Convent in Mafra

Mafra is a city 15 minutes away from Ericiera. It has a really beautiful Palace. The palace, which also served as a Franciscan monastery, was built during the reign of King John V (1707-1750), in consequence of a vow made by the king in 1711, who promised to build a convent if his wife, the Queen Mary Anne of Austria, gave him descendants. The birth of his first daughter, the princess Barbara of Braganza, made the king initiate the construction of the palace. It is a really beautiful place to visit. There isn't much to say about it that I can think of. One thing to note however, is the massive library. It is sooooooooo beautiful. If you've ever seen the Disney cartoon of Beauty and Beast, it looks like the library the Beast gives Belle. No joke. I have never seen a library so big and beautiful. An interesting fact that I didn't know about this library until this time I visited, is that the reason the books are so well preserved is that bats live in the library. I know that sounds strange, but the little bugs that eat the pages of books which therefore would ruin them, are eaten by the bats that live there. Nobody knows how the bats came to be, but there they are. A true blessing to the library, keeping it preserved and beautiful. The only time the bats can be seen is when they hold concerts in the grand hall of the library. The vibrations make them come our of hiding and fly around the ceiling. That must be a site to see.
Another fact I didn't know, is that the library is still used today. By appointment only of course and under supervision. Also, not to ruin the old pages with the oil of our hands, gloves must be worn. How much would you love to skim through that old library!!  Ok, so basically, in case you didn't notice, the library was my favorite part of the visit!

Library.....awesome isnt it!?!?

Ni-xox-

Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth)



On the right of the picture you can see the opening to the cavern.

 A very popular tourist attraction in Portugal is a place called Boca do Inferno, in english Hell's Mouth. It is a site near the city of Cascais (another very popular place that I'll talk about later). Basically its a big cavern in a rock off the coast of the ocean. In the winter when the tides are rough, this cavern fills up with water from the waves. Its a really big cavern, therefore very impressive to see. Unfortunately, because the ocean is so vigorous in the winter, it is forbidden to get close enough to see the cavern fill with water. Many people have crossed over the barriers and didnt live to see the cavern or anything else for that matter. Many other people have also died crossing the barriers, but for different reasons. They died trying to save those other people who broke the rules and got caught in the violence of the ocean.
So, in the summer people go visit the empty cavern. Its still impressive because its big...but I'm sure it would be crazy to see filling up! Not that i'm willing to risk my life! The view is also really beautiful from there. The only thing is that it's always very windy. I've visited this place many times in my life and everytime I think it's more beautiful than the last.



Below is the cavern. If you look closely to the left, you can see the opening of the cavern to the ocean.

Ni-xox-

More Ericeira!

During our stay in Ericeira, we did some visiting. One place I've always wanted to visit (and apparently I already had visited when I was a kid) is the Mouinho. Basically its just a really big windmill that we always pass while driving. All I knew about it was that it had a shop there with all handcrafted typical Portuguese ceramics. I want to go check it out. Little did I know, there was much more to see.
It was a whole recreated village. With life sized mannequins and everything. The man who created this village had a passion for this. He turned his passion into something truly fabulous. We walked through the village enjoying every little house. It was equipped with everything from the shoe maker, seamstress, school, etc....to a fort in the back and a functional bakery where you can go taste some fresh bread with Portuguese sausage baked in! YUM! It truly was this man's passion because you do not have to pay anything to visit. There even was a miniature village. Very cute! It really was something nice to see and I'm glad I finally got to see it.

Miniature Village

Average Household

Yummy!

Fort

Ni-xox-

Brush those 2 Pearlie Whites!

I decided that it was time that my little man learn how to brush his teeth, even though he only has two. I figured never too early to start. Turns out he loves it. I dont use toothpaste or anything. Just water!

