Recently

In addition to researching, Jason's big project this week has been working on getting all three of us registered with the federal police.  Any foreigner living in Brazil for longer than three months must officially register within 30 days of arrival and in turn, receive ID cards.  It's a pretty big headache paperwork-wise, with oodles of forms to fill out, notarized copies of documents needed, money to be forked over and special sized photos to be taken.  Luckily, we have someone in our family who is pretty photogenic...he even won over the gruff guy working at the Kodak photo store.

We made an appointment for yesterday at noon (planning around naps and taking lunch along),  figured out where we needed to be, dressed-up, gathered all of  our documents and paperwork and were on our way.  Unfortunately, we underestimated the amount of time needed to get there (and encountered bad road construction much to the delight of the driver of our expensive, metered taxi) and so arrived 15 minutes late, only to find out we were at the wrong place.  To add insult to injury, Jason's head was then crapped on by a bird.  I'll admit, I laughed.  Attempt #2 to register will take place next week.  We'll keep you posted...

Despite lovely, warm weather, we've all been fighting head colds this week.  Runny, stuffy noses do not pleasant nap time make, so there's been extra cuddling and rocking lately.  Eli seems to be taking the shorter amounts of sleep during the day in stride though, as I've been greeted with this sight when I walk into his room, post nap:

He and I also had our first solo picnic lunch under the palm tree shade at the park, Aterro do Flamengo, this week.

 

We've gone to the park together as a family on the weekends and have found it to be awesome.  It's a huge green space with grass and trees which runs along the bay for several kilometers.  It has plenty of paved walking paths and on Sundays the closest major highway is closed to traffic, which makes for even more great space for biking, rollerblading, strollers, etc.  Although the water is supposedly polluted, the sandy beach attracts plenty of sunbathers/volleyball players/runners and has a plethora of little food stands selling snacks, drinks and the famous coconut water in the shell.  We haven't tried one yet but it's definitely on my list.