Mt. Brasil

Mt. Brasil

A few months ago we spent the day at Mt Brasil. Mt. Brasil is small mountain along the coast near the town of Angra. Angra is on the southern border of the island. The Azores, specifically Terceira, were pretty important during the time of the discovery and exploration of the Americas when explorers were making multiple trips back and forth between Europe. They used the islands as a port for rest and resupplying. Many battles took place between invading Spanish and later during the civil war. Mt. Brasil was used during theses times as a look-out for approaching fleets and also by whalers. The whalers would sit a look-out up on the island and use fire signals to signal to the whaling ships in the port when groups of whales were passing. I'm not real sure about exactly when the guns were placed but we think it was in the late 1930's to early 1940's by a Portuguese dictator and then maintained by the US/British. These things were huge-as you can tell. You can see some of the original fortification built by the Spanish up on the mountain. It was built there to protect the Spanish from the local Portuguese they were governing who obviously didn't wan them there.

Doctors appointment

Last week I finally got in to see the doctor. Due to our traveling and her traveling over the holidays this was the soonest appointment that I could get. I was 15 weeks and nervous. I haven't felt very good with this baby and hadn't gained any weight. In fact, I was losing weight. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but I was 15 weeks pregnant and wasn't feeling the baby move. After my exam she said that the baby was doing great, but that she really wanted me to try to eat more. She said I should be gaining about a 1 pound a week by this point. Scott is pretty freaked out that a doctor had to tell me to eat more. He is completely not use to me not wanting to eat. I'm 16 weeks along today and have felt much better for the past few days. I'm hoping that the feeling good sticks around this time. I have another appointment in a couple of weeks just to get caught back up. At this appointment we will schedule my next ultrasound. I'm really excited and the closer it gets I'm more tempted to find out what the baby is.

Christmas

Christmas was pretty low-key for us this year. We really missed our families, but enjoyed our quiet family time. I made a Christmas Eve dinner that surprisingly turned out to be pretty good. I spent all day cooking. This would have been a lot more fun for me if I would have felt okay. This new little one that is growing inside me had me close to passing out all day. Scott was making fun of me because at any given time he would come in the kitchen and I might have been laying in the floor. Grady had lots of fun and now realizes that boxes from the post office usually means presents!

Christmas

I'm 2!!!

We had a small birthday party for Grady before we left to come back home. All the kids had a good time playing together and it was really good to see everyone one last time before heading back. Daddy unfortunately was not there for it, but we did Skype him during the party. He enjoyed seeing everyone and was able to take part in the festivities from across the ocean. Here are some pictures with all of the cute kiddos.

Grady's 2nd Birthday

Cheese Factory

Back in October we went to the cheese factory on the other side of the island. We didn't expect it to be that nice, but it surprisingly was. As we pulled up there were two men pumping fresh milk into containers to be made into cheese. It's not only a factory, but more like a cheese/wine bar. They had plenty of local wines to choose from along with the many different cheeses. Both were very tasty! It is pretty close to the water, so we sat out on the patio to enjoy the nice weather and view.

Cheese Factory

We're pregnant!

Okay, I'm pretty sure that everyone already knows, but just in case...we are having another baby!! My due date is July 6th and I don't think we are going to find out what the baby is this time. Scott didn't want to know with Grady, but there was no way that I could wait. I have a strong feeling that it is another boy and Scott/Grady seem to think that it is a girl. Grady will pat my belly and say 'sister'. I guess we will find out soon enough. I wanted to post these Halloween pictures of Grady sooner, but I couldn't b/c it has a 'big brother' shirt in the background. It is the end of the night before bed and Grady is eating a sucker and watching football.

Finally fixed

Hey folks, my laptop is finally fixed! So, I will be slowly trying to catch back up this week while Scott is out of town.