After Cape Verde... hmm gosh what did we do?
Cristina, Ricardo, Maria Joao, Pedro, and Joao Pedro came to visit Aveiro! We were so lucky that it was a beautiful, but chilly day to show them around our little city. We hit all the hot spots.
From the beginning of November until the first weekend in December there were only a handful of days where it didn't rain, and usually there was some point in the day to get Mel out to exercise but it was so dark and gray out! We also had two tropical depressions come through and bring crazy sideways blowing wind and lots of rain in a short time. It also got much colder earlier than it has in past years. Climate change is real friends. :(
I finished out my semester as a volunteer teacher with SPEAK, and we threw a little Christmas party where all of the students had put money together to get TimTam some adorable clothing and also brought me tons of diapers and wipes in a variety of sizes which is so great! It was such a different experience working with a larger group of adults (10) than my previous group which only had 3 participants. I was so surprised and had no idea they were planning to bring gifts!
Joel had his team's Gala dinner. Mel is turning into a great little picture poser too! Even when using a selfie stick to capture this one! Impressive work, Mel!
Ooo, I bought a CAR! And not only a car, a NEW car! :) Well I never wanted a new car, let alone to have to buy a car again. But where we live and little Timtam on the way, it was unavoidable, the bridge had to be crossed. I loved my 9 years without having to worry about any expenses or troubles that comes with car ownership! Anyways I did want a very safe car for little baby, so the car I wanted and the engine Joel wanted me to have, has only been on the market for a little bit of time. With the end of year sales, it was nearly the same price as buying any of the used ones, soo YOLO! Zippy ( I think she is a girl..) is a 2019 Kia Rio. IT has a petrol/gas engine and turbo injectors so I can zippy up when I need to pass or avoid a situation. It comes with all the works (GPS, huge screen in the center console, backup camera, an extra light that activates on each side when you turn in that direction, mirrors close at the push of a button, etc etc) included in the standard package and is silver. In Europe, Kia offers a 7 year unlimited Km warranty, which is the best in Europe. I know not as good as the 10 years they offer in the US, but at least it's much better than the standard here. For the price we negotiated, I could only choose between an olive green, silver and white. While I was a little bummed out and had my heart set on a turquoise/teal metalish color, it could have been many more months until they received that car, plus by then the deal would be gone. When we drove out of the Kia garage, of course on a rainy day :(, she only had 7 KM on her! Umm ya, that was frightening to drive off the lot, especially when you remember that the value goes down by XYZ amount as you drive off that lot! I drove like a grandma to our house, I didn't even go on the main road and was sooo careful!
We went to Soito on Dec 24th, and decided to experiment how Mel would do in her BRAND NEW car... I wasn't super happy to take my car to Soito, for Christmas but I thought Mel might suffer less, and us too if we did it. So Zippy put on 500km quickly! But she did a great job making it up those hills to Soito and we are both very happy with our purchase. When we arrived in Soito we headed straight away to visit several different family members. Walking to their houses and being offered tons of food, coffee, and tea along the way. Cristina was very quick to say we had orders to be back home soon and not to be full. But one Aunt of Joel's easily twisted the pregger lady into having a slice of her cake, which was delicious! She also sewed us baby's first blanket with his name on it, and adorable little shoes/slippers, and a bib! I should learn to sew one day, seems like an amazing skill to have! Anyways after our little visits, it was time for our Christmas eve dinner, which is very non traditional and is Piglet. We waited until nearly midnight, I think? to start opening presents. We also played a game similar to trivial pursuit. We planned to go to the town bonfire, but didn't end up going in the end. I can't remember if I mentioned last year, in Portugal and many other latin countries, Dec 24th is the big deal! They do everything on the 24th and the 25th is just hanging out and eating leftovers. The weather was cold but sunny in Soito. Joel was going on runs and I took Mel on long walks. She loved running in the fields and playing with some of the cows in the field, I was super happy she didn't do her normal routine and roll in the cow pies. One present from my parents was a set of Bocce Balls or Petanque as it is called here and in France. We enjoyed playing one afternoon in the garden, though had to stop because everyone's hands were so cold. Mel enjoyed chasing the cushonay around, and digging up the fallen apples and chasing those around while keeping us company! On the 25th, we had a codfish dish that translates to "dirty laundry", which is made from the leftover codfish on the 24th. Since we eat piglet on the 24th, we need fresh codfish for the 25th. :P
We came back on the 27th just in time to meet up with my friend from high school and University (ASU!) who were passing through Aveiro. CB and his wife Kelly have such a funny yet similar story to us. CB and Kelly also met in Melbourne, Kelly is Portuguese but raised in France! They live in Paris now but had celebrated Christmas with Kelly's family in Algarve so were road tripping back to Paris. So we had an incredible time catching up, I think the last time I saw CB was in 2009! Funny how so much time can pass but you can talk for hours and hours and still feel like there was more we didn't have time for!
