Fazenda Fun

After a few days in Sao Paulo, we headed to the countryside. Trent and Paige have a friend who bought this old run-down dairy farm, and he has spend the last 2 years renovating it. It is amazing! Practically every piece of furniture is custom made, and it seems they've thought of everything.

Pretty quick after we got settled in we went exploring. The bottom left pic: Trent and Dave mapping out a potential golf course. The middle pic on the left: that's the house in the background!

For lunch on Saturday we made fajitas and passion fruit caipirinhas. YUM! The best part was eating outside in the amazing covered patio.

Saturday night Paige and I decided to make homemade pizza. I mean, with a brick oven at our disposal, how could we not??? Trent manned the oven while Paige and I assembled the pizzas. They were so so delicious. 

Of course, we played some Settlers while watching The Masters.... then on Sunday morning before we left, the guys had to play some golf. It was fun to trek around with them (dodging cow poop)-- trying to find golf balls in all the tall grass.

 The Chances came with us to the Fazenda. It was fun to hang out with them again since we had such a great time with them when they came to Texas over Christmas.

Off to the next adventure: Rio!

I have to say, the Fazenda was probably one of the most memorable parts of our trip. It was such a unique experience being out in the countryside of Brazil. It was, as Dave describes it, a rainforest version of Tuscany. Loved it!

Brazil day 2

On our second day in Sao Paulo we toured the city, ate more delicious food, relaxed at the apartment, and enjoyed hanging out with Trent and Paige

10 years already!?!?

To celebrate our upcoming 10th (!) wedding anniversary, Dave and I just got back from our first "real" vacation just the 2 of us since we had kids over 7 years ago! We decided to go exotic, so we went to Brazil (first in Sao Paulo, then Rio). We cheated a bit since my brother lives in Sao Paulo, so we spent the first half of the week with Trent and Paige. It was fun to spend some time with them in their current "stomping grounds"-- before our newest niece arrives! Plus, it helped acclimate us to Brazil since neither of us had ever been there.

Besides for seeing the sights and taking in the Brazilian culture, there were 2 things I was looking forward to: Feijoada (the most famous Brazilian dish) and Caipirinhas (the most delicious Brazilian drink ever). And Brazil did not disappoint!

 Feijoada is served on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so it was convenient that we arrived on Wednesday morning! We hit this amazing restaurant for lunch on Wednesday (which, coincidentally, was our favorite meal of the whole trip):

The top 2 pics in the below photo are the views from Trent and Paige's balcony. Amazing, huh? That night we went to a market near their house that's only on Wednesday evenings (I think).  Yummy "street food"!

Later that evening we went to this amazing piano bar on the 41st floor of a building in downtown Sao Paulo. Great drinks, fun company, and spectacular views!

And that was all just on day 1!

Easter 2013

It was so special to have Dave's parents here with us for Easter this year! Unfortunately, they had to leave right after lunch to head back to Georgia, but we got to have a big breakfast together and of course, go to church together.

It's not a family picture without the silly faces:

We decided to do the egg hunt/big dinner with my family in the evening so that it didn't interrupt our time with Dave's family.

You'll notice that Hudson is missing from the egg hunt pics. LONG story short: most of you know that Hudson suffers with severe seasonal allergies. Well, for about a week before Easter he was pretty rashy all over his face. We felt like we were doing a pretty good job keeping it somewhat under control. But Sunday we noticed that he was pretty wheezy. We kept an eye on him all afternoon, and decided that he would need to stay inside over at my parents house (their backyard is practically poison for him)-- but he could egg hunt for a few minutes. We let him outside for about 5 minutes before the egg hunt, and as soon as he came inside for us to hide the eggs, he grabbed his chest and collapsed to the ground. After a few minutes he seemed to be much better, but was still having a pretty hard time breathing. So, we took him to the ER. (another side note: this is our SECOND ER visit in 2 weeks. The first one was with Crew- he passed out in my arms after a fall at Hudson's preschool. Concussion #1 for the Dennison children!). Anyway, some meds, a dose of steroid, and 3 breathing treatments later, we were released. We went to the allergist first thing Monday morning to get a game plan on how to keep it under control so that this sweet guy can have a normal childhood and still be able to play outside!! Needless to say, he was pretty sad that he didn't get to go on the egg hunt. So, on Monday after we got back from the dr, he had his very own egg hunt in our backyard, and he LOVED it.

fun with Grandpa and Grandma

William and Hudson had been anticipating the visit from Grandpa and Grandpa for a long time. Dave's mom is always doing stuff with them, and this time it was decorating Easter cookies. And for anyone who knows Bill, he is a BALL of energy with the kids! 

Checkers with Grandpa:

Battleship with Grandma:

Chase and tickle with Grandma and Grandpa:

Grandparent's Day

One of the many things we have loved in our first year at CCA is that they really make a big deal of the student's grandparents. They realize that grandparents leave behind a fabulous legacy, and they like to celebrate that legacy. They always have it the Thursday before Easter, which makes it a bit easier for traveling grandparents. It was so special to have BOTH sets of grandparents attend!

The whole first grade sang a song, recited Psalm 1, and recited a poem about grandparents. It was amazing!

It's kind of hard to see, but William is in the top row, 6 from the right. Isn't it surprising that he isn't the tallest one?

After the program, we got to all go to William's classroom. It was especially nice for Dave's parents and my dad since none of them had ever been to his class.

Such a special time! We are praying that both sets of parents will be able to come again next year!

more Mavs!

Our second game of the season was for last Tuesday. Unfortunately, Dave has been SWAMPED at work, and he had a huge meeting the next day. So, he made me go without him. Thankfully, my brother was in town, so he went with me. We were realizing on our way to the game that we hadn't done anything just the 2 of us probably since we were in high school. It was time!

He is a Thunder fan (BOO!), but one of the stipulations in coming to the game with me was that he had to root for the Mavs. We were playing the Clippers, so it wouldn't be too bad except Thunder fans DO NOT like the Mavs. But, he agreed, and I even got him to wear a Mavs tshirt.

It was a wonderful night, and it was an AWESOME game, complete with overtime...and we still won. GO MAVS!