Some last days' pictures from our holiday in MN

The final days of vacation are always insanely busy! When you first begin a 6 week holiday, it feels like you have all the time in the world. It never fails though, the last day sneaks up on you before you know it, and you have failed to cross off all the "want to do" items on the list.

Nonetheless, we were able to spend a lot time with and visit many friends and family in MN while on vacation, and we were fortunate enough to make a trip to VA Beach to spend time with my sister and her family. Many things to be thankful for.

In the final days, Sierra and I tried to squeeze everything that was forgotten and spend the days with Gramma and Pappa too. Long mornings spent drinking several cups of coffee while sitting on the patio were cherished. Now my morning coffee doesn't taste the same without Mom and Dad's company or the sound of the birds chirping in the trees around us. Sierra and Gramma feverishly finished and painted several more leaf molds. We were lucky enough to fit two of them in our suitcases, wrapped in bubble wrap. They now decorate our veranda in Rio.Sierra took the time to give Gramma a lovely beauty makeover (notice the blue eyeliner--earlier used by me and Colette for our 80's party, now Sierra's play make-up), and Pappa was pretty shocked when he walked in the porch and saw the two of them all "done up". I believe he is contemplating laughter or tears here.

We endulged in a night of broasted chicken in Grandy at the "world famous Brass Rail".The good thing is that with modern technology we can talk to each other on the phone anytime we want, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Mom and Dad can pick up their phone and dial our number here as a local call. It sure makes it easier to be so far away knowing that I can hear their voices regularly. That certainly wasn't the case in 1995 when I first came to Brazil. And it made it easy/possible to call this afternoon while laughing my butt off because I found this in my kitchen cabinet:

Let me tell you the story of "Mario". I bought a People magazine the first week I was in MN. I buy several People magazines while I'm in the states because I really like People--except now because Brangelina is all over them--but anyway. This particular People magazine happened to have a bunch of pictures of Mario Lopez in several different apparently famous poses like the one shown here, which was originally Burt Reynolds in like 1970 something. Well, Mom and I had a riot with this magazine. She and I decided we would unstaple this shot of Mario and tape it to the inside of her kitchen cupboard where the coffee grinder is stored in hopes that someone, namely my brother, father or Aunt Jo, would open it to grind coffee and find the shockingly revealing picture. So amidst giggles, she and I taped it to the cupboard one night when no one was looking. Unfortunately, no body was ever actually surprised by the picture. It seems that the coffee grinder and filters have been stored in this cupboard for so long that no one really looks when they open the door. They simply unconsciously open the door, reach up, grab what is needed, and close the door again--without EVER LOOKING! So we ended up having to point it out to everyone--mostly threw hysterics because Mom and I found it quite amusing.

The funniest thing now is that somehow, in my mother's infinite wisdom, she managed to convince my daughter, secretly, to bring this picture back with her to Rio and tape it inside MY coffee cupboard! I had NO CLUE! I don't even know when Sierra accomplished the task. It wasn't there yesterday. She went to bed before me last night and woke after me this morning! Somehow that little trickster, with the coaching of her Gramma, pulled it off! And I just left a message for my mother on her answering machine that she will probably not understand because I couldn't stop laughing long enough to speak!