Bum Cheeks & Bathing Suits: a Beautiful Thing!

Thong, cheeky, hipster, or brief bottoms on monokinis, bikinis and full pieces for girls (note: not a tankini to be seen, anyhwere). Speedos & shorts of varying lengths and tightness for boys. Regardless of body-type and age, anything goes. It's refreshing and awesome and beautiful! 

She loves giving herself a wedgie and saying "I'm Carnaval!"

We saw lots of bum cheeks during the Brazilian-style Carnanval!

And contagious.  My girls are quite comfortable being topless, and even naked on the beach; Mark hangs out in his speedo after his swim across the bay, and blends right in; no one here seems to stare at anyone or gawk at anything. Confidence to strut the skin you're in abounds, and I love it.

The Portuguese love their sun. So the more they can get on their skin, the happier they are.
Sunday was a balmy 28C and our beach was full.  I would hazard a guess at about 10,000 people. From what I could tell, about 1 in every 100 people wore a hat, and a total of 3 people had on a sun shirt. And you bet, those were my 3 children.

Some habits die hard.

I'm not one to be up on trends, but it's hard not to notice:
frills are in this year, in a big way!

Frills on the top and the bottom

Some of us are more conservative than others in our swimming attire.