Vegas Baby!

This week, we dropped Kylie off with my mom and headed down to Vegas. We started the trip off right with a night at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane before our flight. We even got to see Richie (although out of respect for the Vegas rule, no photos were taken!). Thanks for showing us a good time Richie!!

 Winky-Blinky fishing for goldfish!

 Lounging in the Peacock Room

 A lucky Vegas-themed Christmas tree!

 Ready to roll

 View of the strip

 So, we had lunch at Beijing Noodle No. 9, and we ordered this pan fried pork dumpling.  Autumn has made these dumpling from scratch at home before.  And guess what!  Hers were just like these.  :)

Let's party!

Moving Day

Today (and yesterday, and the day before) we packed up our whole house in preparation for our big trip back to the USA and onward move the the Marshall Islands.

 Mt. Boxes!

"Don't take my toys!!" - Quote of the day courtesy of Ms. K

 Celebratory pink champagne in our former toothbrush cups!

 Recife in all of it's summery glory!

 Last views of Boa Viagem

 A sparkling blue ocean day!

 Oh look...a parade!

 Dancing to the beat!

 More parading!!

 Inland view heading toward sunset

 Our Bomfim wishes that didn't come true...

 Man, those are tough little ribbons!

 

 More daddy-daughter parade play time

 The parading continues at full volume, in spite of baby naps!

Happy times!

Birthday Trip! Sao Paulo

For Autumn's birthday, we left Kylie behind with friends and jetted off to Sao Paulo for an adults only weekend adventure of shopping and eating!

 First stop: Micheladas at Oba - A Thai / Mexican / Brazilian restaurant!

 Chips and salsa! How I've missed you!!

 Next stop:  O'Malley's Irish Pub for Guiness!!

 Third stop:  Farto!

Just kidding, but I guess Drogaria Farto must be expanding!

 Another hilarious store! 

It was so nice to stroll around Jardims in the cool spring weather and shop!

 All hail the king!

We had a fantastic sushi dinner at Nagayama, followed by drinks at the rooftop bar, The View! 

Happy Birthday Autumn!!

 The next morning, we got all bundled up to brave the "freezing cold" (60 degree) weather, and headed out to Starbucks for breakfast on our way to Liberdade for another day of eating and shopping!

 Should I walk or not!?!

 Spring roll delight at the street market

 Can't go anywhere in Brazil without getting meat on a stick!

 We spent the rest of the morning browsing through all the great stores and stocking up on Japanese kitchen ware, including Autumn's crowning glory - the 4 tier dumpling steamer!!

Goodbye Liberdade!

We spent the afternoon back in Jardims for one more visit to O'Malley's and a bit more wandering and shopping.

 The birthday girl!

 More birthday goodies from Chocolat du Jour

 One last look at the city

We had a freak accident with our in-room safe, and maintenance had to come up and drill the door open, so we could get our stuff!! Luckily, they got it open in time for our super-fancy Italian dinner at Fasano.

Our loot!

Panama City - Food Tour

This afternoon, we had our second tour with Barefoot Panama and ate and drank our way through Casco Viejo! We got a little shopping in on the boardwalk before the tour, and a bird pooped right in Kylie's snack cup... BULLSEYE right in the Goldfish crackers! This did not bode well for having a happy lady on the trip, but more on that later. Jeff met us at Cafe Bajareque then led us around town for more snacks and drinks. Everything was delicious!!

 Shopping on the boardwalk under the bouganvilla and LOVING Panama

(in spite of getting pooped on!)

 Views over the Pacific!

 Before the tour began, a random snake charmer asked our guide, Jeff, to hold his snakes for "un momento" and then ran off! Kylie was pretty much the only one happy about this turn of events, and took the opportunity to pet the snakes a few times! Ssssssssssss....

 A much needed caffeine boost!

 Aaahhh! Cute colonial architecture!

 Ruinas! Dios mio!

 Gourmet treats at Super Gourmet! Root beer, chocolate, tap water ice, oh my!

 Kylie got a cranberry snack refill and dad got fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice!

 More ruins

 Our little tour group

 Clockwise from top: 

Big church, Panama hats, El Thundercats (#bestdecalever!), and Panama City

 Num, num num!

 What?! That looks totes safe for some parquearing!

 Microbrews at the "Golden Frog"

 Looks like Jason was drowning his sorrows while the girls posed! haha!

 Last stop (for K and me)...the Marina!

 Fresh fish!

 Say "Ceviche"

The only thing loco about the ceviche was how crazy good it was!

K had a bit of a meltdown at this point (read was going through goldfish cracker withdraws), so the two of us hopped in a cab back to the apartment for some pool time while everyone else finished up the tour and went out for dinner.