The Rosas-Standring Family: Festivals

Showing posts with label Festivals. Show all posts

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!

So not the stage mom

So Lena has finally gotten to start her ballet classes which was great. We went to Playa del Carmen and got all of the stuff she needed. It was so cute. Her little skirt- black leotard - SIZE 10!!!!! That blew me away. She has gotten so big. But in addition to starting ballet classes... she also was having a performance. So after just 2 classes- she was thrown on stage.

It was a great day. Well, I started his post a while ago and have been so busy- working- playing - sleeping and melting that I have not written at all. Sorry Momma.

So the recap. Lena had her ballet recital after only 2 days of classes. She had NO fear about being on stage and just watched the girls in front of her. It was great. She has another performance on the 6th of June. Akilean really want to take ballet with her so that is going to be really fun. She is also taking Ta Kwon Do as well with Akilean. I am really glad that they are both into both sports. I love it when they do things together. I got so lucky that both of my kids are so close in age. At the time I thought we would never get through it. But now- I could not imagine having it any other way.

Lets see what else.... we just had yet another week of holidays in Mexico. Labor Day, Day of the Holy Cross and then Cinco de Mayo. It feels like my kids have only gone to school for like 3 days the past 5 weeks. Oh wait.... they have. This is a little crazy. But hey... as my Argentinian neighbor told me when I first moved here.... the one sentence you need to know and repeat to yourself is... " Hey... Es Mexico." Keep repeating that to your self when you start to go crazy and you will survive.

We took the kids to the circus again last week. It was great. There are not a lot of animals which I liked because I hate the animals at the circus They are treated horribly and live a really awful life. This one had 2 donkeys and a camel! jajaja You got to love it. We were all sitting on literally 2x4 proper against other 2x4s that were propped against the wall held with string. Not rope- but string. I am not sure if anyone actually thought that it would hold but... Hey, es Mexico! The best part of the circus was watching Lena freak out when Patito came out. Patito is a child star singer- she has a very popular and actually cute song all about candy. This was not the actual child star but one done really well to look like her and lip sank. It was really cute. Lena saw her and said.. "mommy mommy can I go towards the front?" It was so cute. She was right at the edge of the circle watching her every move. After the circus the kids could get a photo with her. Lena was on top of the world!!!! After her picture she ran up and gave her a huge hug. It was so sweet.

Going to the circus was actually a reward to the kids for sitting with such patience while I did their hair. Lice is a huge problem in Mexico- at least here and especially during the more humid times. So I sat the kids down, went through strand by strand and got all of those little nightmares out and then put their hair in little tiny braids all over their heads. Lena looks so cute. So does Akilean but Lena is a tiny Bo Derek. TOOOO CUTE!!!!

The other fun thing is that Lena got her ears pierced yesterday. She has wanted them for a while. She had them when she was a baby but my hands were in casts for months and I could not take care of them if they got infected so we took them out. She got earrings for her birthday but we just never got it done. So yesterday I went and took her.

She got her earrings and I got to work on my tattoo. She was scared of the pain at first but did fine. Then in the middle I was not sure if she was going to do the second. Our friend Olmo was doing it at his studio and he does not use the gun. She took a minute and got it together and did the second one. After the pain went - she wiped her tears and ran into Olmo's arms for a hug. It was really cute.

What was funny was that I really did not want to get my tattoo worked on either because of the pain but after she did it- I had to. And it was not that bad. I mean, anyone who tells you getting a tattoo does not hurt is lying- but it is not that bad. I still need some green but we will do that next week when I get my next tattoo on my neck. Well, my back really - jujst below my neck. I am really looking forward to that one too.

On a totally random note. I also got a new front door. We have been needing one for a while and it was finally put in yesterday. It looks really nice. Then only bad thing is that they took down my screen door that Ruben had built me and the mosquitoes are really bad right now. Oh well. We will fix it.

CAtching up- WOW so... The Holidays... part 1

Wow- things have been so crazy busy. It has been wonderful. We have had so many birthdays and parties and family in town and so on and so on. All of the wonderful parts of a Christmas were here. It is easier to do this with pictures...

