The Rosas-Standring Family

Well, before I talk about my very awesome meet up with some great people from Tulum.info I must say first that I one of the things that I hate the most about being sick is the crazy dreams that you have.  I had some really nutty ones last night. Anyway. 


We had the moderators here and that is always great as well as some others.  We had the meet up at Om Tulum once again.  Om is a big favorite of many people both on the forum and locals alike so I was more then happy to eat there again. 

And this time Angelo pulled out all the stops for an amazing meal.  In our honor a magnificent meal and tequila tasting was planned. The chef was cooking all sorts of new items that are not on the menu and even Angelo had a good time tasting new dishes.

Angelo and Om were wonderful hosts as always and we all had a really good time. The food was simply unreal- as was the tequila and mescal.  We all had such a good time.  But this one better put forth in pictures.

The food was so amazing.  I have some notes on more details. But it is easy to say one of the very best meals that I have had in a long time. 

We had 6 tequilas and 1 mescal ranging from blanco- repasado- anejo- almond- pomegranate- it was amazing!!!!

Chilis en Nogales, Mexican Pizza, Nut Chili mole sauce and Tuna pastor!   Easy to say- I got spoiled.

One thing I have learned about the rain here in this area of Mexico is that it comes in fast, it comes down hard and it feels amazing. It has been very dry for a few months now and we were really starting to notice. Well, the other day we were sitting at "the office" also known as Pariso Caribe on the main road in Tulum. It is just a block before (North) of the HSBC. This is one of our favorite spots in Tulum. The food is consistently good, the drinks are a great deal and the service is amazing.

It is the same few guys there all the time. We also have some friends that come here almost every afternoon so we always know that we will get to see them. Well, This day was no exception. David, Barbara and Bruce were at their table when we got there and the poker cloth quickly came out. Sometimes it is chess but more often it is poker. The guys from the restaurant also play when there are not customers. It really is a good time.

Well, the cloth came out and everyone got out their 20 pesos. You got to love a poker game where all you are going to lose is a $1.50!!! Some tourists from Switzerland walked by and the game caught their eye. They sat down with us and we all had a good time. The kids gets to watch their cartoons and eat ice cream while we all chat.


Bruce and I were talking about gardening when we started talking about how dry it had been recently and when this rain that we could tell was coming would get here. Well, it took all of 5 minutes. I took this picture just as the rain started to come down (which means you have about 15 seconds to get under cover)


The kids walked across the street to throw something in the garbage and got caught! Luckily the water that falls from the sky is very warm and refreshing. Everyone who lives here did the usual routine... grab everything and move it inside and wait the few minutes for it to pass. It passed in about 5 minutes. By then the crew was already all set up inside and decided not to move back outside.




As the night continued the street musicians came out. This is one of my favorite parts. I am not a huge mariachi fan especially on small sidewalk cafes because it almost too much music to be so close. But here in Tulum there are a lot of drummers and guitar players and we love that. Kennedy and Akilean always get really into it.


The people here love and embrace kids and the kids feel very comfortable. The kids get to really be involved in the environment which I really love about living in Mexico.

I am also discovering that Akilean is the perfect little Mexican Aztec little trainee. He is really into fire dancing. And the other day he picked up a piece of bamboo and started swinging it around like a Bo. I think that is what they are called. You know, the long sticks that people fight with. Anyway... he was really good at it. I was really impressed.

Well, first I must say that I thought that it was sort of funny that Mexican Mother's Day and Mother's Day in the USA fell on the same day. In Mexico it is always on the 10th of May and in the USA it is the 2nd Sunday in May. It was sort of strange that they landed on the same day. I mean not really because it is bound to happen but still.

Yesterday the day had gone like so many others. We woke up, had breakfast, cleaned the house, walked to town with Ruben and the kids, kissed Ruben goodbye, went to the park, went to the fruteria for a bunch of mangos and then sat at what we call "the office" to sit and talk with some friends. So far... a totally normal day. While I was sitting at that table watching my friends play poker, I heard Ruben's voice behind me. This was a total surprise because I thought that he was at work. I guess that he had been asking to get Sunday off but they were not able to give it to him. When he got to work yesterday they had 1 extra person and said that he could take the night off. It was a really nice surprise.

We headed to the house to get all cute. I wore a little black dress that I actually have not worn since my 24th or 25th birthday- when I was very pregnant. I do not remember if it was with Kennedy or Akilean but I was very pregnant. It looked pretty good still. And I really love the fact that I bought in the first place for a crazy good price (under $10) Man I just love Ross. The kids helped me pick out which dress I was going to wear on my date.

Anyway. Ruben's friend agreed to watch the kids and so they got to go to our friends drumming preformace in centro and dance and have a fun time, while we headed down to the beach. We were going to try to eat at Playa Azul but it was closed. We headed over to the next restaurant and found that it was open and totally empty. I love when restaurants are empty. It feels like a private dinner just for you.

