BOO!

Halloween was a hit in our house this year. We started it off earlier in the week at a Halloween party for Grady's playgroup. I had asked my mom a few weeks ago if she could send Grady a costume. This was a lot faster and easier for me rather than trying to find a store that would ship it over here. Well leave it up to Nanny to send him 3 different costumes...Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, and Nemo. Anyways, so for the playgroup party he was Buzz Lightyear. He wasn't sure why he was dressed up like that until he saw the other kids dressed up too. He ate way too much candy and had a lot of fun. A few days later we had the Fall Festival on base and Grady went as Nemo. They had lots of games, food, dancers, and a costume contest. I'm proud to announce that Grady was one of the finalists of about 30 or so kids. Sadly he didn't win though :( Finally the next day was Halloween. We went trick or treating in our neighbor and there were tons of kids out. Grady had a blast and was so cute walking up to the houses with his little Nemo fin bouncing. As much fun as he had trick or treating, I think he had more fun when we got back to the house to hand out candy to other kids. He would answer the door (still dressed as Nemo) and yell 'HI' to all the kids and then yell 'BYE' about a thousand times as they were leaving. He loved his costume so much that it didn't come off until he had to get in the bath. And now we just put it on during the day to be cool. Thanks mom, he really, really loves the Nemo outfit! Look how excited he was to see all the other little kids when we walked out of the house! So funny.

Bounce House Birthday Party

Bounce House Party

Saturday we went to a bounce house birthday party. They had two bounce houses and a face painter there. Grady loved the bounce houses and got a frog painted on his arm. All the kids were worn out and sweaty by the time it was over. We were really surprised because Grady was doing whatever the bigger kids were doing. He could shimmy up the ladder to go down the slide all by himself...such a big boy!

Another bull fight

On Sunday we went to a bull fight in Biscoitos. It was the biggest fight of the year and everyone on the island had to have been there. It was so crowded! We had a great time. Well, Grady got cranky into the second bull, so we gave him a Three Musketeers bar to buy us a little bit of time. He, of course, loved it and it worked like a charm.

Bull Fight in Biscoitos

Italian Food!!!

A few weeks ago we went over to Porto Martines. This is the village with the most Americans. So far it is our second favorite place on the island next to Biscoitos. There is a board walk, lots of swimming wholes, several restaurants, and a coffee shop. Buzius is popular little Italian food restaurant that is really good.

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So Creepy

A few weekends ago we walked down to the cliffs by our house. We had been told that there were some stairs that would take us down to the water, but we couldn't find them. Oh well, maybe we'll find them next time. It was really creepy standing out there by those cliffs without a rail or anything to keep you from falling. We got a few pictures near the edge, but for the most part kept our distance. Grady's poor little feet hardly touched the ground because I was so scared.

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Picnic

On Saturday we went on a picnic to Duck Lake. It was one of the many stops on our island tour. The only problem was that we didn't remember how to get there. So, we figured that the island isn't that big and that we would eventually find it. Well, we did! We had a great time and thank goodness Grady was worn out and ready for bed when we got home.

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"Sansie can't hear"

So, for those of you who know and love the Sansie, you know she is extremely technologically challenged. There has been a small learning curve for everyone in the family to become more computer savvy since we have moved away. This has been a huge hurdle for the Sansie. Here is a preview...enjoy(shanna ruth) p.s. T is making me put that she had nothing to do with it Sansie-and that's true.

Hooray!!! We finally got our stuff!

After a month and a half of waiting patiently on our stuff...it finally got here! My kid has WAY too many toys!

Hide-n-Seek

Grady has discovered hide-n-seek and "BOO". He for the most part gets Boo, but not really hide-n-seek. When he hides, and I am looking for him calling his name, he answers, "What?". His favorite hiding spot is under the kitchen counter. I guess he'll eventually catch on one day.

New wheels

Grady's newest obsession is bikes. Every time we go outside it seems like there are kids riding bikes everywhere. He cries every single time because I won't let him steal that kid's bike. All I hear is BI, BI, BIII!!! So we decided for our own sanity to order him his own little bike. He absolutely loves it and we go to the park to ride it everyday. He's a little dare devil and likes to go down all the hills.

Bull Fight

Bull Fight

We finally made it to a bull fight and it was awesome. They basically wall off the sides of the streets in town and let a bull go. A rope is tied around its neck to keep it in a certain area and then idiots jump in the streets and try to make it MORE mad. At each fight they do four different bulls and each lasts about 30 to 45 minutes. It's pretty intense. As you will see in the videos below, when that bull comes at the wall you are behind...you need to get the heck out of there. One bull broke through a wall a few yards down from us!! Yeah, we had an escape route all figured out. We had a blast and Grady loved it even though he wasn't anywhere near the wall when that bull would come by. Scott held him most of the time back away from the wall near our escape route. The local people here live for these fights. There is a bull fight almost everyday of the week somewhere on the island. Oh and sorry about the first video...I wasn't sticking around to see if that bull could jump the wall! When the locals run, you run!!

Festival de Vinho

Wine Festival

We went to the wine festival in Biscoitos on Saturday. They were going to have a parade from the winery down to the vineyards to pick the grapes. Well of course we were running late, so when we got there they were just leaving the winery. So we had to quickly find a parking spot and catch up with the parade. Little did we know that it was about a mile down to the vineyards. Saturday was probably the hottest and least windy day since we've been here. We were so hot and sweaty and Grady wanted to be carried. We finally made it to the vineyards picked some grapes and then we had to go back to the winery...uphill almost the whole way!! When we got back everyone took a much needed break while they unloaded the grapes. Then the part I had been waiting for...we got to stomp on the grapes. I was so excited! Grady did more standing in the grapes then stomping, but he had a good time. They then fed us dinner and we got to taste some wine, yum-yum. By the time we left we were exhausted, but not too exhausted for some sightseeing. We stopped at a lookout/hiking park and got to see some more amazing views. It was a great day and we still can't believe we are getting to do these things. We are so thankful for this opportunity we have been given.

