Kylie's Birthday Party

This weekend, we had a few of Kylie's friends over for her third birthday party! The theme was Hello Kitty / Mexican Fiesta!

 Time to decorate the cake!

 Good morning birthday party girl!

 Food and games? Check!

 It's monster / cats / robots ball!

 Hello Kitty cake? Check!

¡Piñata!

 Birthday cake picnic!

Thank you to all the guests for helping make this such a special day for Kylie!!

Majuro, We Have Arrived!

After our flight was cancelled yesterday, the Oakley family finally made it to Majuro this morning!  We are super excited to be here, and looking forward to new friends and new adventures!

The first glimpse through the clouds...

We were met with beautiful hand made floral headbands, one for each!

Iakwe!!

Recife Antigo

Today we went down to the historic center of town for a little walking tour. We started at Marco Zero, which commemorates the first landing site of the Portuguese in 1500. From there we explored the neighborhood before heading into the arts and crafts market at the Centro de Artensenato de Pernambuco and had lunch at Bistro & Boteco, which was the best por kilo (buffet) place that I've been to yet! A little more walking after lunch led us on a wild goose chase through a very sketchy part of town looking for a church, so we quickly hopped in a cab and came home.

For dinner, we went out to Compania de Chopp for churrasco. Their picanha is the best! YUM!

 

How to celebrate Easter? With a Passion of the Christ play of course...

...starring real novela actors from Rio de Janeiro! Que fancy!

(Marco Zero is the circle on the ground)

 Welcome to the city of Recife!

 Trying out the new baby backpack with sun-shade / baby hiding technology!

 View from Marco Zero

 Map of ye olde towne

First stop..."Good Jesus" / "the Jews" Street

 Cute, colorful, colonial buildings!

(they were all getting repainted with World Cup money today!)

The oldest synagogue in the Americas!

 More colonial cuteness!

Alison sitting on famous Recifense poet's lap!

 View across Rio Beberibe

Cheese!

Check out that coconut stash!

 Church of the Mother of God

 Dangerous danglings!

 The 80's called, they want their Mr. Yuk back!

Graffiti and patterned sidewalks...yay!

 Last stop at the junkeria

 Kaali & Kylie enjoying some picanha

Alison & Kylie relaxing with a caipirinha

Olinda - Part II

Olinda really is a must-see stop when coming to Recife. It's so cute and colonial. Check out our last trip to Olinda with Ron, Julie & Linda. I tried to pick photos of things that we didn't show last time. Olinda is so photogenic. It's pretty much impossible to come back with less than 200 pictures from there. We made the same basic loop around town as last time to check out the all the churches and markets. Here's what we saw today:

Kaali & Alison on the steps of Igreja do Carmo

Inside the church!

It was open today!

Arts & crafts market, a university, the library, São João Batista, and Jesus!

The chapel at São Francisco

 

Check out that ceiling! Whoa!

 More views in and from Igreja e Convento Franciscano de Nossa Sehnora das Neves

(I love the ridiculous long names of stuff here!)

 Azulejo tiles...

....made in Portugal and shipped and reassembled in Brazil 400 year ago!

An ancient sundial!

 Frevo time!

 Alison at Nossa Senhora das Graças e Seminario

View back to Recife

Lunch at Oficina do Sabor:

Coconut Shrimp in a pumpkin! DELICIOUS!

Also, Kylie's first use of a high-chair at a restaurant.

Monkeying around!

So much like the US / Virginia / not a jungle here!

 Beach party!

Post lunch walk along the boardwalk

 Looks like a deserted island!

 Lighthouse...hmmm... looks like the Bodie Island Lighthouse from the Outer Banks!

Copying much?

Cheese!

 What!?! Olinda is full of copycats!

P.S. This one is more expensive than an actual Bloomin' Onion at Outback here!

Since Kylie had approximately zero naps today, I whipped up a gourmet dinner of enchiladas and a sugar-free plum tart while she slept this afternoon! #besthusbandever!