> > settling in <
this summer, when i was conjuring up ideas of what life in sayulita might be like, i was given a piece of advice from a friend who had previously lived abroad with a small child. she said "just remember - it's not vacation." we've been here in mexico a little over 2 weeks now and it's true. we're not on vacation anymore. we've found our way around, gotten our rhythms down, made some friends. it feels like we live here now.
we do get to swim in the pool, surf, paddleboard, build forts on the beach - all sorts of things that we don't do back home. but in between all of that stuff it's still just the 4 of us doing our thing - working, schooling, grocery shopping, eating, cleaning, sleeping, laughing, crying, screaming. (some of us do those last 2 more than others.) just daily life stuff. and so, though nothing is exactly the same, in a strange way it doesn't feel all that different.
it's just life. beautiful life.
> > allowance <
in the interest of making things a little smoother around here, we started giving allowances last week. ian and i mostly picked things that would make the lives of the parents easier, but we did manage to squeeze in a new responsibility.
we meant for the allowance to be for koruna as you can see from the illustrations, but she decided that if marvel helps her wipe the table or decides to not turn maniacal in the shower along with her, he also gets a mark. they each get 10 pesetas for the tasks that they complete. koruna got 26 pesos last week and mars got 10.
note: though the calendar suggests that #5 happens daily, this is, well, far from true. we decided that any calm, happy shower means the kids get to mark all previous days since the last shower.
it went really well last week, not so well this week. open to any and all allowance suggestions....
> > potluck on the beach <
we trecked through town and then through the jungle to get to playa de los muertos for koruna's school potluck on the beach. the journey - a short walk for some - was maddening wth 2 hungry kids and a city stroller. we sang lots of "old macdonald" and played several rounds of our tried and true, "i spy".
but once we got there, it was awesome.
