Happy Birthday London!!!!!

Well our perfect weather disappeared today and we ended up with clouds but the rain did hold off. So our laying by the beach didn't happen. Instead we found london a beach playground!

Also we couldn't find a regular birthday cake but the hotel was nice enough to provide us with one. Parabens means congrats in Portuguese which is how they wish you happy birthday... maybe a congrats for making it one more year!?! LOL I DID find a #1 candle though! The cake was SO SWEET troy nor I could eat it so london got a lick and that was it. We will try to do a re-do in Des Plaines when we get back...

Copacabana Beach

8Oh my god the best beach EVER! The sand was soft but not so powder fine that its IN everything! LOL Great for sandcastles, playing, everything. Troy said the water was nice also but I was having to much fun with London in the sand to really go in! And we got a great sunset behind us right over Christ the Redeemer statue!

Hello Rio!

We are taking a vacation in Rio De Janeiro this week instead of flying back to Chicago-land. We got a great view of the city when we flew in...

And it was London's first time at the Beach. To say he LOVED the sand would STILL be an understatement...

First birthday gift

One of the guys (and his girlfriend) that troy has been working with for the last couple weeks got London a Birthday gift! First Let me say how refreshing it was to see the standard bag at the store was a picture of a baby breastfeeding!!! SUCH a nice change from the USA to see BFing being promoted instead of formula feeding <3
Anyway his gift was a Brazilian CD of Lullabies!

My sunsets (for mary)

Well its not a beach view sunset but I think its pretty cool anyway. Here is the sunset from our hotel-

opps forgot some Sat stuff!

Our Hard Rock Cafe stop!-

and the location for the 2014 World cup is here! -

Last of the sat photos!

We also went to the zoo here. For $2 it was about what you expected. London LOVES the birds! 

Yep this turtle WAS the highlight at the aquarium (which was in the zoo)-

Some more sat activites-

Besides the church we also went to a fair and the zoo (pics tomorrow of zoo)! London got his first carousel ride!

May not look like much but those were the BEST noodle dish I have ever had-$2!

 

Troy and his coke photo with is $1 meat stick

 

Hippie Fair

Every Sunday from 8-2pm is the local Hippie Fair right next to the Municiple Park. They estimate about 80,000 people are there during the open hours. Its just tons of different little shop vendors selling their stuff. Nothing to exciting but a nice way to waste a few dollars...

And since we were next to the park we HAD to go!

Did you catch the kid climbing on the top!
And lastly a new way to use a basketball court- For Futball ofcourse!

Church of Saint Francis of Assisi

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the most famous sites to see here in Belo Horizonte. Its right up against a man-made lagoon (I don't know why its not a lake! LOL). We did a few other things today but I will post that later because I hit my max photos for today!

The back-

The inside-

The Front-

 

Artist

London grabbed a pen today and decided it was time to start drawing. I'm very excited by this because now I can start buying crayons/coloring books and not look like an weirdo.

Room with a view

Here is the view from our apartment. The building right behind us is the Patio Savassi (mall).

Here you can kind of see the mountains, the whole city is in/on the mountains. 

Parca De Liberdade

Today London and I went for a little stroll around town to find a park. I saw some signs the other day pointing to "Parca De Liberdade". As you all know following random signs when they don't have a distance can be a longer adventure than you like! LOL So I grabbed london and apple and me some McDonalds and we left on our journey.  I would guess it was about a 1 mile walk to the park. When we got there I was disapointed. Yes it was a park technically but there wasn't alot of grass for London to walk/crawl around on. There was a nice fountain but that was about it for a kid, but you couldn't play in it.
The park seemed more for couples. There was a couple on every single park bench that was either making out or just caressing each other, or the women were squeezing and popping zits on the guys faces. Made me feel better I'm not the only one who likes to do that! When we walked by the girls would oohhh and awww London. I'm wondering how many "baby talks" ensued after we left.
The more "famous" parts of this park is the architecture around it. I'm not sure what the buildings were but here are-

An Apple a Day

London is loving the apples from here-