A Flurry of Festas
Well, it’s mid-2010, and it’s been a hard year, but there’s been a lot to celebrate, too. Especially this time of the year, when there are still plenty of Festa Juninas, but also many that were put on hold (along with the rest of the country) for the FIFA World Cup. Here’s a quick sampling of recent photos of the princess at some of these goings-ons.
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- Carol as Captain Brasil, defender of Order and Progress
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- The girls having a ball at the ball game
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- Carol getting ready for her audition for Kick-Ass 2
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- And, of course, we can’t have a blog post without some princess shots
An Afternoon at the Beach
Here are some pics of one of our recent trips to Baixo Bebê, the family-style section of the beach right by our house. We usually hit the beach in the (late) morning, but on this one particular day, we waited until 4pm to meet up with the ever-present Cousin Camila, plus some of our friends.
Carolina’s First Gingerbread House
Man, it took more than my usual amount of holiday gumption to keep the traditions going, but we did it! This Sunday we made Carolina’s first gingerbread house (and my first as head cook, for that matter). Besides the usual architectural and culinary challenges, I had a few more to overcome in order to pull this off:
- In Brazil, they don’t sell frosting out of a tub. You gotta make it yourself. Fortunately, it’s not that hard. Pass!
- In order to make it yourself, and keep it creamy, the recipes call for half a teaspoon of cream of tartar, which apparently is only sold in specialty stores in 2lb tubs. I ended up just doing without, sugar crystallization be damned! Fail!
- They also don’t seem to sell ground allspice in stores around here. The best I could manage (at Thanksgiving) was a jar of “kibe spices“, which is a bizarre mix of allspice, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. It gave a nice kick to my pumpkin pie, but someone seems to have since disappeared with the stuff (perhaps intentionally…). Fail!
- What’s a gingerbread house without candy canes?! Well, now we know: after struggling to even find a translation in Portuguese for them, I was told they MIGHT be sold in some specialty candy stores. I didn’t have time to go a-hunting. Fail!
- The other participants didn’t even know what the hell gingerbread is, let alone that you can build a house out of it. When I mentioned it to one friend, he said, “Yuck! How about you take out the ginger, and cover it in chocolate instead?” Yeah, thanks for trashing a thousand-year-old recipe before you’ve even tried it. Anyway, I think curiosity and the desire to see my train wreck firsthand won out, because we got Dada’s cousin Carla and her family to come and help out. Pass!
Unfortunately, I also didn’t have time to do any pre-event prep work, so this little experiment turned into an all-day marathon. By the end, Dada had gone off to her night shift at the hospital, Carla and family had gone back home, and it was up to me to put on the finishing touches… which I didn’t. That’s what Christmas Eve is for anyway, right?
Carolina and Camila - the Gingerbread Ballerinas
The master of multitasking plays air guitar while inspecting the structure
OK, I admit I compromised. A little bit of chocolate was involved.
Well, maybe more than a little.
The 90% completed masterpiece
The ice skater (courtesy of the East Berlin Crosswalk Man cookie cutter)
Another view of the still-sparse front
Carolina did the roof on this side. In case you're wondering, that's a half-slobbered Disney Princess gummy shoe in the middle (Camila's), and another stuck to the edge (Carol's).
The back yard: no windows yet, but check out that firewood pile! (and Carolina in the background checking if Santa's dropped by...)
Can anyone tell me how long these things are supposed to last (ants notwithstanding) before you have to eat it or throw it out? How about if it stays in the fridge? I’m hoping to keep it around until the 25th, or at least Christmas Eve. Until then…
Happy Holidays to all! (everyone)
Fancy Pen Tricks
This one is for all my work friends (at least the ones that have had to sit near me in an office). Carolina will be putting you all to shame in no time.
(btw, the whole “I am Camila” thing is just a little game she plays. Not like she’s psycho for constantly pretending she’s her cousin or anything…)
Sunday at the Pool
Now that summer’s officially on (or at least the sun seems to think so), everyone was out in full force around the pool. I’m not a huge fan of apartment living, but after 6 years in the same building, and 3 of them with a rather rambunctious princess, it turns out you really get to know everyone. So, an hour of drink-your-milk-put-on-your-bikini-ok-fine-your-one-piece-now-your-flip-flops-ok-no-flip-flops-yes-you-are-snow-white later, and a couple of flights down, and we found ourselves surrounded by 5 or 6 of Carol’s pool buddies and their families. I’ll have to remember to dust off that floating cocktail bar proposal that didn’t quite get passed through the council last year…
Mariana, Carolina and Manu... not quite looking at the camera
Carolina Cousteau uses her special lenses to analyze the chameleon's paw
The captain always goes down with the ship. Fortunately, Carolina is not the captain.
