The Rosas-Standring Family: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Day of the Dead and thinking of family

This past week we celebrated the Mexican tradition of the day of the dead. I love this holiday. It is a day when our loved ones that have died get to come back enjoy the pleasures of earth for a day. Those of us that our alive set up altars and clean gravestones and have a big party with all of the favorite foods and drinks of our loved ones.

This was my first year setting up an altar. We gathered some stuff from around the house and created a very nice space. We put some flowers from our garden which my grandpa Jim would have loved. He was a big gardener. We put out some candles and that created a beautiful light in the evening. We set out some limes for some color and a photo of my grandparents. It was really nice. You usually set out some favorite foods so we put out a cup of coffee for my grandma. You might remember my visits with my grandma like this one. http://rosas-standring.blogspot.com/2009/04/visit-with-my-grandma.html . She was very special to me and I to her. We would sit for many hours and drink coffee and she would gossip about her neighbors. She also loved to drink wine. It was horrible wine- but whatever. It was that bottle of Chablis with the tiny loop handle. But hey. I put out a little wine for her. For my grandpa I put out a snickers bar and a shot of vodka.

My grandpa loved snickers so much that he was buried with 1 in his shirt pocket. haha. In his younger days my grandpa was regrettably an alcoholic and did not always act the best. By the time that my and m brothers came around he had not had a drink in many years. But he always had a glass of diet 7up. That was his deterrent to drinking and it totally worked. I remember my grandpa as being a fun and wonderful man. He was always with us when we would go water skiing. The first run of the day was at 8 so we had to be in the boat at 7:30 so the 1st skier could be in the water ready to hit is at 8- so you get the best water. Grandpa was on that and every other run for the whole day. So I figured that since he did such a great job of controlling his addiction when he was alive- that this was his chance to enjoy it for a day.

My great grandpa Willet loved to grow tomatoes and cantaloupes. He was always so proud of them and he did grow huge tomatoes. This was always a little funny because he did so in a trailer park. But they were great. It is a well known fact and joke about grandpa greats love obsession with tomatoes. So I also put out some tomatoes.

Ruben unfortunately does not have any photos of his family that has past. he did however get to be in Guanajuato when his grandfather was within hours of passing and that was really special to him. He had not been back to Mexico in almost 12 years so it was remarkable that he was there at that time.

Dia de los Muertos is such a happy occasion. I sort of think of it as Thanksgiving for the dead. A time when everyone gets together and enjoys their families. That is why you see so many of the skeletons with festive cloths and bright colors. We are all here for a party- dead or alive. Ruben is getting a beautiful tattoo that has the front gate of the cemetery in his town with a party going on just behind all with day of the dead figures. I think that it is going to be really amazing.

I did get my tattoo on my back touched up. It was a little light and now it is much stronger. It looks really good. I am so glad that my friend is doing my tattoos as an exchange. There is certainly not enough money for something like tattoos but luckily our website provides us with a good exchange opportunity. Olmo is also adding some green to my back tattoo that has my kids names- well the initials and 4 roses for "Rosas" which means roses in Spanish. He is also doing a sweet little arm band that will be nice and delicate but the one I am most excited about is my owl.

The owl was my grandma's animal. It was her symbol for her sorority and was part of her life forever. She was always given owl oriented gifts and loved owl decorations. I am getting an owl on my left foot. My grandma is one of the people that showed me that your strongest foot might not always lead you down the right path. Sometimes things are supposed to be hard. The other person who taught me this is my momma. But I am not sure what tattoo to get for her. haha.

The morning after the Day of the dead I could feel the presence of my grandma and felt a wonderful energy in the house. The weather in Tulum has changed and the nights are getting cool. There was a breakout of pink eye at Ruben's hotel so we are all at home with it. Through the night- I had to keep getting up to help the kids with their eyes. It is finally cold enough that not only do we not need our fan but I can put on my grandma's robe. I love that. It makes me feel like she is hugging me. And there are 2 other people that make me feel that good when they hug me- Ruben and my momma.

Anyway... Happy Day of the Dead everyone- a little late but whatever. We have all come down with Pinkeye so we have not been doing much lately. Just sitting watching movies- well listening to movies more like.

