cherry blossoms + philly

last year, we went to the lds mba conference with nate because it happened to be in chicago. lucky for us, this year's conference landed in philadelphia, where the hamills live in a gorgeous brownstone. the little girls loved seeing cute rhoda again, who graciously let us take over her room + her toys.

on our way to philly, we stopped in washington d.c. to catch the cherry blossom festival. the weather was rotten, but i didn't care–i've been waiting to see the cherry blossoms here (next on my list is seeing them in kyoto, japan). the tidal basin was a mess, so we headed to stanton park on capitol hill.

 i'll take this apartment, please. 

after vietnamese tacos and shrimp rolls at union market, we pit stopped at the jefferson memorial and hains point for one last look at those stunning blossoms.

hannah was an excellent tour guide. we began with beiler's donuts at reading terminal and ended with pizzeria stella in society hill. we walked all over with our pack of little girls and paused for a long time at the fountains in front of city hall. by the time we got to love park, sage was bawling, nora was uninterested, and i was frustrated. real life, yo! we also ventured out to the smith memorial playground, complete with a huge wooden slide you go down on burlap sacks.

i didn't expect to love philly so much. part boston, part pittsburgh, and a lot of character. i had no idea that it's also the birthplace of anthropologie. the best part of the trip was chatting with hannah for hours though, and getting the conference highlights from the boys each night. 

our camera is on the fritz, but these photos are looking extra blurry. not sure why...but, evidence that philly/d.c. were beautiful!

spring break: rio de janeiro

sisterhood of the traveling saltwater sandals
 
this was our first taste of south america, and i couldn't wait to see the iconic rio de janeiro. i read mixed reviews of rio's safety, but i never felt unsafe there. granted, we didn't go near the favelas (slums). actually, when we were driving down copacabana beach at night, the distant favelas up on the hill were all lit up and colorful. "what is that cute area up there?" i asked the only cab driver who spoke english. "cute area?! that's favela!" he said. 

rio is picturesque with its steep green hills dropping into the ocean, a lagoon next to lush botanical gardens, and long beaches with sand like flour. we ate some delicious brazilian food—chiaroscuro, açai, salty cheeses, and cheese bread every morning for breakfast. robbie and hannah introduced us to the jackpot of gelaterias called baccio di latte. our airbnb place looked better in pictures than in real life, but it worked out just fine since it was across the street from leblon beach. we took turns beaching it while the babies slept in the afternoons. hannah and i spent the dreamiest three hours one day napping on the warm sand and catching waves.


one of my favorite excursions was to the escaderia selaron, tiled by a man who wanted to jazz up these steps. as more and more people heard about his project, they began sending him tiles from all around the world.



quaint little dutch tiles


we walked to the theatre in downtown rio, patterned after palais garnier in paris. sage, who spent her first two years of life being toted around in an ergo carrier, begged to ride on my back...and fell asleep in about two minutes flat. at age 3.5, she still sleeps anywhere!

we woke up early to take the funicular up corcovado to see cristo redentor. even with windy, cloudy weather and crowds, the resurrected christ was stunning. at the end of our visit, the clouds parted and we finally got some sun.






we squeezed the seven of us into one cab most of the time. after corcovado, we were all ready for fresh squeezed passion fruit + strawberry juice.

we meant to spend more time at the jardim botânico, but got there with 30 minutes left before closing. the avenue of palms could sum up my taste in a quite a few things–symmetrical, everything lined up precisely, and beautiful.




cristo redentor is hiding just under the palm tree

i had to include this groupie of everyone sweaty and damp

we took the cable car up pão de açúcar for more views of rio.

another view of cristo redentor (i couldn't get enough!)



sage added her signature to this giant wall

i'd heard some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world can be found on the beaches of rio. while we didn't have a jaw-dropping colorful sunset this night, the ambiance made it memorable. praia do arproador was buzzing with happy people and a sultry saxophone filled the air with music. body surfers were catching one last wave, and the girls were content to kick off their shoes and just take it all in.

 
we spent our last day in rio at the beach, mostly taking turns after both our children had complete meltdowns. we'd been traveling for three weeks at this point, so i'm chalking up the tears to that. but still, it was a beautiful day!


i adored the cobbled beach walks

this was the view from our flat. farewell, rio!

on the 9.5 hour red-eye flight to dulles, nora and i both got very sick. as i laid on the bathroom floor (i know. so gross!) wondering if i'd contracted tuberculosis yet and trying not to throw up for the 20th time, i realized this was my worst flying nightmare. so, hey, at least i know we can survive anything. nate went into beast mode and did a great job of keeping our children alive and finding me more sick bags. despite the ending, the trip was incredible. we'll be back, rio.

spring break: iguaçu falls

we talked and talked about how we wanted to spend nate's last two-week spring break (ever!). our friends are also in business school right now and invited us to travel in brazil with them. of course we jumped at the chance. there were lots of good things about this combo: we really like the hamills, they have a little girl too, robbie speaks portuguese (mostly) and totally navigated the country for us, we got to go out sans children at times, and it was highly amusing to overhear nate and rob's enthusiastic conversations about airlines, points, and everything travel (i can't complain—i reap the benefits of this side hobbie). 

we flew straight from family time, skiing, and wedding festivities in utah to são paulo, brazil. with a quick 36 hours there, we didn't see much. we slept in shifts and tried to get our bearings. the city is so expansive and felt like a mix of malaysia and the philippines to us.

our sole photo from sp

and then it was on to iguaçu falls! we splurged on the hotel das cataratas, the only hotel inside the national park where the falls are located. that was when spring break truly started. exotic birds and interesting animals roamed the property and we took full advantage of the amenities: bathrobes and havaianas sandals for all (including mini versions for the girls!), a night at the spa, and babysitting from the sweetest brazilian woman. 

i thought the coati were cute at first, but then i noticed the sign depicting a bloody hand admonishing people not to touch them. nevermind...

the falls changed each day...sunny and misty, cloudy and humid, and then just gorgeously clear on our last day.

straight from the pool on the most beautiful sunny afternoon

nora was all about that brazilian cheese bread

we spent the second morning hiking the trails near the falls. it was breathtaking—waterfalls as far you could see. sage kept exclaiming, "paradise falls! we're at paradise falls!" (from the movie UP).


we took turns walking into the devil's throat, where 50% of the falls flow into a narrow section.

and got soaked!
 
nora took a nap under that sweaty poncho and wasn't even bothered by the pounding falls



 

hot and sweaty + that's argentina across the way 


felt like we were back in asia for a second

we spent lots of relaxing time at the pool and roaming the grounds. i think we all agreed it would have been nice to end our trip here since it was the highlight of our time in brazil. everything was just so easy.

the boys took a helicopter ride above the falls and snapped this shot. our hotel is on the left.

 

goodbye iguaçu!