Yet Another Week

Monday started off as a holiday so Denver and the kids had the day off. We decided to go to the beach. The weather was beautiful and the beaches were empty.

The water was cold so I only got in half way. The kids and Denver went in the whole way.


They had so much fun playing at the beach and in the water. It was a good holiday.
This week I got a package from my friend for my birthday. She and her family moved to Japan the same time we moved here. She sent me this Japan candy. It was really good. The bagged candy tasted like a hard candy with pop rocks in it. It sizzled in the mouth. The chews were a mix of starbursts and gum. Sounds weird, but I don't know how to explain it. It was delicious.
She also sent me this cute little bag. I now use it to hold my Euro so I don't mix my US coinage with my Euro. Thanks Brooke!
On Wednesday we had a med group picnic. It was good food and good entertainment. They had 4 people get 'pies' thrown in the face. They weren't actually real pies, they were made of soup mix, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, cottage cheese, and some other ingredients. Not much fun to have that thrown in your face. It was an auction pie throw so people paid money to choose who got the pie in the face and who got to throw it.
After the picnic, we headed to the gruta do Natal or the Christmas Caves. We saw this vehicle (3 wheeled) on the road.
We also saw this house on the way. It is built up on stilts.
Up in the mountains, it was foggy and WINDY
In the caves we had to wear these helmets. First they gave us hair nets because the helmets have been worn by a lot of people and believe me we could tell, they were stinky.


Cole didn't like the helmets. He kept taking it off, but we made him wear it.
Going through the narrow tunnel. We both had sore legs from our runs that morning so squatting through the tunnel really hurt.
It was fun exploring the caves and looking and reading about all the different formations.

Outside the caves was this pretty forest.

And the wind just about blew us over! It was so strong.
We decided to sport our hair nets on the way home.
We loved driving through this tunnel of trees. It was so beautiful.
On Saturday after the kids soccer games, we drove down to Praia to take part in the expo/fest. There were tons of markets/businesses set up in a huge tent. Denver liked this motor bike.
And of course the boys all liked these tractors for sale.

Another tent had cows and other animals. We think it was a contest, like a county fair would have. Some cows had award ribbons attached to them.
We also watched a dog show for a few minutes.
Our favorite dog was this one. His neck and head were huge! It looked a bit like a mastiff, but don't think it was.
Look at that face!

Like the nose ring??? :) I did.
This one got first place. It was huge! the picture doesn't show that too well.
In the tent with the markets, one shop was displaying these awesome treats, but weren't selling! We did get to sample a doughnut, but I wanted to taste one of the other treats. They said we have to go to their actual store and gave us a business card.


But we did end up buying these other treats.
First of all, these ice cream things are delicious!!!! I had one last week at the bull fight/run and LOVED them so when I saw them here I had to get another. It's not creamy, more of an ice milk, but sooooo good and the outer stuff is like a wafer thing. Mmmmmm, so good!
We also bought these treats and split them with the kids so we could try all of them. Oh so good, all of it! From the brownie and around: Brownie, guava fruit, caramel, coconut, passion fruit, and cheesecake.
It was a good week in the Azores :D.