Travels, photos, burpdays

mom and Lil' Genghis made their way back home this morning -- everyone's tired, but fine.

We just posted some 400 photos, with more to come as we dig through 'em, rotate them, etc. Uncle Rodrigo actually took some decent photos, though I guess when you take that many the numbers are in your favor.

And a Happy Birthday shout-out to Aunt Melissa, who is turning 18 today, and hopefully has celebrated with a nice Belgian beer, or twelve.

Cousin Aninha turns 1 year old tomorrow, Wednesday -- hard to believe the time's passed so quickly! Hopefully, not too many beers for her ... and let's hope they're not Skols, at any rate. Blech.

Aunt Becky also turns 18 years old, albeit on Thursday. Lil' Genghis did the gift-buying this year.

On Friday, Uncle Andy will wake up in Nebraska, hungover yet again, and realize he's survived another year. And also on Friday is Aunt Claudinha, who is also turning 18 -- celebrating a heckuva year in which she started her own business, moved, and adopted a truly insane dog.

Again, we hope to have pictures of some of these folks posted soon.

Road trip!

千里之行始於足下。

Or, a journey of 1,000 li begins with a single step. Or, for those of you who want a different standard, a journey of 25,000 chains begins with a single step.

And so a bunch of folks are on the road, or will be. Grandpa John just made it back home safely after spending a week playing bachelor with dad -- we're pretty sure the blood stains will come out of the carpet, but only time will tell.

Uncle Rodrigo should be on his way back to Aunt Melissa, who's been happy while other family members visit her.

That gives mom a slight chance to breathe from Uncle Rodrigo as she gets ready for her own trip with Lil' Genghis. The lady folk are sickly but doing somewhat better; here's to hoping they've got the strength to stick it out. They should be getting comforted by dad around lunchtime Tuesday ... Not too early for a pina colada to help mom rest!

That original proverb came from Lao Ze's Tao Te Ching, who offers some advice to folks on taking things a little easy as the world's in transition. Here's to hoping mom doesn't rush to the vacuum cleaner or anything!

Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.

Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm
at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.

Yeah. Pina colada.

We're supposed to be getting some photos from Uncle Rodrigo soon -- as well as, perhaps, pictures from Uncle Ed and Aunt Donna's wedding.

Mini-update

On a completely unrelated note, with nothing to do with anything, we discovered the Church Sign Generator. One easy effort:


Lil' Genghis continues to eat, and eat, and eat some more. Let us fear the day when she discovers McDonald's double beesechurgers.

Anyway, Tio Babaca has posted some new photos:






Man, dad really really misses those head butts.

We should have probably mentioned this yesterday: Lil' Genghis turned 1 1/2 years old yesterday -- it's hard to believe it's been that long, or she's gotten this big so quickly. We may cut back a little on the human growth hormone but keep her on the anabolic steroids for a while. We'll experiment.

Three safe, none near Houston

As many of you know, Uncle Joao, Aunt Bea and Aunt Bruna moved to a Houston suburb some years ago ... in the path of a big storm yesterday. So dad, worried a bit, and thinking he might be able to try to relay some information to the family in Brazil, tried calling Bea and couldn't get through. He poked around his e-mail, found a cell phone number for work for Uncle Joao -- and got a horrible connection, sounded like rain and wind whipping everywhere. Called again. Got mom. Got confused, maybe his cell phone wasn't working right and mom had tried calling him ...

No, the Brazilians knew exactly what kind of condition Joao was in, because he was hanging out in a chair having a beer at Great-Grandma Helena's back yard, where his cell phone rang. He'd had to go back to Brazil on business, and happened to just be hanging out.

His lady folk are confirmed safe with friends -- they're doing fine. No word yet on the house. Here's to hoping everyone makes it back home safely.

The Houston Chonicle is livemapping the damage; looks like cell phones are out around his house. The next-closest report is of trees down, but residents already clearing up.

More photos!

Uncle Rodrigo, straining mightily against a well-earned reputation as a senseless waste of carbon, has posted some new pictures, focused on Lil' Genghis and Cousin Aninha.

Good start, Uncle Rodrigo. Maybe we can turn you into a Bucky Ball if you get enough good shots ... =)

Bel, I really miss you and mom. Try not to grow too much while you're away, OK? =)

Comedic relief

A few people called dad last night for support because some things in their lives may not be going as well as they'd hope, but they're not even sure. Best wishes to you guys.

It's a scant offering, but perhaps if you need a smile, you might appreciate a 2-year-old girl named Pearl who acts to Will Ferrell much as Lil' Genghis should act to Uncle Rodrigo. Without further ado:

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die

Pictures!

Thanks to Uncle Bernie, Lil' Genghis' good old buddy, we've got some wonderful new pictures of the little lady.

Not surprisingly, she's upside down in a good chunk of 'em. Mixed in are some pictures of mom, Great-Grandma Helena, Uncle Robinho (o padrinho honorario), Cousin Aninha, and, I think, the top of Aunt Claudinha's head, as well as the lady friends of Uncle Bernie and Uncle Fernie. Maybe we'll get more explanations later ... Let's enjoy the pictures NOW! =)

Lil' Genghis has been eating everything in sight, and this seems to back up that idea:

DSC02078 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



DSC02055 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



DSC02059 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



DSC02070 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena




DSC02031 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



DSC02036 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



DSC02039 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena


A great picture of Great-Grandma Helena and Cousin Aninha:

DSC02023 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



A good picture of mom trying to stay on top of things:

DSC02047 from album 090808-Genghis by Bernie at Helena



Annd a picture of dad:

Nuttin' quite like a visit from Aunt Becky ...

BelSchool2 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08

Lil' Genghis with some of her classmates and a teacher at the old daycare center. Boy, did she have fun there ...


IMG_0674 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08

She do like to talk ...


IMG_0681 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08



IMG_0691 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08



IMG_0692 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08



IMG_0695 from album 080718 Natick mall, blowing kiss, flipflops, post surgery, Becky, school May 08