Halloween

This Halloween was great. I busted out my sewing machine and started threading away. I was making a mermaid costume and I was really excited about it. I had these great shells that I was making the top out of. and I had looked up some great ideas on the skirt. Lena and Akilean were both punk vampires. Their costumes where made up of stuff from around the house and they looked so cute.

On Friday night I grabbed the kids and headed up to Puerto Morelos to see our friend that lives there. They were doing their towns celebration in the main square on Friday so we all headed over there. It was a lot of fun. One of the best parts was that one of my all time favorite Tulum bands was up there and playing. It is the same band that Ruben had booked for my birthday. It was awesome. We listened to the music-0 danced around the square and like a pinata announcing the end of a party- the rain started to drizzle and everyone headed home. It was so much fun.

The next day I drove all over town looking for vampire teeth for the kids. It is amazing how much surplus of everything there is in the

From The Rosas-Standring Family

states. I forget sometimes and think that finding something is going to be so easy and then realize- of wait- we are not going to find that here. hah oh well.

On Saturday after we had gotten back to Tulum we had some friends come over and headed into town to hear our friends band play. It was a really good time. For this first night Ruben dressed up like a fisherman and I the mermaid- We looked really cute. Not to crazy of a night- we were home early and ready to have a killer Halloween.

For the actual Halloween it was awesome. We got our costumes all ready and headed to the beach for a few hours. It was a great day on the beach. As soon as I got there I had a guy walk up to me and say. "hey You are Tulum Living right?" I follow your page and love your info on Tulum." He had just moved here from Belize and was just getting settled in Tulum. It was very cool. He was very nice and I told him that I was sure that we would see him around. Tulum is a very small town and you run into everyone here eventually.

We had all of our friends meet at my house before trick or treating. We set up our Dia de los Muertos altar and some fun things around the house. It looked great. I did a Mohawk on a Akilean and it was so cute. The first night was a frizzy crazy one and Halloween it was going to be a liberty spike- but I could not get it to stand all the way. His hair has gotten very long and I would have needed more product then was worth it for him. But he did look so cute. He said he wants to wear it in a Mohawk more often- Looks like we will have to get up a little earlier for school.

The band of kids that we had for the party was so cute. There were so many kids all dressed up and we walked the streets and it was a beautiful site. The kids had a great time. Ruben and I did not get to take them last year because I was covering an event at Xcaret so my friends took them. After the crazy running around the neighborhood and candy diving we headed back to the house and got the kids cleaned up and ready for their sleep over.

Ruben and I headed out to town and had a great night with a bunch of our friends at Bar 307. Ruben and I have such fun when we get the chance to go out. It is not very often we get to go out on the late night party up nights- Between babysitters- school- family - life and little money- it is not that often- which is fine but defiantly fun when we do get to do it.

We had such fun and we looked great. A number of our good friends were there and we had a great time dancing- laughing and hanging out. The kids were at the house the by 11 and Ruben made a great

pancake and bacon breakfast and we just watched movies all day.

Today however is Dia de los Muertos so we are going to get the house all set up and head to some great festivities in town. There are some wonderful celebrations and ceremonies both in the cemetery and in town. It is going to be a good day.

A hurricane! 200 Years of Independance and 100 years since the Revolution!

Well, there is no getting around it. It has been a party mood around Tulum for a the past week. Yesterday (the 16th of Sept.) marked the 100 year anniversary of Mexico's revolution and the 200 year anniversary of Mexico's Independence from Spain!

There were parties, fairs, parades and festivities everywhere. The kids and I spent the first part of the day on the 15th on the Yaaj-Ximbal tour. It was wonderful as always. A 4x4 trip through the jungle were we all got bounced around the back of the cars while we flew over rocks and trees in the middle of the jungle.

I do really miss working for this company but alas- I have my family to take car of. Not that I am complaining- other then the increase of funds- I much prefer staying at home with my kids. the kids loved the zip line- like always. They are so crazy. We had a good group of people we were with and all had a great time.