...except when she wants to be.
Recent Beach Pics from my Cell
Summer just hit here with a vengeance! This is the first sunny November that I can remember, and we’re trying to make the best of it. We headed out to “Baixo Bebê”, where all the snazzy 30 or 40-something parents go to let their kids run wild in the beautiful but somewhat septic Leblon sands. We didn’t take our camera, but luckily Dada remembered that these portable talking devices everyone’s got these days come with some sort of built in imaging doohickey. So we were able to capture some shots of Carolina and her cousin Camila making sand mermaids (or would that make them “plagemaids”?) of themselves:
Mermaids of the sand
Feet? Is this The Little Mermaid all over again??
And, of course, the mermaid-princess pose
Stay tuned for more summer fun!
First Birthday Pics
We still haven’t gotten the photos back from the photographer (yes, there was a photographer…), but I can at least show you some shots we took of Princess Carolina dressed as Princess Ariel, just before going downstairs to her party:
Ready to go! Where's the ocean?
Am I dope, or what?
And just for good measure, here’s a recent photo taken over brunch at Parque Lage:
Daddy, Carolina and Noni, the class mascot
Happy Birthday, Princess Carolina!
Carolina turned 3 years old on Wednesday! I should have posted this then, but only got around to putting it on Facebook… Here’s our most recent photo of Carol-as-princess. Stay tuned – her big Little Princess blast is coming up on Sunday. I’m sure in about 2 months or so, we’ll have a ton of photos to post 
Carolina in her latest princess incarnation
Visit to LA 2009 – Part 2
Here are more photos of our visit to LA back in June.
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- Now I want this to be a clean fight – no eye gouging, no hitting below the belt, no making fun of hippie t-shirts
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- On the docks at Grampa High’s boat
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- Does this vest make me look fat?
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- Carolina learns the art of angling. Grampa High learns the art of untangling.
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- Does it count if I just stab the fish with the pole?
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- A princess can make even yanking the life out of a fish by violent impalement and asphyxiation look charming and dainty
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- Yes, there are dock fairies, too
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- The salty olde sailor’s tradition of maritime pattycake
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- The weather started getting rough… at least Mikey seemed to think so
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- One of at least FOUR competing miniature railways near Griffith Park – All Aboard!
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- No, All Aboard HERE!!
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- Grandma Kat protects the princess from errant golf balls
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- Hey Red, keep your mitts off my pony!
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- Carolina passes the redhead on the stretch
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- What’s causing the traffic jam here…? Hey, lady! Your horse is leaking!
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- On the road again
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- Cousin Amelia warming her bones after a swim session
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- Another round of “pixie, pixie, fairy!”
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- If I can just get my hands on her magic wand…
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- Reading about the latest in fairy fashion
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- Then catching up on princess fashions with Snow White
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- It’s good to be back in princess land (California Adventure style)
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- Mommy tries to remember how to drive an automatic
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- I love you, Mickey! Especially your ear…
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- I think the napkin is missing the point
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- We’ve got a date with the diva
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- Hitching a ride on some aquatic mammals
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- A moment of anticipation, and then…
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- A dance with the princess
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- Girl talk
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- Belle was the first to drop by our table
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- Who’s this chick again? Oh yeah, I met you last time, too.
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- All the princesses wanted to pose with Carolina… being famous and beautiful can sometimes be so TIRING.
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- A surprise birthday treat! Especially since it wasn’t her birthday.
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- Every meal should end with a white chocolate conch shell
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- If this princess thing doesn’t pan out, she’s got a backup career
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- Or, professional mother-daughter fully-clothed tandem surfing might be another option
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- Catalina Island, home of the upside-down menu bonnets
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- How do I look in my Sunday best?
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- Grandpa High shares the secret to happiness with Carolina
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- “It’s one part ice cream…”
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- “…one part remembering what a dufus your dad is”
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- Daddy teaches Carolina about his passion for making mushroom clouds in coffee with cream
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- We flew thousands of miles, braved rough seas and cold weather for a view of… Eucalyptus??
