Spectacles = Celebrities

It never fails...we cause a scene. A big one.

We are just very different around here. We don't stand out as Americans or foreigners unless we are talking, but just our equipment alone gives us away. Whether it's our wagon or my Moby Wrap (the sling I carry Cass in) or our double stroller...boy, do we get stares. Of course, there is also the issue that we have "many" children (by many people's standards, but esp. compared to most people around here).

After we first moved here Joel noticed and pointed out to me that the men here have no problem staring at women. I didn't really believe him...thought he was surely just being a bit hard on the Brazilian men. But, after paying attention...nope, he was right. Not that men don't look at women in the states, but they tend to try to do it secretly. Here they unashamedly stare and oogle over the ladies walking by. It's pretty disgusting I have to say. Obviously not all men are like that (just like in the states). But, when it happens (it's quite common to see this), it is just blatant.

Funny...staring like that is across the board. The other day, when I was still great with child, I went for a walk here at the seminary. I guess people aren't used to seeing such big pregnant women walking around exercising (I'm just assuming that was the motivation), but there was a group of people walking in front of me. They all turned around and stared...and they would not stop. They were about 50 feet ahead of me probably. It became quite awkward because they were not turning back around. I finally smiled and waved and was about to be forced to engage in conversation...it was just really awkward and weird.

When we go anywhere with the kids we get stared at. Of course if we're talking we get the looks, but even if we aren't talking...stares. We've got all these little kiddos and then if we have any of that equipment with us that I talked about earlier, they just go goo-goo and ga-ga over it all. It's the funniest thing.

Ha ha ha...good thing I've always wanted to be famous. :)

To some that would be totally annoying. Some are not at all comfortable with being oogled over. Some are just completely irritated by it. And, to be honest, sometimes it is annoying...sometimes you just aren't in the mood. But, we just choose to view it as a celebrity lifestyle. That makes me laugh, but seriously, we have to...otherwise we would stay annoyed all the time. We aren't snobby, rude celebrities. We are very nice, friendly celebrities. :) Even after we get to the point where we are all speaking Portuguese to each other when out and about, we will still be spectacles, er, I mean, celebrities...just with that equipment and the amount of children we have (will have). But, that's ok. We think it's fun to be famous. ;)

Now, for a few updates...

1. Today is a holiday. I didn't know that last week, but you never start restricting yourself on a holiday, for heaven's sake. So, the healthy eating thing will wait until tomorrow. :)

2. My mom found this somewhere regarding the possessive form of Cass...so, looks like it's O.K. and I will be using "Cass's"...just so you know.

5. If a singular noun ends in an "s," use "'s" to create the possessive form only if the noun ends in a "s" sound. However, if the noun ends in a "z" sound, use just an apostrophe without adding an additional "s." This produces a more pronounceable possessive.

Correct: The car in question was Roger Weiss's red convertible.

3. Also, a couple of people commented on the blog post about baby poo. They both said that breastfed baby poo smells like buttered popcorn. I'd never thought about that, but it is so very true. Now every time Cass poos, I feel like I'm at the movies. :)

And, for pictures today, we have just a few from the other day when Joel took the kids (older 3) swimming at the seminary pool. They had a ton of fun. Joel said Eissa wasn't all that into the water (it's not really a kid-friendly pool), but Grady and Hadley jumped in with their floaties and swam the length of the pool several times.