Island Hike

 We went for a hike in the north part of the island the other weekend.

 The hike was about 5 km long.

 It started out by some fields then went into a "jungle."

 Eventually the trail went along the cliffs near the ocean.  That is where the battery on the camera died! 

This island is so beautiful, and we feel fortunate to be able to spend a couple years of our lives here!

Happy Birthday, America!

For being on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic, Lajes sure puts on a big celebration for July 4th. They put on one of the best fireworks shows that we have ever seen! It was a great day and a fabulous evening the helped remind us how grateful we are to be Americans!!

Beach Day

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to head to the beach.

Nick engineered a huge community with Megan's help.  They made a castle and motes and fields with animals(sea shells) and houses.  It was quite imaginative.

(Caleb thought that this picture was necessary.)

We had a great time.  Now we are trying to get rid of all the sand that comes with a fun day at the beach!

The First Week Out of School

The weather this week has been rainy and cloudy.  I guess it is trying to make up for the winter weather that we missed.  So we have had to find other things besides the beach and the pool to keep us busy.  We climbed some stone stairs to the Mary statue up high on the  cliff.

We found interesting foods in the local grocery stores.

We see flowers EVERYWHERE.  They grow like weeds, but they are beautiful.

We went with some friends to a "duck lake."

We fed them.  The boys tried for a good hour to capture them. It never worked but it kept them busy. I hope the rain quits soon.  I am ready to have our good, hot summer back!

Stairs Anyone?

Who needs to use stairs when the railing is just as effective?

So Close....

Summer is almost here.  Only 9 days of school left!!  We can't wait!

Quatro Ribeiras

 Monday was a beautiful, warm day so we decided to take off for the beach.  It is not really a beach, more like volcanic rock made into pools of ocean water.  The kids went to swim, and Curtis and some friends donned their wet suits to do some snorkeling and spearfishing.

 Caleb jumped in after his beloved shark.  It must have been COLD!

 What a pose!

 A friend caught an eel.  Yum!

 If you climbed the stairs, you could reach a high overlook.

It was a wonderful day with good friends.  And we all come home with a sun burn!

Spirit Pots

This island has tons of Spirit Houses which play a large part in their religion. They are generally all painted in bright, bold colors.(Most of the houses are painted brightly-every color imaginable!) So we decided to decorate like the Portuguese. We made Spirit Pots. Each child designed their own. Now I just need to fill them with flowers!

Here is our friendly lizard that lives near our front door.  He has come in once but took off as soon as we walked near him.  He need a name, maybe one of your kids, Kate, could name it?

Baseball

The baseball season has started here.  Today was their first games.  They all had a good time and played well. It was a great start to a great season!

Jake's New Look

Today we picked up Jake's new glasses.  He didn't do so great on his sports physical eye exam so we took him to the eye doctor.  His vision isn't that bad, but the glasses will help reading off the board for school.  He loves them though.  I keep telling him that in time he is going to wish that we didn't need them afterall.  Until then he can show off his new look!