November Birthdays and Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! Here's what we've been doing during the last two weeks in Novmeber. First, on the 16th our lovely Rachel turned 11. She opened her presents before we went out to the restaurant of her choosing. She picked the best Chinese restaurant in town. Sam really likes it.


Here's all of us at the end of dinner-time. We must do something about the pre-teen smiles on Jesee and Rachel. Then on Friday we had a bunch of girls over and Brian took them all bowling then back to the house for cake and a sleep over (and much giggling).







The following week on the 21st our Sam-Sam turned 5. Here is the caterpillar cake Mommy made for him. He is quite the big boy and keeps us laughing all the time.

Perhaps you were not aware of the secret identity of Batman. Rachel and Hannah were able to get him to stop to pose for a picture. I think he thought the eyes-closed-cheesy-smile pose would still keep his identity a secret, but we're pretty sure we know who it is.



Today we had a mere 20 for lunch and here they all are. Brian cooked a 20lb turkey. Shellye made yummy yeast rolls, mashed potatos, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and a couple of salads. It's 7 p.m. right now and I'm still stuffed.

Hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

15 November 2006

Hi everybody,
Today the Embassy was closed so we took the opportunity to drive about an hour and a half away to this place called Salto Corumba. It's a waterfall area in the state of Goiais about 115km from Brasilia. Pretty shabby roads.
We went with our good friends the Lancasters who are pictured here with their four kids. They are teachers at the NICS school here in Brasilia.


The kids are very adventurous so they loved this place. Sam was a climbn' boy. We came to the conclusion that Sarah was certainly given to the right family. She was happy in the car on the way there. She enjoyed being carried around on the hike in the backpack and being let down to play in the water. She even took a 45 min nap from the top of the falls during our hike down to the car for lunch. She was very content all day, unbelievable for a child who is not used to being on the go with a family. She had a bottle and napped part of the way home, ate her chicken McNuggets, had a bottle and went to bed. Everyone is tired!!
Enjoy the pictures!! Here's Sam and Sarah first.

A boy and his stick.


She kept this hat on all day.



Hannah is a very strong swimmer.


At the top of the falls.


Family picture at the first level swimming hole.


We're thinking of making this our Christmas card picture.
This is mid-November too!

6 Nov 06

Hi, everybody. Welcome to our new site. We thought we'd be able to post pictures and whatnot here so our family and friends can see them rather than attempting to email so many pictures.

If you are new to this site, please see our old one at http://www.mcnaughtonschinatrip.blogspot.com/

Well, it's November in the Southern Hemisphere and we are entering summer. We just changed our clocks this past weekend so we are 3 hours ahead of our friends on Eastern Standard Time and 5 hours ahead of Mom and Dad and the rest of Brian's family in Mountain Time. Remember that when you think "hey let's call Brian and Shellye." Not that anybody does.

Here's the family after Brian came home from work on a Monday. During the last 2 weeks Sarah's walking ability has exploded. She walks all the time now, doesn't bear-walk anymore. She is so lovely and adapting better and better every day. No problems going to bed, sleeps all night, no crying out. We think she's taken her cue from the other four. She either had to start to get moving or get left behind.

In backyard soccerDaddy and Hannah took on Jesse and Rachel and we pulled out a squeaker and won 5-4. You can't see them in this picture but we are playing under two humongous mango trees and they are just about ready to drop. Last year we got 30-40 mangos a day for about a month and a half. In fact, we still have mango pulp in the freezer from last year.







Then there was some pool time since we were so hot and sweaty. Here's Rachel and Sam-Sam sharing the giraffe. Sam will not wear a regular bathing suit only a Speedo.











Sarah may not look too happy in this picture but she was laughing and squealing the whole time she floated around in the pool. It's kind of late now and I still have to send out an email informing all of you about this new site. Bye.