The Rosas-Standring Family

I am not really sure why but the energy from today has been so draining. I am on a very short fuse with my kids and are getting to a point where all of this time with them is starting to drive me nuts. I mean, do not get me wrong... I love my kids but being with them all day everyday with no relief is getting really hard. It was not that bad before but now that I am working from home and really trying to make this company work I am feeling really over whelmed.

I know that I am so lucky to be able to work from home at all and I am really thankful for the job I have but it is really really hard to write about the tranquility of Tulum in 5 minutes spurts between cooking, cleaning and referring kids. I am just going to be really thankful when we get them in school. Not that I will have a ton of time then either because by the time I walk Lena to her school on the other side of town (which makes no sense to me but whatever...) then take Akilean to his school and then walk home, I might be able to get an hour of work and a half hour of cleaning in before I have to start walking to pick Lena up at school. Man I cannot wait to have a car.

Well, tonight I was sitting at my computer just waiting for this writers block to wear off and Lena comes and says..." hey momma, lets go up on the roof and look for shooting starts. I did have to get the laundry off the lines anyway so I reluctantly said okay.

Man, that Lena is smart. It was so nice to lay down on the roof and watch the clouds dance over the moon. The kids were taking turns singing me songs. It was really a nice way to end the day. And now we are all showered and ready for bed. Man, back in the states I would put the kids to bed and take a bath and have some red wine... well--- here- not so much. I have not been able to afford wine in I do not know how long and I do not even know anyone with a bathtub. There are some things that I really miss.

I have not been blogging lately. I am almost totally over whelmed by the idea of running and executing my own business- especially in a country where I do not speak the language. But I have been doing card reading lately and all of my readings are saying a similar thing... they are all encouraging my business. That if I put in the effort at this time I will be rewarded. I really need to be moving forward with it - full steam ahead.

We have also gotten to spend some time with some really great friends. My friend Crystal was one of those people that when you meet them you immediately know that you guys will get along well. And her kids are just as sweet as you can hope for. She has a son that is 6 and a daughter that is 3- with Lena and Akilean is quite the party... add on all the other friends and cousins and you can imagine that it has been some crazy few days. But all of the kids get along so well and it is great to see them all play.


I have been on this get clean and organized thing lately. Sort of like a pregnant nesting phase. But I am getting everything put in its place. I had put each of the kids toys in their own little containers so they could actually find what they had... and it totally worked. I had 7 kids all 6 and under sitting on the floor playing with Lego's and then later playing with trains!!! It was one of those moments that just make you beam as a mom.


I have been trying to get going on my laundry now that I finally have a washing machine that works!!! SO that should keep me pretty busy for a while.

I have been throwing myself into my website www.TulumLiving.com it is a first hand experience of everything Tulum and I am really trying to get it off the ground. I know that it can be really great I just have to get it going.

The kids had cut their hair a long while back. I wrote about it here in this post. I gave the ponytails to my Dad when i saw him for my grandma's funeral. I sent him the pictures that I wanted included with the letters that the kids had written.

Cassidy works in my dads office and luckily she had remembered that there was a form that you had to fill out when you send in your hair. It has been a long time since I donated my hair. Cassidy also arranged the the note from my kids and the photos in a really cute way. They really turned out really cute. I am really thankful for Cassidy and my Dad putting that together. I know the kids really have enjoyed the whole donating thing and these little keepsakes are really nice to have.


Locks for Love is an amazing organization that makes hair pieces for children that have lost their hair due to illness or the treatment of an illness. Anyone who has ever had the experience of losing hair I am sure can appreciate what a great gift it is. For more information of donating either hair or money you can visit their website here.

The other day my friend Crystal took me out to a laguna just south of Tulum. It was amazing. The water was so warm and beautiful. It was only 10 pesos to get in and they did not charge for the kids.

There was a great palapa - perfect for having parties. The kids and I along with my good friend and her 2 kids all ate some tacos and played in the water. It was a fantastic day. I cannot wait to go back.


I am really tired. I have spent so many days at the beach with friends, birthday parties, cenotes, I did an amazing tour with my friend David and spent time at Lagunas and graduaiton parties. It has been an intense week or so but I have really enjoyed it.

The graduation party was really cute. Lena's good friend Ananda was graduating from Kinder 3. She was wearing the cutest little dress and crown and did this whole little dance. It was so precious. I cannot wait to get the kids into the new school here. Any school really but I would love to put them into the new Montessori school. But it is a lot of money and we do not have any. But we will see what happens.

Well, everyone who lives in Mexico has experienced the age old saying... Mañana, mañana, mañana. Here in Mexico it always seem that every time you need something... you have to wait. But only until, tomorrow. Well finding out exactly which today that tomorrow will happen is proving difficult.

We have been waiting for the small piece that fixes that will cause our washing machine to magically work. Since it was not in the last few mañanas that we checked, we have had to resort to some creative measures.

I was almost willing to pay at the laundry mat just to wash them and then bring them home and dry them but the lavanderia here in my area is now for rent and not open so that took care of the idea. Probably a good one too because we are trying to find a way to get the kids into this school that I really want to send them too. Well they are already in but now we have to come up with a way to pay for it.

anyway... this was our solution. We did an old fashioned grape stomp type thing in the kids pool. We got in there and started stomping around and swishing the cloths together. It was really cute. The kids got really into it.

There is just nothing to do about the mosquitoes. They are simply a part of live here. But they drive you nuts. For some reason they just LOVE Ruben. We will sit on the sofa together and he will have 4 or 5 on his leg and only 1 or 2 on mine. That sucks for him. He is sort of crazy about them. Sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night with my little mosquito hunter husband stalking the night looking for the little fu**ers. It is sort of funny. Until you are covered with bites. AHHHH they drive you nuts.