The name of the cabanas and restaurant is Puerto de Cielo It was beautiful. We sat just outside of the bar area and had an amazing view of the ocean and a full moon. It was stunning. The moon was so bright and reflected so much on the water. The water was very near the hotel. We walked down and put our feet in the water a few times while we sipped our 2x1 margaritas. We split an appetizer and 1 meal and just hung out and talked and laughed and had such a fun time. There is more information on the restaurant on my Tulum Living Blog.

While on one of our little trips down to the water Ruben surprised me with a very beautiful necklace. This came totally out of the blue and was a total surprise. We have been very tight on money and he has been setting a little aside in order to buy me this. I thought that was so sweet. What was even cuter was that he said, "I know that it is a little different then a lot of the other stuff I give you but I know you didn't have anything like this and I know you like quirkier things." The fact that he even thought about it like that was very sweet to me. We talked and laughed and he gave this whole speech about how he feels I have it all and that he could not thank me enough for being a great mom to his kids and that he knew the moment he saw me that he only wanted me for the rest of his life. It was so romatic and amazing. We kissed all night and told stories and laughed.

After we ate, we took our margaritas down and sat on the beach chairs down by the water. We then took a walk on the beach and the water was just so amazingly warm we had to go for a swim. It was so much fun. It was well lit by the moon and warm and deserted. there was 1 or 2 groups of people that walked by the whole time. It was great. We laid in the surf and... well, stuff ...it was seriously amazing and romantic. Ruben commented this morning during on of the many times we talked about how much fun we had last night that it felt straight out of a movie. The whole evening was totally magical.

Then this morning Akilean woke us up bright and early and we sat and drank coffee in bed and watched the West Wing on dvd. Ruben woke up and made me my favorite breakfast- or well, the closest version that you can with the stuff we have around. My favorite in eggs Benedict. He made a great version with toast and thick sliced ham. But he makes the BEST hollandaise sauce from scratch (with all of its like 5 ingredients but still- he makes it so well and he knows exactly how to poach my eggs. It was wonderful.

Sadly he is at work now and it is just the kids and I. But we have a bunch of mangos to keep us happy. It is sort of crazy the amount of mangos and bananas we eat. And we are doing one of my favorite things to make for dinner... breakfast. The kids really want pancakes so I thought- hey banana and mango whole wheat pancakes... yeah- that sounds perfect for dinner. :) It is going to be a nice quiet evening in with the kids!

Jessica arrived in Playa del Carmen after a bit of drama with the flights. We spent a really nice afternoon in Playa and ate some of my favorite tortilla soup. As you can see Akilean LOVES this soup. And it was the perfect warm up after our late afternoon dip in the ocean.
Once we got the kids back to the house it did not take us long to pass out. We were all really tired from a long day in the sun.



The past 36 hours have been absolutely AMAZING! Yesterday was Ruben and my 7 year anniversary. Now, for those of you who were at our wedding, you are probably confused. Since it was only 3 years ago and in October that we got married. But 7 years ago Ruben and I knew we had to be together. Our wedding came so much later and involved our whole family, so we consider that more of our family anniversary. When you consider that the only people in our wedding were our parents and our kids. :) But March 5th is when we consider our relationship to have kicked off. We knew that this was not some little thing!

So yesterday was the best day. My friend Jessica flew into to town and came to visit. I have not seen her since my wedding day over 3 years ago. It has been so great. And much to my surprise Ruben got the day off work. First things first, we got some tacos from one of our favorite taco stands, (you know the one Mom and Neal) grabbed some beers and headed to the beach.

We went to the beach at El Pariso. There are a few more people down this way and more palm trees on the beach for shade. It was absolutely wonderful. There were a few scary moments when we thought that the clouds were going to take over but nope!!!

Ruben and the kids built a great sand castle and Akilean had a great time playing in it. Ruben thinks that it is his best one to date.


Kennedy and Ruben played soccer on the beach, we got a tan and every one swam in the ocean. It was perfect day. Not to mention that we got a very early start so that is always nice.

After a while we headed home and everyone spent the next while trying to get sand out of their hair. Jessica and I headed into town to look around the shops while the kids played with some friends and Ruben took a little nap. He does not like getting dragged around to all the stores and just browse at all the fun stuff.

Once we collected Ruben, we took the kids to my friends house who was kind enough to watch them for us and we went out to dinner and it was one of my favorites and it was Ruben's best meal yet. We ate at Nero di Sole. This is a wonderful Italian place right in the middle of town and it has such a great atmosphere. The dinner was amazing. They also have a little hotel but I have not seen it or know anyone who stayed there. We have eaten at this spot a few times but we usually get a little pizza to share. This was wonderful.

Our dinner was amazing. We split some marinated shrimp with what was supposed to be feta cheese but it was not. It was probably some mozzerella shreds. Oh well. We also had a caprese salad. For dinner Jessica's red snapper was perfect, fresh and flavorful. Ruben had wonderful steak medalions in a green peppercorn sauce and that was great. and I got shrimp in a garlic sauce. All were served with roasted potatoes and a little veg that was more of a garnish. At the end, even though we were not hungry but Ruben knows that tiramisu is my favorite and it is our anniversary after all.

