A Birthday, Military Family Day, Houston, and The Harlem Globetrotters

Before I get into other events I want to give a shout out to my teddy bear! Kai is 6! He has become a big Pokemon card player/trader/collector. He loves to play with legos, learn about dinosaurs and animals, play tag with friends, and read books with me. He has always been great at giving hugs and recently he has become really good at pulling pranks (i.e. fake cockroaches in my bed, fake spiders in my hair, fake mice in the kitchen). As much as I hate the shock or those things I love hearing him laugh at my reaction. We love this guy and for his birthday we watched the Pikachu detective movie and I made him a Pikachu cake. It was a fun day for all of us. And I love being the mom of this amazing 6 year old.

We celebrated Military Family day with the Brazillian Army. The kids loved the obstacle course they set up.

Most of the rest of September I was working hard to finish a Childbirth Educator Course I have been working on for the last year. It was a lot of work, but something that I am really excited about. To wrap up the class I headed to Houston for a workshop to learn teaching skills and get ready to start teaching my own classes. So hopefully this next summer when we move I can start something new, and help new parents. But since I was going to Houston anyway I decided to invite my one of my best friends to hang out for a few days before my class. It was so great. I hadn't done a girls trip since Japan, and I needed it.

We checked out the Hobbit Cafe. Where I ordered the slim size sandwich, but it turned out mammoth (still not sure how you could fit more on 2 slices of bread for the normal size).

We explored the gigantic fine arts museum. We found a few works by some famous painters, loved the pointulism paintings, and determined that only about a third of the modern art was for us. We also found a huge lego mural of waterlillies which was impressive.

We also thrifted, shopped at nostalgic asian markets to find our favorite Japanese snacks. And even more nostalgic we tried the Korean Spa World, which was surprisingly similar to a Japanese Onsen. We got the full body scrub, which was amazing.

We went to a unique interactive museum, Meow Wolf. It was totally bizare, and after exploring our way through the maze of different world rooms

We had a temple day, which was so peaceful and empowering.

And of course we had to get some good BBQ while we were in Texas.

I'm so thankful that Tara came out to see me and it was a perfect break before I started my workshop. The workshop was lovely. We reviewed all the things I had been studying and I got to practice teaching. It was a lot of fun. Every night during the class I unwound by running or walking at a boardwalk near my hotel. I even saw an alligator one night! It was lovely.

Back at home Jake and the boys were having fun as well. The first weekend I was away they headed to our friend's farm. They hiked, played, and ate yummy food.

On the following Friday night they headed to Recife to see the Harlem Globetorotters perform. They even got some pre-show VIP treatment. The boys got autographs and got to try shooting with the trotters.

I caught an overnight flight home, and it was great to be back together again. Here are a few highlights of our everyday life since I have been back. Lot's of playing in the pool and at the quad. One day we even found a really cool caterpillar.

Jane went to her friend Bea's Froze birthday party and met Anna and Elsa!

We had both Pace and Grant bake us delicious chocolate cake. Pace made a square cake with nutella frosting and Grant made yummy cupcakes.

And this morning Jane and Pace created this picture! Look how tall Jane is! It sure feels like she is growing feet at a time, lol.