Life & Times with the Cooleys

I've been wanting to set up a blogspot for some time now, but have never taken the time to teach myself how to do it. Today I decided to do just that. And I've discovered that it's not really so hard. So, I'm going to try to keep it updated so you can see pix of us and our life down here in Brasil. I'll probably do some "back logging" to fill in some details of things that have happened in picture form too. Enjoy!

Here we are at Mangal das Garcas in Belem. This place has a lighthouse, which we are at the top of in this pic, a bird sanctuary, a butterfly house, and a museum (with all the information in both English and Portuguese). They have beautifully landscaped gardens surrounding a large pond. It's a great tourist spot ~ there aren't a ton of those in Belem ~ but this is a good one.
Downtown Belem is in the background.

Elisabeth by some pretty, tropical birds at Mangal das Garcas.



Hannah, at the top of the lighthouse, with the Amazon River behind her.



Out in Salinas (the ocean town we vacationed to), Elisabeth makes a phone call on her fish.

Here is Hershey, our very pretty, but not so bright Rottweiler. She loves the mud and water after the rains, so is having a great time during this rainy season. She is very friendly, but has a menacing bark that would scare anyone, myself included, if I didn't know she was only barking to get me to play with her.

I'm not sure why Caleb is wearing a batting helmet while fighting the Galactic Empire, but he sure is cute, and his head will be safe from all those flashing lightsabers.

The guys sport their new Brazilian soccer shirts they got for Christmas.



Caleb & Dennis got a lot of paddle ball playing in while we were at the beach in Salinas in January.

Nathanael and his friend Josh...they can't wait to be in High School next year.

Nathanael is now 14!

One of Hannah's favorite things to eat is the traditional Brazilian food ~ beans & rice ~ NOT!
This is her whole portion. The yellow stuff is actually a grain called farofa, which she will eat by the scoop. It's a bit like eating flavorful sand that chews better. Not bad when mixed with the rest (as this pic shows), but I'm not into it by itself.