Florida gardening

My garden has a few items that none of you have in your gardens - passion fruit and pineapple.
Pineapple ripened on the plant is sweeter than any pineapple I have ever brought from the store. They are so sweet that I like to just eat them. I can't bring myself to cook something with them because I do not want anything to dilute their incredible flavor. This year I have 15 pineapples and one passion fruit vine. This year the passion fruit vine has produced 60+ fruits this year alone. We make passionfruit juice mostly and sometimes sweets.

Abacaxi quando amadurece na planta é muito mais doce do que qualquer um que eu tenha comprado no supermercado! Então não usamos o abacaxi para comida nem suco, só para comer!! O Pat tem 15 abacaxis e um pé de maracujá. Só esse ano o pé de maracuja já produziu mais de 60 frutos. Aqui um maracujá pequeno custa 4 dollares, e precisamos de 3 para fazer um litro, então se não fosse por esse pé de maracujá eu só tomaria o suco quando eu fosse para o Brasil.

Eu sou menino já!

We bought a bumbo seat for Forrest and he is learning how to sit in it.

Nós compramos essa caderinha que se chama bambo seat (muito famoso por aqui), e o Forrest está aprendendo a sentar e conseguir equilibrar sua cabecinha!

Eu sou menino já! from Patrick Z on Vimeo.

Swimming!

Forrest goes swimming. His first swimming experience was not the best. He was already tired and annoyed, so getting in the water for the first time was not top on his list of preferred activities. His second swimming experience was much more fun and he enjoyed it much more. He is still a little unsure but he did not cry and even smiled once.

O Forrest foi nadar! A sua primeira experiência na água não foi muito boa, porque ele já estava irritado antes de entrar na água (ele tinha um mês e meio). Essa foi a segunda experiência (2 meses de idade) e ele gostou um pouco mais. Ele ficou com o Pat na água por uns 20min e até riu uma vez.

Eu gosto de nadar! from Patrick Z on Vimeo.

After getting his fill of swimming, he nursed and slept in his towel while his parents swam.

Depois de nadar, ele mamou e dormiu, assim eu e o Pat pudemos nadar um pouquinho!!

Natação me cansa from Patrick Z on Vimeo.

Forrest aprendeu palavras novas

It's fun to see Forrest's development. For the last month he has been smiling and laughing. Now he is so inquisitive. He always wants to know what is going on around him. He laughs, gurgles, coos, and smiles.

É tão gostoso ver o desenvolvimento do Forrest. Depois de um mês de visa ele já começou a sorrir e com um mês e meio a dar risadas acordado, porque ele senpre sorriu dormindo desde quando nasceu. Ele sempre está prestando atenção ao redor dele, ele fala "angu" e vira o pescocinho procurando por nós quando nos movimentamos ou quando chamamos por ele.

O mais gostoso é que à uma semana ele começou a conversar comigo enquando eu amamento. Ele para de mamar e sorri para mim, conversa, mama, sorri, mama, conversa, sorri e mama novamente....eu não consigo resistir e também converso com ele, apesar de não achar isso bom porque eu quero que ele aprenda que a hora de mamar não é hora para conversar!

Novas palavras from Patrick Z on Vimeo.

Forrest gosta de conversar!

Here is a video of Forrest talking with his momma. He started to pay attention to us and and smile at us about a week ago. Now he loves to watch us and smile.

Untitled from Patrick Z on Vimeo.

News

Fishing!

A friend of mine moved into the ward and is a crazy fishing fanatic with 2 boats (bass boat and a 25foot mako). As time permits I go out with him on the ocean to do some fishing. The first time he caught 2 fish and I did not caught a single fish! (Though I had 6 huge bites on 15 inch long bait). The trip got worse. The huge fish that my friend caught I misidentified as a black jack. An undesirable fish that is known to have the algal toxin ciguaterra. We kept the fish for chum because it died before we could release it. I later correctly identified the fish as African pompano, which is one of the best tasting fish and often the most expensive fish to buy. We used 10lbs of it as chum! I have now become more serious in fish identification.

That was only the second time in my life that someone caught more fish than me. The next 2 fishing trips everything returned to normalcy when I caught 4 of 7 fish of the first trip and 4 of 6 fish on the second trip. We went out last week for sailfish and dolphin (mahi mahi) but no luck. We stumbled across a wreck and dropped down on it with live bait. No sooner than I dropped down, I caught a 30lb amberjack. They don't bite hard but rather grab the bait and hide in the wreck. I had to be very alert to when the fish bit and immediately start horsing the fish off the wreck. My friend would move the boat off the wreck to help pull the fish away into open water. If the fish makes it back into the wreck, getting the fish out again is nearly impossible because the fish uses the wreck as leverage. However, once the fight is on, it is arm-tiring, back-breaking work pulling him off the bottom because it wants to stay deep. They call them 'wreck donkeys' because pulling them off a wreck is like trying to get a donkey to walk forward when it does not want to. Altogether some great fishing.

Here are some pics.