The new cenote/ cave that they go in is amazing. I really enjoyed it. And I was really impressed with the fact that the kids were not scared. I mean- being deep in a cave can be sort of scary for some kids but not my little adventure seekers. Poor little Akilean did get pretty cold thought. I cannot imagine why? He has so much meat on his bones.(dripping with sarcasm) jajaja. He eats a ton and yet still has this body that is just soooooo skinny. He has the same build as my brother Ryan and my Uncle Brad. There is nothing that will change it- he is a slender kid.

Lena on the other had got my and Ruben's build. Ruben is one of those really broad shoulder guys with a lot of muscles. He is the sort of guy that would never be able to stretch his arms straight above his head because his shoulder muscles are too big. I love this build in my husband. I have always had a short build and even when I danced between a little chunky or really skinny- I still had what was then referred to as "soccer legs." This usually meant short- very strong muscular legs- especially thighs. It was something that i hated then but love now. Since I have no upper body strength and now less since my severe hand injuries- I used to do everything with my legs. I used to move massive pieces of furniture with legs when I wanted to rearrange my house. Ruben was amazed on what a short 100 lbs chick could get accomplished while he was at work- especially since I had NO arm ability.

Anyway. Lena was blessed with this solid frame. People are often amazed when they pick her up. She is still slender but packs some serious weight in her muscles. When I told her into the cenote- she confirmed for me my belief that she will take a strong interest in Scuba diving. At only 6 years old she begged me to take off her life jacket and let her explore under the water more.

She is a born water baby. She has loved the bath, pools and the sea and will spend HOURS in anyone of them. I often tell people that Akilean will be my fire dancing, acro-yoga instructor and Lena will be a scuba instructor or kite boarder. They are both showing more and more of their personalities and I love watching them.

After the fun day on the tour we headed home for a quick nap and then off to the party at Lena's school. Well, you would think that the party would be there- since there was a note and a big deal about everyone had to come to the event at the school. So you can imagine our annoyance when we got to the school and there was nothing. No note of cancellation- and certainly no party. Oh well-

We spent the evening at the "fair" and let the kids go on the bumper cars and bought them a toy. There are very few rides here and they are either for babies or they are for adults. So we bought them a toy instead.

We stood in the centro and ate all of our favorite snacks and watched all of the talented performers on the new permanent stage that has just been built. It was a wonderful time. We then headed out to a friends house for a little party and went swimming at midnight! It was a wonderful day.

Bicentenial Celebrations have commenced!!!!

The bicentenial celebrations are in full swing here in Tulum. Yesterday while picking up Akilean we were told that the costume that we had painted was going to be in the parade that the kids were marching the next day. Great I thought. Ruben and I could both be here for the parade! Of course there is a catch. Sfter the parade the kids are off for the rest of the day and the rest of the week.

Now I new that Thursday was happeneing and almost 100% likely Friday, but Wednesday????? Well, Okay. But wit? What? They are done at 9:00 on Tuesday! WOW that is a celebration of Independance indeed.

The parade was really cute. The costumes were really amazing. All of the kids in the school looked adorable and I could tell that parents had worked really hard on these costumes. Some had clearly worked very hard as some of the costumes did really look nice.

I think Akilean was the cutest but I am sure that every mother says that. There was a lot of work but not a lot of parade time. Nor was the route something that was going to take them by many people. Oh well. It was so cute none the less.

Akilean looked so handsome and wore his mustache well.

This one is better in pictures!

Mother's Day... 2 of them in fact

Here is one of the joys of a Mexican American life in Mexico... 2 Mother's Days. I was woken on Sunday morning with Ruben saying "let me go make you some coffee." About an hour and ahlf later he came with a beautiful breakfast. Eggs Benedict is my all time favorite and Ruben makes the best hollandaise sauce. he made my beautiful and favorite eggs Benedict and a killer fruit salad with plums, mango, watermelon and kiwi. A hot cup of coffee and a mimosa. It was perfect.

My friend Crystal came over around 10 and we hung out most of the day. She is also an American Mommy so we spent our day together and drank wine and hung out and watched our kids be crazy.

Later that day Ruben and I went into town to get some food and some beers. It was a really great time. We walked to a few different spots and just hung out.

On Mexican Mother's day I pretty much just hung on the sofa- the kids played and we just hung out. Lena and her friends put on a little show for me. They got all dressed up and set up a little stage and performed 2 little songs for me. The first is a Chipettes version of the "All the Single Ladies" and the other was gasolina. It was really cute.