We celebrated New Years in Joel's colleagues apartment, not far from the city center. Ana cooked some amazing little starters, of course meat and cheese plates, plus smoked salmon lasagna, and a minced meat pie! All home made! :O Ohh and dessert was ice cream with molten chocolate cake! YUM! It was super delicious, and it was three couples, including us and our friend Jorge. Just before midnight we walked to the Center to see the fireworks. There was no clock counting down and luckily Joel checked on google for an official time so we didn't miss it! :P The fireworks were late, they must have been on standard Portuguese time!
The weekend after that, I had maybe the worst test (besides giving birth stuff) test of pregnancy, which is to test for gestational diabetes. It is where they take three blood samples, the first one when you arrive, fasted. Then you chug (ok, they wanted me to finish 100ML in 5 mins) a drink which contains 75g of sugar. Then you are tested an hour from when you began, and another hour later to see how your body reacted to all of the sugar. IF you throw up during the exam you have to come back another day and try again. I had a few moments where I was worried but Joel and I waited in the car, as we couldn't stay in the room and watched some comedy shows on netflix to take the time and I did it!! :) And got the results a few days later that I don't have GD. Double YAY!
After that horrendous test and a snack of course, we made our way to Lisbon for our traditional Cirque de Soleil show! We met Cristina, Ricardo, and Joels cousins Celina and Ricardo at an asian fusion restaurant. I was willing to risk all the heart burn to have some of that green curry! I only had a little heart burn but it was well worth the delicious curry. The show was called Ovo. It was about the life of a clown and him moving on after life. I enjoyed it a lot, it was a great mix of the amazing acro stunts with some show involved. There was also a live orchestra and singing which I had never seen before! I really enjoyed it, but not my top Cirque show. That still goes to Kooza, which I saw is in the US right now! Don't miss that! :)
After the show we headed back to Celina and Ricardo's where they had some Chicken and delicious side dishes all prepared for us! As always we enjoyed a night of laughs, chats, and amazing food together!
The following morning we met Joel's old Bosch friends who all live in Lisbon now, but were living in Aveiro previously. We had a great brunch at a Danish place, meaning cozy in Danish. (Hygge), pronounced hugh ger. Like the name Hugh, followed by GER.
Joel and I walked around the corner to the only (I think) department store in Portugal to try out a bunch of strollers. It was really funny but also frustrating trying to figure out how to fold things and what went with what part and there were not many employees around to offer help. We often resorted to youtube. It was such a funny scene. I had no idea folding them could be so complicated!
I hope 2020 has started off on an excellent note and we continue to enjoy the freshness of the new decade! What a wild one it has been for me! :)
Love from the 4 of us! :)
Cristina, Ricardo, Maria Joao, Pedro, and Joao Pedro came to visit Aveiro! We were so lucky that it was a beautiful, but chilly day to show them around our little city. We hit all the hot spots.
From the beginning of November until the first weekend in December there were only a handful of days where it didn't rain, and usually there was some point in the day to get Mel out to exercise but it was so dark and gray out! We also had two tropical depressions come through and bring crazy sideways blowing wind and lots of rain in a short time. It also got much colder earlier than it has in past years. Climate change is real friends. :(
I finished out my semester as a volunteer teacher with SPEAK, and we threw a little Christmas party where all of the students had put money together to get TimTam some adorable clothing and also brought me tons of diapers and wipes in a variety of sizes which is so great! It was such a different experience working with a larger group of adults (10) than my previous group which only had 3 participants. I was so surprised and had no idea they were planning to bring gifts!
Joel had his team's Gala dinner. Mel is turning into a great little picture poser too! Even when using a selfie stick to capture this one! Impressive work, Mel!
Ooo, I bought a CAR! And not only a car, a NEW car! :) Well I never wanted a new car, let alone to have to buy a car again. But where we live and little Timtam on the way, it was unavoidable, the bridge had to be crossed. I loved my 9 years without having to worry about any expenses or troubles that comes with car ownership! Anyways I did want a very safe car for little baby, so the car I wanted and the engine Joel wanted me to have, has only been on the market for a little bit of time. With the end of year sales, it was nearly the same price as buying any of the used ones, soo YOLO! Zippy ( I think she is a girl..) is a 2019 Kia Rio. IT has a petrol/gas engine and turbo injectors so I can zippy up when I need to pass or avoid a situation. It comes with all the works (GPS, huge screen in the center console, backup camera, an extra light that activates on each side when you turn in that direction, mirrors close at the push of a button, etc etc) included in the standard package and is silver. In Europe, Kia offers a 7 year unlimited Km warranty, which is the best in Europe. I know not as good as the 10 years they offer in the US, but at least it's much better than the standard here. For the price we negotiated, I could only choose between an olive green, silver and white. While I was a little bummed out and had my heart set on a turquoise/teal metalish color, it could have been many more months until they received that car, plus by then the deal would be gone. When we drove out of the Kia garage, of course on a rainy day :(, she only had 7 KM on her! Umm ya, that was frightening to drive off the lot, especially when you remember that the value goes down by XYZ amount as you drive off that lot! I drove like a grandma to our house, I didn't even go on the main road and was sooo careful!
