Fazenda Weekend with Friends

Posted in Brazil, Friends, Travels by Ashley Z Harper

Late November, our wonderful group of friends took a mini-vacay to a nearby fazenda. The property belongs to the family of one of our friends so Michael and I had been there before, but not lately. It’s a BEAUTIFUL place and with such a fun group we had an absolute blast. There were 6 couples (plus Joe joined us for one night!) and 4 babies, all within a couple months of each other. The kids loved the open space and the “ducks” aka the peacocks that roam around. I hardly took any photos so again am stealing all the pretty ones from Colby – thanks! 🙂

Grand entrance.

Part of the property.

Entry gate.

A couple friends ended up in a little stand-off with the cows!

Leisurely stroll.

Trent manning the pizza oven.

Thank you Z for the delish pizzas!

Trent & Mailey.

Baby buns! Mailey and Colt.

“Duck!”

Mesmerizing.

Peacock chasing all weekend long.

Amazing weekend and the fact that this is just an hour and a half away is just another reason why I love Brazil!

11Dec2014

Thanksgiving 2014!

Posted in Brazil, Friends by Ashley Z Harper

Although Michael and I aren’t able to get home for Thanksgiving these days (ahem, for the past 3 years), we do have a wonderful tradition of celebrating the day with all of our American friends over a traditional-with-a-Brazilian-spin Thanksgiving dinner. This year we all gathered at Chez Oscar and their team put together an amazing meal for us and even let us take home the leftovers!! Such a special night full of thankfulness for God’s gracious and abundant provision in our lives. (All photo credits to Colby – so glad someone thought to bring a camera!)

The gorgeous room.

Hayden sneaking in.

Suzanna giving the welcome toast.

Trent giving this year’s blessing.

Amaze turkey.

More deliciousness.

Brooke, Jason, Julia, Claude, Michael, Suzanna, me, Jeff and Brett.

Jamie, Jeff, Suzanna, Bryan, Brett, Brad, Trent

Hayden and Colby - the lady behind the lens for these pics!

Hayden and Colby – the lovely lady behind the lens for these pics!

Hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving too!

8Dec2014

Blind Wine Tasting!

Posted in Brazil, Friends by Ashley Z Harper

Last month Michael and I hosted a blind-wine tasting party with our friends. We had 4 types of wine (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Carmenere and Malbec), two wines each – 1 cheap and 1 expensive. You were scored based on correctly guessing which was cheap vs. expensive and there were bonus points given each round for the best tasting notes. Naturally the tasting notes were hilarious and got progressively funnier as the night went on. 🙂 We had a prize for first place and a “prize” for last place but I think we all had a blast.

Dining room set-up.

Living room.

Pre-party.

Jack, Colt and Campbell socializing before bed. Note: they did not participate. 😉

Colt with Joe & Jake.

“Team Glitter” arrived guns blazing in Blank Space attire. Amazing. (PS – Nice socks Jeff!)

Michael and Hayden doing one of the reveals.

Commanding the room.

Reading some of the tasting notes.

Chit chat.

Somewhere around 12:30 or so it turned into a big dance party that went on for hours! So fun!

Put your hands up!

5Dec2014

BBQ Cook-Off

Posted in Brazil, Friends by Ashley Z Harper

Back in October, some of our friends decided to have a BBQ cook-off. Originally we weren’t going to host it, but when the temps were pushing 100 for that day, the party got moved to our place since we have AC. (Yes, most people do NOT have AC here despite the year-round heat — we didn’t have it in our old place either!) Anyway, at the party we had BBQ from South Carolina, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas! Everything was amazing, however I’m loyal to the SC mustard-based BBQ and always think it’s the best. Either that or the incredible hush puppies that our talented friend Suzanna made!!

Setting up.

Suzanna and her award-winning hush puppies! My favorite thing of the night!

Great spread!

Yum!

Getting food!

Paige demonstrates a well-balanced plate.

Colt in the front, Mailey and Willa in the back.

Uncle Joe and Colt!

1Nov2014

Happy Halloween

Posted in Baby, Brazil by Ashley Z Harper

from the Harpers!

He doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does…

Our little mummy…

Family!

24Oct2014

Harper Family Visit!

Posted in Brazil, Family, Travels by Ashley Z Harper

Three days after we returned from our trip to South Africa, the Harpers arrived for a visit! Ollie, Sharon and Lise all had just one week to visit so we tried to pack it full of fun and family time.

