Our Happening

For the long Carnival weekend, we escaped to Iguazu Falls, one of the largest waterfall systems in the world. Our days were mostly cloudy with a little rain, which dampened the experience a bit (ha!), but also meant our pale-skinned babes came home sunburn-free. And that is a serious win.

We started Day One at the nearby bird park, Parque das Aves. Highlights included a large bird that seriously sounded like he was cracking up (we named him Bob), the toucan that landed on the railing right in front of us, and the CRAZY loud macaw aviary.

Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park was next:

The falls lie on the border between Brazil and Argentina. As our hotel was in Argentina, empanadas seemed to be the only reasonable way to wrap the day... empanadas and orange Fanta, that is :)

Day Two brought us to Argentina's Iguazú National Park:

After eight months of life in the city, it was incredibly refreshing to tread through nature (and all its stunning beauty) for a few days.

The highly anticipated first weekend exodus to the beach!

(insert deeply-satisfying exhale here)

The week before friends warned us about the massive mosquitos that live near the beaches. Their bites swell and bleed SO BRING SPRAY.

That night I had a nightmare about 4 foot tall mosquitos chasing us down streets (ei: running after us on flamingo-like legs).

Thankfully, they were not actually 4 feet tall and made only one appearance - which we experienced within the safety of windows / walls. Win.

But I digress.

We left Friday evening amidst rain and oh-so-many friends heading out of town with us...

Three hours later we arrived in Boiçucanga and transferred sleepy kids into bed.

Seven hours after that, we woke to a no-shower-necessary, salty, sandy kind of day.

It was perfection.

Morning discoveries: Waves and oh-so-much-water... a bit too much perhaps. Cora had zero interest in any part of her body touching any part of those waves. But sand castles are totally her jam. London was far more willing to dabble in the unfamiliar, but sand proved sadly disappointing to his taste buds.

A quick lunch and a long nap preceded the afternoon outing... which consisted mostly of more sleep for the littlest and more sand for his sister. Like a true mid-western American, Cora's pretend play involved "trains" (blocks) getting stuck in "snow" (sand) :)

Pizza paired with this view wrapped the day.

By Sunday morning London had developed a terrible cough and his voice was increasingly hoarse. Ordinarily, this would (most likely) not cause an abrupt end to a delightful weekend. It just so happens though, that London had swallowed a small rubber band on Friday evening before we left (the kind we use for Cora's ponytails). We had figured it would "pass" and went on with the weekend. The cough though caused all sorts of what-ifs to spring forth:

Did it get stuck in his esophagus? wrapped around his vocal cords? Is that even possible? I'm sure it is.

We packed our bags and headed home, uncomfortably... because this heart of mine could only handle about 20 minutes of listening to London's sweet cry before I squished myself into the 6-inch gap between carseats for the remainder of the ride... which was only 2 hours thanks to Sunday traffic and a highly motivated father.

X-rays and tests and waiting rooms, 4.5 hours of them, revealed only that our son was getting a cold.

Because, of course.

Next time, we stay for day 2 :)