Then Ruben came home on Tuesday and cleaned the whole house for me. That was the absolutely BEST gift ever! Very little makes me happier then a super clean house and it was the perfect Mother's Day gift.

Here is a video link to Lena's Performances. It was sooooooo cute.

YouTube link 1

YouTube Link 2

One other really sweet thing that Ruben did was put together a playlist with some songs that were from the very beginning of our relationship. One was our song- you can listen to it HERE - I have not heard that song in over 7 years- maybe more. It brought back so many memories.

Valentine's Day and a little annoyed- stop being so jaded ladies!

Well we just had our Valentine's Day- and it happened to fall on Sunday when Ruben and I both did not work. I have never been really huge on this day. I mean- I am not one of those jaded people who sit back and pass a bunch of judgement - "you should show love everyday" kind of girls. I do think that it is nice that there is a day out there - however commercial that remind people to celebrate to positive sides of relationships. Let's face it- there are a lot of men and women out there who are not the romantic show your feelings everyday sort of people and this day in February is one when people are reminded to show a little extra- to offer a reminder- and to give that romantic opportunity to those in relationships. On the flip side- yes it is commercial and over done and a very Hallmark holiday. But stop being so flipping jaded.

I have never heard of anything so stupid as a person dismissing a wonderful gesture from the one that loves them as a commercial ploy that they did not want to do. How belittling do you need to be to the one you love?

Having said that- I have made it clear to Ruben that flowers and jewelry are not needed- especially on a day when they cost so much more. But I do love that we take a little extra time this day to make the people we care about feel special.

We had a very simple holiday. Our 9 year anniversary is coming up next month so we kept it low key- In fact we both forgot until the day itself! I woke up with the kids and he was sleeping- "Oh- Shit it is V-day!" I headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Breakfast is big for us on special days- well on any day really- Ruben gets more breakfast in bed then any man I have ever met. Last year we all had a wonderful fondue breakfast. This year I made pancakes- of course I made them pink and heart shaped. The first few mangos have arrived and so I got 2 to put on top- yummy.

Lena made me the cutest card. She had me write it and told me what to say. It was so cute. "mommy, I love you. You are a beautiful girl. I love you because you are my mom. You say I can play for 10 and 20 more minutes and I like that. I love you." I could have just died. She has gotten into the folding of notes now. She is learning all the ways to fold notes to pass. Ahh- I remember the day.

Ruben then left for a minute and I was thinking that he was doing the "oh shit- I have to run and get Mindy something." But he really surprised me. He had commissioned a artists friend of ours to do a piece for me and he went to go and get it. I love it when he plans ahead- Just that he remembered is really special.

Now I have always been the hippie and my hubby the gangster. Obviously in the context of normal living but when you break it down those are our basic personalities. I know - strange right. but that is who we are. He has always been opened minded and "okay baby" about my beliefs. That is why it was so nice when he gave me my gift. It was a beautiful amethyst crystal wrapped in black coral. The best part was when Ruben said that he thought it would be perfect for my table during my readings. Something to help the energy. I thought that was so sweet. It is beautiful and I love it.

We spent the rest of the day just watching tv and movies and hanging out with the kids. I hope that everyone had a nice day- if only for the reason that it was Sunday. And all of you jaded people saying the whole day is just a crock. Lighten up - be jaded another day- mayben Christmas.

Everyone is in the Christmas spirit

I do not know what it was about the yesterday and the day before but all of a sudden- everyone in my neighborhood starting putting out their Christmas decorations. Last year I did not see many houses with lights- maybe 3 at most. But this year there seem to be many more people getting in the Christmas spirit. Uh Oh- It i raining in my new outdoor office... I better go inside.

Okay. now that is better. There have been some really strong rain storms coming in. Yesterday my little house just could not keep the power on. It was a very quiet morning.

Anyway... My whole little neighborhood has gotten really lit up lately and i love it. There are not the extravagant light displays like up in the states but that is not that surprising because electricity here is unbelievably crazy expensive. SOLAR AND WIND POWER!!!!! Lots of houses have a lit up tree or some along their house. It is really nice.