We went to the fair with a mariposa fairy and Spider Man and uncle Cesar. It was really fun and we got my favorite carnival treat- The corn on the cob with mayo-cheese and chili. YUMMY!!!!

Then I made my wine bottle chandelier- but it has evolved into a wine bottle wind chime and sits in the middle of the new arbor that Ruben made me for my bougainvillea. I really like it. As it grows it will make a cute little shady spot.

Went to the fair again- this time with Ruben and once again... Spider man and mariposa fairy. These costumes are WAY too small but they insist on wearing them all the time.

My step dad's sisters came to visit and that was wonderful. We had such a great time. They were fantastic. We had wonderful dinners and fun talks and they were rock stars on the tour. They came to my work and did all of the activities. It was awesome. Laura asked my friend why his nickname was El Diablo.... she found out.

We had so much fun. We ate, we talked we drank wine, It was so much fun. And it was really cool to get to know a whole new side of my step dad Neal which I love. I cannot wait to see them again.

Okay... so this gets us to Christmas day. last Christmas was spent with my mom and Neal at a resort here in Tulum. It was the nice dinner followed by a santa surprise in the morning. You can read about it here.

This year was amazing. Christmas eve I made some spaghetti with chorizo meat sauce. (a fav of my step dads from last year!) and we had the kids running around the street, neighbors flowing in and out. We got a pinata and it was HUGE!!!! the kids went to town on that. I even got to take a few swings. But eventually I ended up doing what most of us do- reaching in and throwing the candy! It was great.

Christmas morning we woke up and the kids got to open their present. The only bad news... Santa did not have any tape so he thought glue would work- yeah not only was it not dry- it made all the paper stick really well so there was no big open and reveal. Oh well- lesson for santa.
Each of the kids got 1 present from Santa. Akilean got a race track for cars and Lena got a collection of Barbies of Disney Princess. And the real barbies- not the ones from Mexico that always has the legs falling off. She was really excited. My mom and Neal also sent some movies up. That was great. And Laura and Karen got them each a puzzle. Ruben went and got tacos at my favorite taco place and tamales for the kids. We spent the next few hours putting together the race track. :) Later on we met up for a quiet dinner. It was really wonderful. Christmas day was great.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Laura and Karen and went to Casa Cenote. This is one of our favorite cenotes. It is right next to the beach and is great for snorkeling. We all hopped in the cenote and swam deep into the mangroves for about 45 minutes to an hour. It was great. Afterwards we went over to Casa Cenote restaurant and had some drinks and some food. It was great!

Charlies and had dinner at one of my favorite places in Tulum. Neri di Sole. This is a great place on Tulum Ave! It was a wonderful dinner.

Then it was back to work and get ready for New Years. New Years is always special for me because it is Ruben's birthday on the 1st. So when the clock hits midnight- that is his birthday. This year was very special because it was a blue moon. That is when there are 2 full moons in 1 month. It was amazing. There was one point when there was the most striking ring around the moon. It was beautiful.

We stated out just before midnight at a bar called Moloko. It is on the 2nd floor- open and a very nice little spot. After that we headed over to the beach. It was great. Some of our friends were headed to another beach party but we headed back to town to start to wrap up the night- well my now mid morning. We got to bed early enough that the next day when the kids woke us up - we all had a wonderful breakfast in bed sort of day. It was great.

2010 is off to a great start. I am so excited about my job and I love Ruben's schedule. It is great. I am learning how to manage my time now that I am working again and a big part of that has been why I have not blogged. But I guess that is good. I have been so busy having a GREAT time that I have not even turned on my computer.

We went out one night with our friends and it was a great time. We found this
really cool buss with a very cool design on the side. When we took pictures in front of it- the reflection of the flash made a really cool effect. It was a lot of fun. I feel really good about things right now. It is a really nice feeling.

Ruben and I are doing better then ever. After 9 years together it stills feels so amazing. There have been some rough spots and trying times but that is just life. Things are going really well and I am really looking forward to this year.

I hope that everyone is having a great start to 2010. I hope that everyone had a fun and safe holiday and I wish you all the very very best in the year 2010!!! Love- peace happiness!!!

Hey Smile you will live longer!!!!!