So Mike went off to Montevideo Uruguay to sell the car. I felt bad for him having to drive 30 hours. I also felt bad for me having solo parent duty for 3 1/2 days. (I know, cry me a river!) As it turned out, we did just fine, though of course we missed him.
While he was gone we did work and school each morning, had a lot of pool time, and went on an adventure each afternoon.
The first day we went to Ipanema beach. It is far from where we are staying but the water is relatively clean (compared to the pea soup/ “broccoli water” in the bay) and of course it is pretty iconic so we didn’t want to miss it. Turns out it is quite similar to Copacabana but with just a slightly different view (islands in the distance and different peaks to view). The girls built sand castles, played at the edge of the big waves, and generally had a lovely time, despite whining about not wanting to go. 
Thursday’s adventure was visiting the Rio aquarium, AquaRio. We took the trolley down there which was fun for the kids. It is free on the way down but they charge coming back up. The aquarium seemed like a pretty new facility. Super modern and nice with great exhibits. Caroline would hoot and holler with every new exciting discovery she found. Tons of cool fish and other marine life. They had a huge tank with big fish, sharks, and manta rays. They also had touch pools with starfish, clawless lobsters, and baby stingrays. Kids loved it but surprisingly our daredevil Mimi was a bit too nervous to touch the rays and then felt all sad about that after the fact. Overall it was a hit. Then we played at a playground, got some acai, and walked down a cool area with great street art.
Friday we went up to a playground near our Airbnb and then went strolling through Santa Teresa. We happened upon the trolley again so took it a couple of stops. Then we went to Parque das Ruinas which is an old historic house with insane views of Rio. We snacked on some chocolate cake on the terrace, which the kids gulped down in about 40 seconds. From there we walked down escadaria seleron, some really cool tiled steps, and ended in the marina de Gloria area where the kids practiced cartwheels and then we had pizza dinner by the water.
A lovely few days, but there was definitely a lot of “I wish dad were here” and “I miss dad.” We will be glad to have him back tomorrow.
Travel-Trotter 