In our house it does not look like it used to in the states. Man I cannot wait to get my Christmas stuff down here. But the whole house does look very cute. The purple walls help a lot. But our tree is what really does it. We do not have many ornaments that made it from last years "shatterproof" purchase so we made a bunch.

I asked the kids to each pick out 1 color paper to make the ring chains- they - as expected picked pink and blue- so a pink and blue chain is what we have. I also grabbed some red and green and walla....

A homemade tree- complete with blue and gold glitter and green sequins. It actually turned out much better then I thought it would. It looks really cute. Some of Lena's older friends were over and they were writing our names and Santa and stuff- it was really cute.

So here we are with our cute little homemade Christmas tree.

Then we decided to make Christmas cookies. I found a great recipie and remembered my mistakes from last time - they were WAY too thin last time and got burnt.

The lesson I learned from last time is also that if you make the cookies from scratch- you want nothing

Too much to handle

Well, my 30th birthday is coming up and marks a big point of change for me. I have been looking forward to turning 30 for a long while now. I am ready for my 30s to be my selfish decade. I gave my teens to my education and I gave my 20s to my kids and my husbands will and needs -- well in that time there are a lot of things that I have lost about me along the way. And even more, I feel like I have not had the chance to learn myself as this new woman because I have not had the time or the energy. Well, my body is giving up on me faster then I can heal it so if I am ever going to try to focus on myself and be around to enjoy it- i have to start doing it.

There are a number of other changes right now that have been going on - most of which I am just not ready to talk about - especially here. That is one thing that has been hard. When I started this blog I never thought that anyone would read it. I did not understand the blogging world and the community that forms among people who have never met. But it does and it has. So many of my experiences can be and are so similar to the ones that many people living in Mexico and all over the world experience and it is nice to have people that understand the, in my case, rare situation that lead to living in a small town in the Mayan Rivera.

Right now things are so --- I do not know the word--- stagnate- There are things that need to happen and they are not happening and I am just sitting here waiting. And the reason-- as always here in Mexico is that there is no money.

I know that it is always true that you never have enough money but here it is so true. There is simply no money left. We all need desperately to go to the dentist-- there is no money for that. I need to buy Akilean's school uniform- there is no money for that.

On the other side, Akilean had a little school performance the other day to celebrate the Independence of Mexico from Spain. It was a really cute day and a lot of the kids got all dressed u according to their teachers requests. For Akilean, he had to dress up as Father Hidalgo, the father of Independence in Mexico. All of the other little boys had on little stocking caps with white cotton balls to look like white hair- I obviously having NO idea what I am doing- did not do that... luckily for Akilean - the tips of his hair are already white.

Akilean and Lena both have been learning the state anthem for Quintana Roo and the National Anthem of Mexico. Both are very pretty and fun to listen to. I know it will not take long for them to have it totally down. They are both doing really well on their Spanish. But now I have to catch up.

Lena looks so cute in her little uniform. I have gotten very luck that a good friend of ours takes her son to school in the same class as Lena so she has been giving her a ride to school which is so wonderful. Lena still has to get up at 6:00 but she has the time to wake up, eat while I do her hair, get her stuff ready and brush her teeth. Before I was literally shoving a toothbrush into a sleeping kid and it was getting old.

I took some good friends of ours to the fair the other day. It was really cute. These 4 kids get along so well. Akashana is the littlest at 3. She is a bit of a hitter - she is young still- but she is getting better. Akilean and Lena can each play with either of my friends kids in any combination and they have a great time. It is really nice to have friends like this. The kids also speak English as well as Spanish so that is really nice too.

Other then that... not much to report.

Dia de la Indepenencia!!! Viva Mexico!

As every single person in the country knows... yesterday (Sept. 16th) was Independence Day in Mexico! The whole country, the entire state and everyone in Tulum was all set for the festivities.

First a bit of history. El Grito! On September 16th Mexicans everywhere take the time to celebrate Mexico's liberation from Spanish control. The Spanish who had came to the shores of Mexico in 1521 began their rule over Mexico and the indigenous Mayan and Aztec civilizations that lived here. Jump ahead to 1810- after much of the native population had been devastated from illness, heavy work load and mistreatment by those that ruled- the seed of revolt began to flourish.