Mr. Clean lives with me!

Grady loves to clean! I can give him a wipe and it will keep him entertained for at least 30 minutes. He will clean anything in sight including: TVs, lamps, floors, phones, anything. It's so weird, yet really cute.

Just like his daddy

As all of you know we still haven't gotten our shipment of stuff, so its been a bit of an adjustment for Mr. Grady. In the lodge he had a crib to sleep in, but here at the house we tried letting him sleep with us. Well he is a wild sleeper and that only lasted one night before he got kicked out. So we put a twin mattress on the floor in his room. He has done pretty good sleeping in a 'big boy' bed, but has problems staying on the mattress. He has rolled out of the bed 2 nights in a row so far. It's weird because he cries for about 15 seconds and goes right back to sleep...on the floor. For those of y'all who don't understand the title - a few months back Scott rolled out of bed! Yeah, I know...how dumb for a grown man to roll out of the bed! It was hilarious though!!

I love, love, love our new home!!!!

Island Tour

Well, we took our tour and got to see a whole lot of the island. I found out where to shop, saw all of the best scenic points, found some great restaurants, and learned some history on our great island. Scott and I really enjoyed our time alone on this tour. That's not to say that we didn't call and check on Grady to an annoying level though. Grady had a great time playing with his new friend Layton and I think he really liked the nanny, Connie. Connie is a local lady that is a nanny for some people we know and she said she would keep Grady anytime. Scott and I both really liked her and we were very happy with this whole experience. Once again if you click on the picture above it will take you to an album. Make sure to read the captions at the bottom because some pictures you might not know what you are looking at. Enjoy!

Going on a tour.

I'm so excited because tomorrow we are going on an island tour. Grady is not allowed to go though:( So one of Scott's co-workers has a nanny that comes to their house and Grady will be going there tomorrow. I'm not really sure how he is going to do, but I know that I'm not too excited about leaving him with strangers. They have a 10 month old and a 2 year old, so he will have someone his age to play with. Wish us all luck that tomorrow goes well.

Shopping in Praia

Today Grady and I decided to get out of the house and go shopping. We went to downtown Praia to wonder around. We ended up down at the beach where we had some ice cream! On our way back to the car we stopped in at the Farmers Market to get some fruits and veggies. We also stopped by a garden to take some pictures. It was a good relaxing day, but Grady was tired and ready to go to bed by the end of the night. Hopefully he'll sleep in tomorrow!

Basket Man and new swimming hole!

Okay, so back several months ago when we first found out that we were moving here people that had lived here kept telling me about the Basket Man. I was thinking probably exactly what y'all are thinking now, "What does that even mean and who is the Basket Man?". So as soon as I met some other ladies I asked. Well the Basket Man is a man who hand makes baskets. He grows all the materials himself and then will make whatever you want him to. So my mission this weekend was to find this man to see what it was all about. His house was a little difficult to find, but we found it. Turns out...it's pretty cool. He can make literally whatever you want. Plain ole baskets, furniture, anything. Anyways, I ordered a couple of baskets and we'll see how they turnout. I know this isn't that exciting to y'all, but that is one of the main things we heard about before moving here. Next, we finally went swimming! We went swimming at the bottom of the cliffs on Saturday and it was super cool. After our long hike down the stairs to get there, we were so excited to jump in the water! Well we had heard that the water here is cold and it is!!! It is really, really cold! The local people were splashing around in it like it was as warm as a hot tub. Scott and Grady got all the way in, but I just couldn't do it. It was so cold that some other little kids around us were crying, but Grady loved it and didn't what to get out. We had a great time and we were all worn out by the end of the day.

Yea....Pictures!!!

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Ok, we finally got some pictures up for you guys. If you click on the picture above it should take you to an album. This place is gorgeous!! We have just been driving around and coming across all this stuff. Today, we are going to swim at the swimming hole we found. So stay tuned for the next post.

Our first video blog

We came across this swimming hole today while we were exploring our new home

Amazing!

Hey everyone! We are finally getting settled in over here. Well as much as we can right now. We have moved into our house, but we still haven't gotten any of our stuff. So all we have is what we brought with us on the airplane, which is pretty much just clothes. We aren't sure when we will be getting all of our stuff. We are just waiting and trying to be patient. We had to borrow some blankets and towels from our neighbors because everything was closed on Sunday and Monday. On the upside...our house is really nice and we have a view of the ocean from our front porch!! Who would have thought that we would be living somewhere so amazing! The ole Grand Am still hasn't arrived and probably won't be here for at least a month, so we had to buy an 'island bomb'. This car is hilarious! There will be pictures soon. It smells like someone has dumped gas in the seats, there is NO power steering, and the drivers side door doesn't always open. All and all it's a pretty good car, LOL. Seriously though, I have never been more thankful for an old beat up car. Grady has finally decided to give in to the new time change. OMG, it took almost this whole first week to get him adjusted. I've been exhausted, but I think we are all getting back to normal now. We are doing good and enjoying the amazing view. We miss all you guys and hope to share our experiences with y'all through this blog. We will hopelfully post pictures and video soon.