My A,B,C Summer....

Aruba, Brazil and Curacao....

I started vacation the end of June and had to be back to work the first part of July, but was really craving to go somewhere. On a whim, I was thinking I had always wanted to go to Brazil. As it turns out, our "adopted" sister Cema (our exchange student from Brazil who lived with our family for a year when I was 8 and forever became a part of our family :) lives in Natal (northeast coast of Brazil) with her husband Antonio and kids, Tais and Igor. Anyway, we hatched a plan that I would fly out to Natal and spend a week with them. I can't even begin to tell you what amazing hosts they were. It was so fun to have so much quality time with Cema and it was like no time at all had passed and it was so fun to get to know Antonio and the kids. We went everywhere, to a family reunion at their family farm, to several of the beautiful beaches, downtown Natal, etc...

Some of the trip highlights were:
-World Cup craziness...everyone (grandmas to babies had their jerseys and Brazilian flags out) I've never seen anything like it.
-Getting to see Brazil from a native's view
-The language...seriously I'm in love with Portuguese, it is such a beautiful language. I know I must've slaughtered it, but it was sure fun trying
-Spending time with Cema and her fam

After getting home from Brazil, it was back to work for the month. Summer school was in session for all of the special ed. kids and therefore lots of little kiddies who need therapy. We had a team of 4 OT's, plus 1 PT working together and it was great. We all pitched in with the planning, treatment, etc... and it really made it such a nice summer to be working w/such great friends. The highlight was on one of our last days we had 4 Occupational Therapists, 1 from Panama, 1 from Spain, 1 from Argentina and 1 from Chile come and shadow us to observe our therapy techniques here in the U.S. It was so fun to be able to share ideas and have them with us for the day.

Thanks to my cute sister Mindy, who is forever generous w/her travel perks, my friend and I decided to go to Aruba. The best surprise of all was after having been there for a day, having Mindy, Mike and my Dad fly in the next day, so we were able to spend the week together. They had all been to Aruba several times, but this was me and Misty's first trip. All I have to say is, "Hello, most beautiful turqoise, warm ocean, loved it!" We were able to go to church on Sunday and met the most amazingly nice people and so cool to hear all 4 of the island languages being spoken: English, Spanish, Dutch and Papamiento. We had so much fun just exploring around town, checking out the hotel's private island, etc... Then, we decided while we were there to fly over to Curacao. Curacao was really pretty too, very reminiscent of Amsterdam, but obviously w/brighter buildings and clear water. Our trip home was a little more event filled, enjoying a cozy night at a JFK motel after missing our standby flights, but having said that, who cares after spending a week in paradise and being able to be together to enjoy it! :)