Mafra - Sobreiro

Monday, DH had off from work. Cooped up for far too many days, we decided to take a ride to a small village west of Mafra called, Sobreiro. There, there is a miniature clay model Portuguese "village" and figurines created by Jose Franco (little information of him in English). There were also replica buildings (school, church, etc.) scaled down to Olivia's size.

Miniature village

I immediately spotted a pottery store, filled with local, inexpensive pottery. As it began to drizzle, yet again (it's been a very rainy week), DH brought the girls for a walk around the village while I shopped. It eventually started to rain harder and I had only a few minutes to snap some pictures before we left to get out of the rain. Here are a couple window pictures from the replica buildings:

Below, is the watermill (replica church next to it). Despite the cold and rain, it was a worth-while trip. It got us out of the house, where we were able to drive through some country-side and to a town we hadn't been to before. We do need to go back to see the Mafra National Palace. In fact, my friend Ana and I may recon the palace sometime during the next week in order to see about organizing a trip for the the spouse's group we belong to.


After we left, we ducked out of the rain and into a local "dive" rotisserie chicken take-away restaurant. We dined on delicious, warm chicken, homemade french fries and local bread. YUM! We spent 10E and had enough leftovers for dinner. Now, that's what I call a deal! And, that's what you get for seeking out an "off the beaten path" local restaurant. The food is so much better than the tourist trap restaurants we sometimes find ourselves dining at...

First Movie

DH and I decided that it was about time we brought the girls to see their first movie at the theater. My physical therapist, Sandro, suggested we go see Madagascar II. He told me he was going to go see the Portuguese dubbed version and the English version (the jokes and accents are edited in such a way so that the Portuguese get a kick out of them - as in, the accents will be Northen and Southern Portugal accents and jokes will be local jokes). Most movies here are not dubbed. All the US, non-cartoon movies are shown in English with Portuguese subtitles.

We could not find a theater that was showing it in English. Olivia was so excited to see it, we could not let her down. Besides, her Portuguese comprehension is in the advanced stages now, therefore, despite DH and I struggling to follow along, we knew she'd have little issue.

Sure enough, Olivia laughed, danced and clapped along. Lila just repeated whatever her sister was doing, though, she was especially excited each time the zebras appeared (we're not sure how much Portuguese Lila knows - she has a Portuguese sitter every Tuesday, for three hours, who only speaks to her in Portuguese - Lila seems to understand her and follows her instructions - but, who really knows).

Both girls got antsy after the first 45-mins (90-minute movie) and we struggled, here and there, to keep their attention focused on the movie. However, for the most part, they did very well. In fact, better than I expected!

Olivia declared the dancing and the hippo as her favorite things in the movie.

As an aside, on the way into the movie, DH and I noticed Olivia pull up her dress and begin to "nurse" her bear as she walked along. DH put a kabosh to that quickly. However, it was too cute not to mention. Olivia spends most days pregnant, nursing, rocking, and putting her babies to bed. Occasionally, she'll tell DH that she wants a baby brother. But, not a sister because she already has one of those. Sadly, for Olivia, no baby brother or sister is planned for the immediate future!