Ni-xox

Toi et Moi Centre de Maternite

My good friend Mommy J invited me, baby and our friend LilV to come join her and her friend at a new maternity center. So we went to check it out. It's a very nice place for mothers and mothers to be to hang out, have a coffee and let the kids play together. The also offer many other things like Osteopath, massage, etc. You can even go there for blood tests. Anyways, its a very nice and clean place. Wednesdays between 9:30am-11:00am you can go and hang out in their living room and have a coffee or hot chocolate while the kids play. They wont kick you out either if you're there longer.

So come check it out! http://www.toietmoicentredematernite.com/

Here are some pictures of the kids playing!

Ni-xox-



Baby's First Birthday Party!

Two weeks later I'm finally posting baby's first birthday party. It was on Saturday, September 17. The day before, mom and I made the cake. It took us allllll day. It was a double chocolate cake, with chocolate ganache filling, topped with vanilla butter cream and homemade vanilla fondant. Yum right?? I decided to go with a jungle theme for the whole party. This summer in Portugal while we were doing some groceries, I spotted the whole collection of Jungle Junction toys. They don't seem to have them here in Canada, so naturally I was excited and bought everything. Then I thought of the brilliant (at least I thought so), of using the toys on the birthday cake. And that's how this theme was born. So without further adue, here is our beautiful masterpiece. So excited and proud about it!

I also made a batch of vanilla cupcakes with a butter cream frosting. I really wanted baby to make a mess with his cake, but fondant isn't really messy. So I figured the green frosting on the cupcakes should do the job! I found these cute cupcake liners and toppers to go with my theme.

As for the food, I made a big lasagna, pulled pork sandwiches (which were a big hit....I love me slow cooker!), chicken from the Portuguese place, spinach/feta quesedillas, Quinoa Salad, Green Salad, potatoes, pizza and some other little side dishes. Everything was delicious. Not too many leftovers....awesome!

All day I was trying to get a good picture of me and the birthday boy. This is the best we got. Eh!

Here he is having fun at his party and we had't even had cake or opened presents yet!

The birthday boy and his Uncle Joe (althought he looks more interested in the monkey).

I'm really happy at how all the decorations turned out. It was a realy jungle in here. I ordered balloons of monkeys and giraffes. I had an inflatable monkey hanging off the chandelier. Lots of green and orange streamers everywhere and lots of balloons. It was really festive.

Not so successful on trying to get a picture of the birthday boy in his party hat. Actually forget being successful on the picture, we werent even successful on getting the hat on! LOL!

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! Cake time!!! YUM! I wasnt sure what he would do. The last couple of first birthdays I've been to, the kids werent interested in the cake. I really wanted baby to smush it all in his face. And guess what....HE DID!! YAY! I actually still found some frosting on his highchair yesterday!

Of course the first picture I go to take of the birthday boy and daddy was beautiful! LOL! How about mommy... :o( LOL!

There were some older kids at the party, so we decided to have a pinata for them. It was fun. They loved it! Of course, why wouldnt they? Swinging a broom stick around, trying to hit a colorful snake and then the best part, the candy and toys that fall out! Awesome! Baby didnt really enjoy himself at this point....a little scared of the noise.

In the end, I finally got a pretty nice picture with hubby and Mr. Birthday Boy! My little family!

Present time! Baby got lots of nice toys. Of course at the time he was more interested in the tissue paper and bags that the gifts came in. Thats kids for you!

I guess he really liked the next gift....he went to sit right on it!! LOL!

All in all, the party was a great success. A very memorable first birthday party for my first baby!

Mommy Loves you!

I guess he had fun at his party. Here he is the next day! POOPED!

   Ni aka Mommy -xox-

Happy 1st Birthday my Baby!

One year ago today, after 18 long hours of labor, the light of my life was born! A BIG Happy Birthday to my little man. Mommy loves you more than words can say.



Ni -xox-

Visiting Friends!

While our visit to my grandma's, we went over to our friend's house for a BBQ. It was really nice to see them after all these years. We ate very well and got to visit their newly renovated house. Beautiful! The kids fell in love with baby and played with him a lot. All in all it was a really nice day spent in good company and good food!

Ni -xox-