Pedra da Boca

Our kids were feeling much better after our little bout with strep throat. Jane and Louis had no more symptoms, so we decided to use one of our days off to do a little day trip hike. My friend Samira had told me about this gem, Pedra da Boca. It was a good drive, but we made muffins and picked out some good audiobooks and were on our way. The drive there was lovely as we were on the edge of a rain shower and a sunny day. Rainbows were everywhere. At one point Jane gleefuly cheered, "The rainbow is following us!" And everything was green and alive after all the recent rains. At one point we hit a road with big speed bumbs and potholes making it very trecherous. But when we got near and saw the rock we were so impressed. To me it was so beautiful it reminded me of a set from a movie, so it was worth the drive.

When we got out of the car we noticed what we though were a bunch of jumping bugs, but when we looked closer they were tiny toads or frogs. Small enough to stand on the tip of your finger.

While we waited for our guide Jane and I took some pictures of another beautiful area near the parking. It's the second picture here that reminds me of a movie set with the palm trees and the rock behind it.

The hike ended up being short, but much more strenuos than I had expected. Kai and Grant got a bit scared as we went up, but they mustered some courage and made it to the top. I was a bit scared myself, not sure if we could get all the kids to the top and back without injury. Thankfully we had very helpful guides that kept us safe along the way and took us on the "easy" way down (easy in parentheses becuase it was still a good hike, just off the steep rockface).

We made it to the Boca(mouth) of the rock, it was stunning. We were in a very high cave and could see for miles. The rock also had really cool holes in the roof of the cave. Pace and I decided to try out the pendulum swing that they have set up there and it was definately a fun experience to share with him.

The hike back was very different as we saw a whole different area and learned more about the plants and animals (this area has so many wild fruit trees). It also had some adventures along the way, like a narrow path between rocks we got to cross through.

When we got down we celebrated with popcicles and lunch.

Rain started as soon as we were heading out, so we were grateful the weather had worked out for our adventure. Jane crashed on the drive home and slept the entire 3 hours back.

Unfortunately the next day while we were having a barbecue with our good friends Kleber and Jessica we started to notice a rash on Louis. It only got worse and that night he had a high fever. We did a google search on symptoms and we're pretty sure he has roseola. So now poor guy is just finishing his antibiotics for strep and now is suffereing another illness. He's been taking it easy and seems to be improving a lot. His fever was gone this morning. This guy is a trooper.

Also Jane has been loving dressing up as a princess and yesterday she wanted the whole dress including the gloves. And I have to admit, she's the cutest princess I've ever seen.

And one last thing that I just have to share is a picture of this beautiful tree that I see often as it is on my regular running route. These yellow flowers are just gorgeous. It always brightens my day to see it.