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- Now THAT’s more like it
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- Gilligan’s Golf Cart
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- Ahoy mates! Prepare to invade The Love Boat!
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- Loading up the tummy for a rocky ride home
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- Paradise found
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- Mommy, does Ariel get seasick?
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- Cap’n Dad
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- The end of another long adventure
Los Angeles 2009 – Part 1
Princess Carolina made her annual pilgrimmage to California last month. This one was pretty special. For one thing, she actually knew what California was this time (or at least, had heard of it, after incessant playing of the Sparks tune “Mickey Mouse”). She also got to make all her princess dreams come true this time: we took her to Disneyland to meet the princesses, California Adventure to meet any princesses she’d missed on the first go-around, the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Catalina… just about everything a little princess needs to seem refined, yet worldly. Oh yeah, and she got to hang out with the family, too.
We have so many photos, I’m just going to throw them at you and see which ones stick. This first post focuses on, well, nothing in particular. It’s the “best” 50 or so photos of the first 700 or so shots out of the about 2000 we took on the trip. I hope you get through them all. If it helps any, just think of what WE had to go through to pick them out!
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- Grandpa High!! um… where’s Mickey Mouse?
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- Survival training at the local park
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- Learning from the park’s new “Bank Run!” educational toy
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- Carolina and cousins saving butterflies from scientific experimentation
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- Fly! Be free! Watch out for the LAPD chopper!
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- Carolina learns from her big cousin Amelia how to humiliate younger siblings
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- Amelia teaches Carolina how to flee from angry neighbors
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- Purple Fast-flying Fairy Queen Amelia
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- Pink Pegasus-Unicorn, uh, Dunce Princess Carolina
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- Toys R’ Us and The World of Disney stores weren’t enough – even in the drugstore, she wants toys.
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- Purple and Green Daddy-flying Drugmart Fairy
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- Does the cutie pie come with soup?
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- It’s like she’s never seen a turkey sandwich before…
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- Go Dodger pink!
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- The Getty Center? Is THAT where Mickey Mouse lives?
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- Practicing her Shotokan Fairy Katas
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- Grandpa high quickly counters her fairy moves with an immobilizing nap-time hug
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- Order upstaged once again by chaos
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- Cousin Murdoch’s magic trick – the unisleeve!
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- Contemplating the moral of the Uncle Timmy in the Monkey Pond story
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- Daddy plays a Pink Floyd tune on the acoustic stones
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- Daddy breaks the news that you can’t have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat
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- Hello, is there anybody in there?
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- Cousin Lucas prefers Kiss to Pink Floyd
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- Pajama party in Marie Antoinette’s bedroom
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- At last! The Magic Kingdom!
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- Is this the way to Mickey’s house?
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- The ride doesn’t have a height limit, but the photo does…
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- Daddy explains the physics behind spinning really really fast in a giant teacup
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- Mommy makes a rare photo appearance… while hundreds of people wait to get off this damned tree house.
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- Princess Carolina maintains political ties with the Royal Kingdom of Aladdin
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- She sees her idol…
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- To paraphrase Visa, “This photo is pinned to my credit card statement as a reminder”
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- Look! What a coincidence! I just happened to force Mommy and Daddy to blow 60 bucks so I could dress like you!
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- Ok, it was worth it.
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- Sleeping Beauty! Hated your movie, but you get a big hug, too!
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- For some reason, they wouldn’t let me take this very same photo
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- Another rare shot of the whole family: Me, Carolina, Dada, and Dada’s fingerprint
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- Carolina’s first roller-coaster!
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- Is there anybody in there?
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- Mickey gets the big-hug treatment, too.
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- One last hug before Carolina discovers Mickey doesn’t understand Portuguese
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- Watching the Disneyland parade. She held that pose for the next 20 minutes.
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- She snapped out of it just in time to rock out with Da Pooh
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- More fairy hijinks
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- Daddy, please make me fly one more time
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- Uncle Joel gets in on the action
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- Carolina introduces Old Bill to Minnie Mouse
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- Old Bill decides he prefers lettuce
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- Mikey wins the “who has more sand in their shoe?” competition
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- High Family (generations X and Y)