As Spain was taken by Napoleon in 1808, the people within Mexico began to see the opportunity to sever from Spain and gain their independence. In the morning hours of September 16th father Hidalgo and others first rang the bells at a small church at Dolores Guanajuato. The chime of these bells, that night began the Independence War that lasted for over 10 years.

As my husband is from Guanajuato, he loves to always point out to me that Guanajuato is where the Independence started. After the bells rang out, Hidalgo gave orders to his followers to retaliate against every native Spaniard in Dolores.

The same "Cry of Dolores" that was heard that first night can still be heard in every small town at midnight on September 15th. A reminder and an homage to the impulsive yet critical actions of Father Hidalgo and his parishioners that fateful night.

El Grito de Dolores, "Mexicanos, viva Mexico,"

Now that the stage is set... Here in Tulum the festivities were just as they are in every other town. centro was all set with lights that shine in the expected red, white and green. Stages were ready for the wonderful bands that would be going on in the early hours on the morning.

Armed with the kids and an expectation of a patriotic evening, we set out to centro. the kids in their traditional wear all set out to make themselves sick on rides and dulces and agua frescas.

In addition to the festivities in centro there were many wonderful parties all over town. From Ocho Tulum and Om with their VIVA MEXICO parties to Ultra lounge in pueblo. Everyone offering great specials on traditional drinks and food.

We began our night watching the wonderful performances from the classes at "la casa de cultura." I was very impressed with the young ladies and they did a wonderful job. I was very impressed by the traditional bottle dance during which the young lady must dance in a very long dress with a glass bottle on her head.

Although there continued to be wonderful performances on the stage, we strolled over towards the rides and food!!! The kids went immediately to the bounce house. This is a clever contraption basically of 4 large trampolines connected by little slide and a passage way. Well worth the 40 pesos per kid for 10 minutes and I must say a smart business idea. Other then traditional inflatable bounce houses that we are used to that use a ton of energy to operate.

The kids went on a few rides and I watched in horror wondering if they were going to make it off. My son, the crazy one, full of the spirit of Achilles himself, jumped onto the moving carousel ride and then as I ran after him frightened out of my mind--- he dove off!! AHHHH! Ninos!!! But all was well and we had a great time.

The men pretty quickly ran over to find the drinks and in 1 of the largest cups I have ever seen was my margarita on the rocks. Many other options were also available. I do not quiet understand some of the glassware choices and I am not sure what I would do if I saw someone licking the chili and salt from this glass but I am sure it was happening with out my paying attention.

The kids did their best to make themselves sick on rides that went around and around - on cars that went up and down and stuffing themselves with carnival treats.

The festivities in the central park got more and more active as the 11:00 hour approached. The music from the marching band sang out as the marines stepped forward on stage and waved the Mexican flag. The state song of Quinatna Roo rang out among the crowd and was followed by the exhilarating Mexican National Anthem.

The Presidente then stepped forward to recite El Grito. The crowd did as it was supposed to and responded with an animated and lively VIVA!!! After each name was called of the heros who first began the Independence from Spain the crowd grew louder and louder.

After all the "VIVA MEXICO"s were shouted the traditional fireworks began. It was a beautiful site that made the first Independence Day celebration from the newly created municipality of Tulum of total success.

As the mother of 2 young children that were at this point only being held awake by the loud blast of the fireworks above I was the honorary person who got to go home while all the boys continued their adventure.

The next day there was not shortage of celebration. Although the crowds around town and on the beaches were more tranquil from the success of the night before, Dia de la Independencia is in Mexico much the same as in the USA... the perfect opportunity to take the day, celebrate with friends and family that you are in your country... that it is YOUR country... and that you get to be part of such a special place.

We spent our morning at the beach party at Ocho Tulum. The music could be be heard pumping prideful music as we sipped our margaritas and snacked on Ocho's amazing food.

The rest of the day was spent swimming, bbqing, eating, drinking, laughing and just enjoying being Mexican. just as Father Hidalgo would have wanted it I am sure! The pride that has been felt through out Tulum, Quintana Roo and the whole great country of Mexico can be felt everywhere you go.

Viva Mexico!!!