Finally...

We are back.

LATEST BENJAMIN WISDOM:

Apparently we have a slew of invisible animals in our house. Rabbits, Mice, Kittens, Dogs, Chickens - you name it. Benjamin is very nurturing to these animals and asks us constantly to, "be careful" with them. We even tuck "them" in at night.

SERIES OF FIRSTS:
Flying a kite. On the beach. With his favorite person. Papi. Does it get any better than this?
SIGHT-SEEING:
We finally made it to Corcovado and saw the Christ Redentor up close and in person. It was a curvy, ear-popping drive up a very tall "volcano". Walking toward the amazing sight but first an obligatory photo op.
KARAOKE:
Somebody saw his cousin sing, so he had to sing a song, too. Monkey see, monkey do. In case you were wondering, he sang "Yellow" from Coldplay.
BACK TO HOUSTON:
Yep, we spent a big chunk of our summer in Houston. Getting on the plane:
Benjamin was very lucky to share his 3rd birthday celebration with friends and family at a neighborhood stomping ground: Wonderwild.

The birthday cake...one of his favorite things in the world. Yep. A truck.
Eating pizza with his buddies.
How wonderful to have all his grandparents present for his celebration. Thank you Grandmas and Grandpas for making his day extra special.
Uncle Mike tuning the guitar for the birthday song.
Serenading the birthday boy. The joy from others while watching our little guy is priceless.

MORE BIRTHDAY FUN: As always, we celebrate for an extended amount of time. This time we celebrated with song, sombrero, and cake at Pappasito's Restaurant. He LOVED the attention. Blowing out the candle.

Benjamin's "Uncle" Randy gave Benjamin a very special treat. A private viewing of one of the most fascinating "metal animals" in his world. A Big Rig.



If a reminder is ever needed...this is what life is all about.

ZOO VISIT:


We braved the heat and enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit. Benjamin is really into dinosaurs (not as much as trucks); however, the life-like size of these animated dinosaurs did make him stand back.

We have a hard time getting Benja off the merry-go-round. This won't change for quite some time.

Children's Museum Pit Stop. Note he really likes to wear rubber boots.
This trip he really enjoyed the "vet". He had a great time playing "doctor".

Happiness is....

Swimming at a friend's house.

Cruising with his buddy. Funny sight to watch 3-year old children driving with such conviction.

Measuring time!

We stopped by an old car in the neighborhood that Benjamin affectionately calls, "Lizzie" from the movie: CARS. Here she is: And here it is:

Last but not least...we visited the infamous stinky Corpse Flower at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We didn't get to experience the real stink but we had fun, nonetheless.

So now we are back in Brazil.

Our little guy had a play date with a buddy at a neighborhood park.

And now we are back to the beach!

As most of you know by now, we are making another move. We are moving from Macaé to Rio de Janeiro here in the next month or so. So, we will have some busy days ahead of us but we hope to stay connected.

Till next time.