So festive!

That's right, churros and chocolate.  Feel like we're back in Mexico for a minute!

Say "Quiejo"!

 Autumn getting photo-bombed by a bunny!

He made her pay him a dollar.

 From Little Brazil to big Brazil in just over a week!

Autumn getting her street kebab fix

Look! It's the New Year's Ball!

Kylie getting a final look at the city

Happy Cute Year!

Just a few random cute pics of Kylie! Happy New Year! Let's hope 2013 is full of fun!

 We've made good use of Kylie's snow suit in DC, but we won't need it any more in Brazil!

 Adidas track suit? Check!

 Is that the cutest thing ever or what? I need to get a matching one!

The most fun ever!!

One arm out of the burrito!? This means trouble!

Also, check out our first home movie!