Extreme Kids

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Maddie made a flat Stacey doll for a school project not long before we left. While in Virginia, she told me that she colored it to look like Ramona and the paper doll has since become known as Flat Ramona. I think it's a great way for Maddie to have a "friend" with her on this adventure. She's really gotten a kick out of taking Flat Ramona everywhere with us! We're all excited for more Flat Ramona adventures!

On the swings

Playing at a different playground

Out for lunch

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Getting to Evora and First Impressions

Getting to Evora turned out to be an adventure unto itself. As we were getting ready to leave Virgina for the airport, our flight was delayed so much so that we would miss our flight to Lisbon. Because of that, our trip was delayed for two days. We finally got out on Saturday and the flight was largely uneventful. I wish they would have turned off the lights sooner on the plane, though, so the kids could have gotten more sleep. We had to get off the plane on the tarmac and take a bus to the actual airport. During that ride, we saw a rainbow, which I took as a good sign for our time here. Customs and immigration were very, very easy to get through. We got a small SUV for a car and it's a good size for our family. The first song we heard on the radio was Gotye, which I also took as a good sign for our time here. Luckily one of Eric's co-workers was on our flight and was able to take some of our luggage in his car. Otherwise, I'm not sure how we would have gotten it all to fit. We had an hour car ride to Evora, during which Otis fell asleep. Maddie, however, did not. Instead, she puked on my jacket in the back of the car because she was so tired. Finally we arrived at our apartment and met some of Eric's co-workers. The apartment is not quite up to our standards (it's missing an oven, not great walkability, washing machine barely works, etc.), but is decent. We'll be moving into another apartment in a week or so that will work better for our family.

Evora is a relatively small city. Everyone is very friendly, though most people speak no or limited English. Inside the walled city more people speak English, as they have more tourists come through. People seem to be very fond of kids and Maddie and Otis are both constantly getting their hair tousled and kisses on the cheeks from strangers. There's an interesting mix of urban life as well as rural (the roads are shared by all kinds of cars as well as farmers in hay carts pulled by horses). Driving has also been an interesting experience. The use of lanes is fast and loose, as is the speed limit, though it seems to work quite well. We are figuring out the grocery store and have found the price of wine quite fantastic!

We're starting to feel settled, get a sense of the city, and get adjusted to the time. We have many great adventures ahead of us, I'm sure!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Eastern Shore

Before heading off on our summer adventure to Portugal, we came to the eastern shore of Virginia to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It's been an exciting time, filled with sun, crabs, minnows, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, alpacas, chicks, and even a wild turkey sighting! The weather was mostly great (sunny and warmish), though we did have a day of heavy rain and a day of wind. Luckily, Grandma had some play-doh and a tea party on hand to get us through the crummy days. It's been a great trip and we are all happy to have had some time to relax before our real adventure starts!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Maddie makes the news!

The local news recently produced a segment on the importance of outdoor play and featured Maddie's preschool! This focus is one of the main reasons we picked Nature Kids for Maddie. You can see Maddie in quite a few scenes (look for the green frog raincoat).