We went to Soito on Dec 24th, and decided to experiment how Mel would do in her BRAND NEW car... I wasn't super happy to take my car to Soito, for Christmas but I thought Mel might suffer less, and us too if we did it. So Zippy put on 500km quickly! But she did a great job making it up those hills to Soito and we are both very happy with our purchase. When we arrived in Soito we headed straight away to visit several different family members. Walking to their houses and being offered tons of food, coffee, and tea along the way. Cristina was very quick to say we had orders to be back home soon and not to be full. But one Aunt of Joel's easily twisted the pregger lady into having a slice of her cake, which was delicious! She also sewed us baby's first blanket with his name on it, and adorable little shoes/slippers, and a bib! I should learn to sew one day, seems like an amazing skill to have! Anyways after our little visits, it was time for our Christmas eve dinner, which is very non traditional and is Piglet. We waited until nearly midnight, I think? to start opening presents. We also played a game similar to trivial pursuit. We planned to go to the town bonfire, but didn't end up going in the end. I can't remember if I mentioned last year, in Portugal and many other latin countries, Dec 24th is the big deal! They do everything on the 24th and the 25th is just hanging out and eating leftovers. The weather was cold but sunny in Soito. Joel was going on runs and I took Mel on long walks. She loved running in the fields and playing with some of the cows in the field, I was super happy she didn't do her normal routine and roll in the cow pies. One present from my parents was a set of Bocce Balls or Petanque as it is called here and in France. We enjoyed playing one afternoon in the garden, though had to stop because everyone's hands were so cold. Mel enjoyed chasing the cushonay around, and digging up the fallen apples and chasing those around while keeping us company! On the 25th, we had a codfish dish that translates to "dirty laundry", which is made from the leftover codfish on the 24th. Since we eat piglet on the 24th, we need fresh codfish for the 25th. :P
We came back on the 27th just in time to meet up with my friend from high school and University (ASU!) who were passing through Aveiro. CB and his wife Kelly have such a funny yet similar story to us. CB and Kelly also met in Melbourne, Kelly is Portuguese but raised in France! They live in Paris now but had celebrated Christmas with Kelly's family in Algarve so were road tripping back to Paris. So we had an incredible time catching up, I think the last time I saw CB was in 2009! Funny how so much time can pass but you can talk for hours and hours and still feel like there was more we didn't have time for!
We celebrated New Years in Joel's colleagues apartment, not far from the city center. Ana cooked some amazing little starters, of course meat and cheese plates, plus smoked salmon lasagna, and a minced meat pie! All home made! :O Ohh and dessert was ice cream with molten chocolate cake! YUM! It was super delicious, and it was three couples, including us and our friend Jorge. Just before midnight we walked to the Center to see the fireworks. There was no clock counting down and luckily Joel checked on google for an official time so we didn't miss it! :P The fireworks were late, they must have been on standard Portuguese time!
The weekend after that, I had maybe the worst test (besides giving birth stuff) test of pregnancy, which is to test for gestational diabetes. It is where they take three blood samples, the first one when you arrive, fasted. Then you chug (ok, they wanted me to finish 100ML in 5 mins) a drink which contains 75g of sugar. Then you are tested an hour from when you began, and another hour later to see how your body reacted to all of the sugar. IF you throw up during the exam you have to come back another day and try again. I had a few moments where I was worried but Joel and I waited in the car, as we couldn't stay in the room and watched some comedy shows on netflix to take the time and I did it!! :) And got the results a few days later that I don't have GD. Double YAY!
After that horrendous test and a snack of course, we made our way to Lisbon for our traditional Cirque de Soleil show! We met Cristina, Ricardo, and Joels cousins Celina and Ricardo at an asian fusion restaurant. I was willing to risk all the heart burn to have some of that green curry! I only had a little heart burn but it was well worth the delicious curry. The show was called Ovo. It was about the life of a clown and him moving on after life. I enjoyed it a lot, it was a great mix of the amazing acro stunts with some show involved. There was also a live orchestra and singing which I had never seen before! I really enjoyed it, but not my top Cirque show. That still goes to Kooza, which I saw is in the US right now! Don't miss that! :)
After the show we headed back to Celina and Ricardo's where they had some Chicken and delicious side dishes all prepared for us! As always we enjoyed a night of laughs, chats, and amazing food together!
The following morning we met Joel's old Bosch friends who all live in Lisbon now, but were living in Aveiro previously. We had a great brunch at a Danish place, meaning cozy in Danish. (Hygge), pronounced hugh ger. Like the name Hugh, followed by GER.
Joel and I walked around the corner to the only (I think) department store in Portugal to try out a bunch of strollers. It was really funny but also frustrating trying to figure out how to fold things and what went with what part and there were not many employees around to offer help. We often resorted to youtube. It was such a funny scene. I had no idea folding them could be so complicated!
I hope 2020 has started off on an excellent note and we continue to enjoy the freshness of the new decade! What a wild one it has been for me! :)
Love from the 4 of us! :)
Sounds like fun! Except for the gd test. 🤮
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