Cockroaches are simply a part of life too. In the states it was a sign of a dirty place or something but here... there is simply nothing you can do. My friends that live in Cancun have told me that it is probably an open water drain in the house somewhere. Then we saw the path that they take. The back our house is up against the tropical rain forest. With the beautiful sounds of birds, the fun look out for monkeys and the wonderful sounds of the various type of leaves hitting each other comes all the inhabitants of the jungle.

These cockroaches live in the jungle and they can fly. What the Fu**. That is just not right. What is worse is the fact that I have totally lost my "AHHHH COCKROACH!! Akilean... come here" response. Now it is just like... stand up calmly, go and get the spray and spray it. No big deal. I am not thrilled that I am at that point but what are you going to do. I would rather have the rain forest with the cockroaches then no rain forest. :)

On Tuesday Ruben had his day off and I was so ready for some time with him. Having only 1 day off a week is really hard sometimes. but oh well. It was my plan to head down to a cenote for a good morning of swimming and then head home for our friends 5th birthday party. As soon as we found out that party was on the beach we changed up our plans.


We headed down to the part of the beach in Tulum that is my absolute favorite. It is south on the beach road towards the bio reserve of Sian Ka'an. The beaches here are just amazing. Akilean had the great idea that Ruben should get him a coco. That is not always that hardest thing in the world but sometimes, especially without shoes it can be very hard.

Ruben gave it his best shot but was not able to come down with any coconuts. We had a really nice relaxing few hours. Lena went straight in the water and did not come out for a few hours. She absolutely LOVES the water. She always has but now that we are in front of a large mass of water that is calm, warm and full of cool fish she has pretty much not stopped wanting to be in the water.


Akilean for whatever reason did not want to wear his suit so he is sporting the naked look. This is just fine for us because he really needs to work on butt tan. Ever since we cut his hair he looks SOOOOOO American. It is crazy how different he looks with his hair.

The party was wonderful. It was right on the beach and was the perfect place for a party. We brought some tuna salad and chips and watermelon and there was also some pasta and salad. It was great.

Carlos gave Yaomi a little bow and arrow. It was beautifully made had the most beautifully carved tips. Kennedy and Akilean got their first lesson.

The pinata was the BEST part. It is always the best part but this one was full of peanuts and sweet oranges and some sweet bars that are made of nuts and honey. It was great.

All the kids had a great time. They were climbing and running and having a great time. There was a large net that they climbed up on a played and us adults all watched the most spectacular moon rise over the sea. It was breath taking.


I also got to meet some very wonderful people which was perfect. Ruben and I are working on building our friends up again and starting from scratch. We have met some amazing people who think like we do, have the same passion about Mexico in them as Ruben (and I have to say is growing inside of me) they are wonderful and I am so excited to be getting to be such good friends with them.

I have been doing this whole blogging thing for a little over a year now and I am still learning so much about it. But one thing that I have learned is that the community and sense of friendship that it has given me has been incredible.

When I first started blogging here in Mexico and i started to peak around at other bloggers here, I found some real similarities to my own experience. Not all of the ones that refer to being an expat in Mexico but just my life experiences as well.

There have been times that have been hard for me and I have found support in my comment section. And I have loved reading and being a part of other peoples experience and there has been often when I would read something that would really click in my own head.

There have been people who have gone to my husbands work and taken pictures with him. And there have been people who have called me to ask me questions before they come and vacation.

But now... This is my first experience with blog reader generosity. There is 1 of my new email friends that brought me some gifts from the states. She brought me some Thai chili sauce, red rooster hot sauce as well as some dress shoes for Lena. but here is the best part. I had mentioned once how much I could not wait to get an ice cream maker.

She brought me hers. She said that she hardly ever uses it and that we will get more use out of it. How amazing it that?!?! I could not believe what a sweet thing she was. The kids absolutely went nuts when I told them what it was. They have been checking the freezer every few minutes asking if it is ready to make yet.

The really funny thing is that it is the EXACT one that I wanted. I wrote about it here on my cooking blog.

So here I am with some chili sauce and an ice cream maker ready to get all creative.

Of course, Ruben grabs some milk and vanilla, throws it in and turns it on and actually think that was how it worked. Why can't he just pick up the direction!?!?!?!

So we get home from a wonderful time on the beach and there is just a TON of laundry to do. Which is not too big of a deal because there seems to be a large break in the rain coming. At least enough clear and sunny hours to get our cloths dry. But herein lies my problem.

Right when we get all set to do go outside and throw buckets of water into our washing machine... it does not start. This is very bad news. We simply have a ton of laundry and this is horrible timing.

At least this has happened to us once before so we know what to do. When we first bought the washing machine at Telebodega in Playa del Carmen we were going to get a different washing machine. A worker walked by and was talking to Ruben and told him not to get the digital (more expensive) one because in this humidity and rain- the washing machine outside... he said it was going to get fried. That is a much more expensive problem then replacing 1 chip.

So Ruben is off to his wine class today and passed through Playa del Carmen to get my chip. Tomorrow promises to be a crazy day.

The again the schedule always turns in a way that makes more sence. Lena's ear infection was keeping her pretty down for the count and wanting to cuddle. It was a day of movies in bed in front of the fan.

Today the house is finally clean. ALL the laundry is piled high in the corner ready to get washed, The floors are swept, and there is food in the fridge. So it is a good day.

The kids room is an absolute war zone. That is the next little project but I am going to need Ruben and the kids help on that one.

So for now, I write and cook. A pretty normal day.