Oi! Tudo Bem para todos amigos Brasilados! Hoje, nos tivemos uma festa para a Samantha. Ela tem nove anos agora! Ela é muito feliz. Nós convidamos oito amigazinhas de Samantha para a festa. Todos as criancas nadaram em piscina. Que lindo! Eles nao quiseram sair. Eu acho as meninas quiseram ficar aqui para a toda da noite. :)

Hello to all of my dear American friends! We miss you. Samantha and I celebrated our birthdays this past weekend. We had a tremendously wonderful time. All of my gifts were flowers--bem bonita. I recived a cactus--gorgeous (I've always wanted one), a gorgeous orchid plant with about 20 blooms on it, a beautiful chrysathemum, and two other flowers I don't recall the names of, but I need to find out and write it down!!! :) Samantha made out like a bandit as usual! We had our family party on Saturday, and today (Sunday) we had a pool party with Samantha's closest girlfriends and one boy. Samantha's nanny came with her husband, and Samantha's riding teacher and her mom and brother. We didn't invite any other adults as we wanted to keep it small. We once again were the only English speakers, and we had a great time! I understand so much more than I can speak. At the end of the party we had some moms drop in and visit also. All of us women are planning a trip to Argentina to do some shopping together. Apparently, it's a lot cheaper to purchase things there. I love these times when I am completley immeresed in the language. The women I have had the priveledge of knowing are so fun and so sweet. They have been some of the best teachers for Portugese.

Above are pictures of the girls playing with our neighbor girl, Laura. The picture with the group of girls singing is of one of the 5 Portuguese classes they are taking. The top picture is of Theodore sporting his latest hair style.

I am posting a letter Samantha wrote for her Social Studies class. Her assignment was to imagine she was an explorer in a new land and to write home a persuasive letter to her friends and family in the hope that they would make the journey also. Instead of imagining this, I had her write a letter about the new land she is living in and encourage all of you to make the journey to visit us! :)

*************************************************************************************

Dear Friends and Family,

I invite you all to come to Brazil, Rio Grande Du Sul, Horizontina. The trip might be hard, but that doesn't matter. We have seven fruit trees in our yard. Little yellow plums, oranges, berries, mangoes--you name it. The flowers here are beautiful. The butterflies here are beautiful and huge. The landscape is beautiful. And, there's a place that you could (if you were here) pick sugar cane and eat it for free...mmm. There are some interesting things though like lizards living on our walls--bedroom, kitchen, and all. They don't bite. We have a pool, a big back yard, and a nice girl next door to play with. So please come, will you?

Love,

Samantha

*************************************************************************************

Hugs to you all from us! Autumn, Andrew, Samantha, Makaela, Sir William, and Theodore

Hello! :) Today is a national holiday in Brazil called the Day of the Children. It's a very important holiday here--all of the businesses shut down and families do special activities to celebrate their children. The girls had a fabulous day and are enjoying the extra holidays we have here! :)

I am posting some pictures of the girl's horseback riding lessons. They are having a great time. It's another fun way for us to pratice our Portuguese. As of this week, I am also taking lessons. I didn't realize it would be as tricky as it is...trying to learn something new in a language that is new! :) I am learning to ride in such a way that you don't use the riegns for much direction--all of the cues are given through my feet and some voice if necessary. She's an awesome horse with an amazing amount of grace and intelligence. I have to say though my legs are crazy sore from my last lesson in which we did a lot of trotting. The three of us much prefer galloping!!! Ouch!

The girls are learning how to do figure 8's, circles, spins, and they can back her up. The girls use the riegns and voice commands for the horse as their legs are too short for them to give her any foot instruction. :) Not only do the girls ride her, but they also bathe and brush her after every ride. I think they like this part of the afternoon almost as much as riding "India."

We all send our love to you from Brazil! Ate nesta semana!