Spread Across the Western Hemisphere

My family is spread across the Western Hemisphere this week. DS1 is in Riverside, CA, on a 2-year mission for our church, as I may have mentioned at some point. DS4 is in Pantanal, Brazil, and DS5 is in Minas Gerais. Both of them are on week-long school trips. DS3 will be leaving on Friday for the weekend to attend SPMUN, which is being held (as the first two letters indicate) in São Paulo. So, we look like this (or will on Friday, at least):

You can see what kinds of cool things DS4 and DS5 are doing on the school website, here: https://sites.google.com/a/eabdf.br/middle-school-trips/home/2014-pantanal

But I will mention that DS4 has already been piranha fishing and on a nighttime safari, just to get you interested. There is also snorkeling down a river in his future. Apparently, some of the kids on the trip have been a little unruly at times. DS4 assures me that he was in the other group. DS5's trip has been more of an historical adventure. I don't have a child on the Amazon trip, but DS5 should be going on that one next year, so you can see what is in store for him in the future, if you want to.

So, the house is a little quieter here this week. Today, DD & I walked to the produce stand after she got off the school bus. After we made our purchases, I saw the pile of coconuts the gal was selling, and asked how she opens them. She showed me a cool tool, similar to an apple corer, but with a sharper point. She said they cost around R$20 (about USD $9). She proceeded to open the coconut with it at the core and stick a straw in the hole she created. She gave it to me, and said we didn't have to pay for this one. I'd say that was a good move. She will have a return customer. I found coconut water to be pretty gross when I tried it from a container in the grocery store, but DD and I liked it fresh. As I understand it, we can open up the coconut and eat the flesh when we are done drinking it. We'll see if we have a knife sharp enough to handle the job.

We still await our HHE shipment. It has been at the 8 days to delivery stage for a week and a half now, so hopefully we are getting close. DH's boss was supposed to be getting hers this week, but was just told that isn't happening. She has been here for five months, and has been at the 8 days to delivery stage for over a month. I'll chalk up some of her delay to the World Cup, but it really isn't looking so good for us right now, is it? I guess I can hope for sometime in October.

***Update***

I just looked at Find My Friends, now that it is evening and DS4&5 should be in their hotel rooms for the night. This is cooler than the earlier map I made, even though it doesn't have DS1 on it, and DS3 hasn't left for São Paulo yet.