After our killer dinner we went and had a drink at a few spots in the area. There are so many cute bars that are all closed during the day so I have never seen them. It was really fun. We went to one spot that was going to have a flamenco show but we headed out before that.

We headed home, grabbed the kids and all hung out at the house for a while. It was a wonderful anniversary! Jessica is leaving today to Ozkutcab to see Jordan but I will see them all soon for the wedding.

Today the kids and I really wanted to get out of the house. Around 12:30 we decided to head out to a local cenote. These 2 cenotes that we went to today were Cenote Cristal y Cenote Escondido. Payment into Cristal gains you entrance into Escondido as well. We took a 40 peso cab ride to the entrance of Cenote Cristal and payed the entrance fee. The guy at the front was really nice and only charged me for one of the kids. It was 40 pesos for me and 20 for one kid. This is a really good price for the cenotes. There are some here that cost as much as 80-100 pesos just to get in. And if I were a diver I would totally get it but that is a lot of money just to go in and swim.


After walking down the pathway we came upon the cenote. It was beautiful. I thought that it was funny that the clouds had started to come out a little. That always happens when we head out to the cenotes. But it was still very nice. In the beginning there were very few people there. We had a lot of fun swimming and playing and chasing fish. We ran into some people who had a 6 year old son so the kids had a good time playing with him.


After a little bit we headed across the street to Cenote Escondido. Once past the old wood gate there is a long walk down a dirt road to the water. It was well shaded and a nice walk.



This cenote was also beautiful. There was a short little cliff area you could jump off and that was a lot of fun. There was a family with 3 boys in their early teens doing a canon ball contest. That was really fun to watch.


There was also some locals there and they got a kick out of the fact that the kids spoke Spanish to them and were laughing with them. Akilean continues to be famous for his hair. He looks so cute. I love his hair. Ruben really loves it now too. I was thinking of just cutting off all of Akilean's hair when he got lice but Ruben was like "oh no, that is not happening." And I must say that I am glad because he looks so cute with it. I will be sad when we have to cut it for him to go to school. Oh well.


After the kids had swam all they could and splashed me as much as they could we headed off for home. The kids were starving so we stopped at Gusto's to split a plate of nachos. The restaurant is on the south side of town and is again a very small place with only a few tables. It was a nice little place. We ate and headed off home. A very tired crew. I should clean the house but I am just too tired. So instead we are going to eat lime ice cream (it is really good- like a sorbet) and watch a movie.

Yesterday the kids and Ruben and I all headed off for a day on a totally new area of beach that we had not been to. It was over by Playa Azul. This is a great little hotel and a restaurant that our friend works at. The kite boarding school here (Extreme Control) was opening a new location here and so they had drums and live music and demonstrations. It was a fun day. The beach here is so beautiful. You really start to understand the idea of "caribbean Blue" The ocean is so different then anything else that I have seen.


We packed a few sandwiches and some mandarins and off we went. I cannot wait to have a car and then this will be an almost totally free day. For now it costs us about 100 pesos every time we want to go to the beach. But it was a nice day.

Kennedy loves the ocean. She dives in head first into the waves. And this beach is especially nice to have kids in because it goes shallow for so long and does not drop off. It is very safe. Kennedy even made sure to keep her sucker up out of the water. It was pretty funny.


And then there is Akilean. After first eating all of the meat and tomato out of our sandwiches he grabbed his toy cars and laid down in the sand and played. He has been playing in this exact same way since he was about 14 months old. I think it is funny that he still does it. When we are out to a restaurant and he starts to get antsy... I simply give him his cars and set him a corner on the floor and he will stay there for the whole time.

We are still working on the lice thing. I am washing the sheets and sofa covers every day but I want to take them to a lavanderia. They need to be done in hot water and dried in the dryer. In the mean time we will just have to make it work. The kids are doing well. It is pretty hot here right now but they have adjusted well. On the days that we go to the beach it is fine but the days we are in the house it gets hot and boring. Oh well... as soon as we have a car everything will get so much easier.


But we are off to town to see what we can get for our 150 pesos. - Our budgets are ever tighter these days and we are trying to get the most out of every penny, or peso. You know what I mean.

Ruben and I have tried to go to this one place on the beach and we have not had much luck. It has either been closed for a wedding or just closed in general. But, we have been taking the kids to a class at the cultural center. They love going to their classes and Ruben and I loved going to lunch without the kids. We went to Ana y Jose and had a wonderful lunch. The place is right on the beach and is just beautiful.


The longer I live here the more I love it. Now granted, there is enough that sucks, but it is easily over shadowed by the beauty and simplicity that is Tulum. I am so excited to see what this town becomes.

After our wonderful lunch, Ruben and I grabbed the kids and headed home to make home made tortellini. My favorite food of all time is from Mona Lisa in San Francisco's North Beach. So we made our own. The sauce was perfect- the tortellini not so much. But then I was rolling it by hand and I really need a pasta roller.
But it was a fun project. Then at the end of the evening the kids got in their Halloween costumes and put on a show. (Kennedy is such a little model)
She is so cute and loves to pose. She definitely got my flare for the dramatic arts. And I must say, Akilean can really pull off this outfit!!! hehehe