Welcome to our new blog

We arrived in Iowa on the 28th of June and finally are connected again to the internet world and living in our new house. Here's what's been happening with the four of us since June 27th...

• Took several long and not so long van and plane rides to arrive in the U.S.
• Visited and closed on our house.
• Threw candy off of Robin Gray's apple truck in the Sully, IA 4th of July parade.
• Visited Jen's best friend and family from high school.
• Watched Vivi be knocked over by Monroe, the big black lab.
• Moved into our house after staying at a hotel for a week in Cedar Falls.
• Started work at JD Waterloo Works.
• Went to the park next to our house and met a few moms.
• Bought a car.
• Met most of our neighbors within the first week.
• Went to the library and story time.
• Saw some deer in our yard.
• Went to the Cedar Valley Arboretum (fyi. much, much better than how the name sounds) met another mom.
• Spent time unpacking and organizing our storage shipment.
• Went to Walmart.
• Ripped up the carpet in our 4-seasons room and began the tiling project.
• Went to Target.
• Drove to Iowa City to meet a fellow ex-expat and play at the Children's Museum.
• Caught some fire flies.
• Walked at George Wyth State Park.
• Visited Nazareth Luthern Church and met someone we'd met at the park.
• Watched Valentina take her first step.
• Watched our Gaucho music video for the umpteenth time...(Vivi's been going through culture shock).
• Met another Brazilian family in Cedar Falls.
• Spoke Portuguese.
• Visited Orchard Hill Church.
• Went to the park and met a dad and his daughter.
• Realized it would be nice to be able to watch tv but then decided it's nice without it too.
• Finished the tiling project and decided to continue tiling into the kitchen.
• Had supper with Robin and Denny.
• Weeded a little.
• Comforted/Distracted Vivi after she said, "Mama, I wanna go home."
• Watched Valentina walk for the first time.
• Drove to the farm.
• Canoed down the river with cousins.
• Rode some horses.
• Went to the park and met a friend.
• Met a college friend at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
• Received our air shipment with all the girls' toys, the computer, etc.
• Had lunch with a friend and spoke some Portuguese.
• Created our new blog.