Colt was delighted to see them when they arrived!

We kicked off their visit with a little cocktail party at our apartment. Unfortunately I didn’t get ANY photos from the night except for this gem of Joe and Ollie in their matching shirts.

We spent a lot of time just playing around the apartment, at the playground and in the pool.

One of my favorite nights was our dinner at Mani – one of my very favorite spots in São Paulo.

On Thursday, we all packed up and headed to Rio for fun in the sun!

Colt – happy after logging his 27th flight!

Beach time! Colt loved the beach. (The ocean, not quite so much.)

On Friday morning while Michael was still at work in São Paulo and while Sharon babysat Colt, Joe led Lise, Ollie and me on a hike up to the top of the Dois Irmãos mountains! It started out with a packed bus ride in an old VW bus to get through the favela to the start of the hiking trail and then an hour hike up the mountain until we reached the top! We had a blast!

The views were so awesome!

After hiking back down, we walked down through the favela to the bottom of the hill.

Later that afternoon, Colt and I hit up the Fasano’s rooftop pool – best pool in Rio and actually has a wide shallow section that was perfect for Colt!

We were all thrilled when Michael joined us in Rio Friday night. Dinner at Astor.

On Saturday morning Michael, Joe and Sharon took a little walk through the favela since Sharon and Michael hadn’t been able to join on our adventure the day before.

Then, the Harper fam hit up the pool again!

Matching Ipanema shirts!

Lise with her dois irmãos in front of the Dois Irmãos mountains!

We had a blast and the only difficult moment came when we tried to leave the hotel. Miley Cyrus was also staying at the Fasano and her fans stayed outside all day chanting, screaming and ultimately they rushed the hotel! #can’tstopwon’tstop.

Thanks so much to Sharon, Ollie and Lise for making the big trip to come see us. We treasured our time with you and can’t wait to see you again over Christmas…unless we can convince you to sneak in one more visit first! 😉

22Oct2014

South Africa: Safari Part 3 – The Fun 5 +

Posted in Travels by Ashley Z Harper

While we were on safari, the big thing was always the Big 5, and while Michael and I were all about seeing the big guys, we also loved what we came to call the Fun 5! The Fun 5 + included giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, hippos and nyalas / impalas. It actually also included warthogs, however they were SO camera shy and would scurry away every time that we saw them! We saw a hyena one night as well, but again, couldn’t get a good photo. Beyond that there were tons of birds, insects, reptiles and even plants, vegetation and landscape that was amazing to see, and we include that in the + as well. 🙂 So here we go!

GIRAFFES: I think that giraffes were one of my very favorite animals to see. They are just so tall and funny and majestic and awesome! And they were usually pretty easy to spot which I also appreciated. My favorite giraffe moment occurred when we randomly came upon two male giraffes who, despite being separated by a fence, were still trying to neck-fight over a female.

The 2 males talking trash.

And, the neck fighting starts!

We loved getting to see this in person – it was incredible. And throughout the safari we noticed lots of scars on many of the other giraffes’ necks from previous neck fights.

Hi guys!

My fav!

Say cheese!

Love the tail.

Hey friends!

One morning, over breakfast, we spotted a giraffe eating and roaming just in front of the lodge!

Can you see him!?

This is an old guy.

A little beat up.

Hello handsome.

And of course, nothing beats a group of running giraffes.

CHEETAHS: Cheetahs are so beautiful but can be challenging to spot. We were lucky to have 2 great momma & baby cheetah sitings.

Siting #1: Momma cheetah with her 2 little fluff-ball cubs!

Siting #2: Momma on the prowl.

Taking her perch.

Mom & little cub!

Loving it.

Standing over her kill.

Their coats are just gorgeous.

Little cub chompin down!

ZEBRAS: Zebras are just classic, gorgeous animals. They really look like someone has just taken a horse and painted him, almost like the stripes would wash away with a rain. I loved them.

Pretty pack.

Tush shot.

So pretty!

Chomp chomp.

Love it.

HIPPOS: The one animal that Michael specifically requested to see were hippos. We never saw one come up out of the water but they are still fun!

Hey there hippos!

NYALA: The Nyala and impala were all over the property – they were almost part of the landscape, but Michael and I never got bored of seeing them. Honestly our best nyala and impala sitings were at the pool at our cabin, but I loved these shots as well.