T made it through her big day today.  She is still very sleepy.  SayultiaAnimals is great, they took great care of her today, even preforming a little more surgery than expected to remove a tumor.  She came home with a cute new collar too.  I'm sure she will be taking it easy for a few days.

We started language class today, all six of us together.  It was really nice and the teacher is very good.  It was fun to be in class with the kids and get to see how they act as students. Looking forward to tomorrow.  Time for some homework.......

SayulitAnimals

This is T T, the sweet beachdog who adopted us not long after we arrived.  She saw 'sucker' written all over us.  Rowan immediately fell in love with her when she followed him, like a shadow, to the beach and promptly curled up next to him as he played in the sand.  Of course, like all beach dogs in Sayulita she looks one part dingo and a part every other dog who ever happened by this beach in the last 5 years.  She started sleeping under the trailer in the driveway and has worked her way into sleeping in the yard.  

Holly is somewhat tolerant of her and tries to ignore her for the most part, Rally couldn't care less.  T spends the day wandering around and can often be found in front of our gate.  Rowan has been making sure she gets a fair share (or a  bit more) of the dog food and is working on fattening her up.  Where ever we go she find us and follows quietly behind, we've found that dogs are welcome most everywhere here.  On Thanksgiving, she followed us to the gathering at Barefoot Casa, she was even welcomed there.  She did make quite an impression that evening, when she fell in the pool and had to be pulled out.  It was quite clear that like many local people here, she was not a swimmer.

Of course, things are always a little more complicated here......she is in heat.  It looks as though she has already had at least one litter of pups and, if I had to guess, I'd say she isn't more than two years old.  So with the help of our friends, we discovered SayulitAnimals.  A clinic providing free spay/neutering, and help to the street animals of Sayulita.  Tomorrow morning 'T' will be spayed, she may not like us much for a few days but in the long run she will be much better off.  

In talking to the folks around here, we were warned that if you bring in a male street dog a careful search goes on to make sure that he is not owned by someone, before they will consider neutering.  This is because neutering is somehow seen as an insult to the male power and macho.  That being said, I think we are all good taking T in.  

In a small way, it feels like we are already becoming part of this quirky beach community.  

  

Nesting

It was time to make Casa Conchita a home.  We have, for the most part, been camping for the past week.  When we arrived, they were not quite ready for us, but the internet was up within an hour of our arrival (we clearly have a strong need to be connected).  However, the stove, the fridge, the hot water heater, the water pump, and the washing machine were not working.  Today almost everything is working and we spent the day putting things in their place, organizing and just plain settling in.  Rory set up the Casita with the Xbox, and Wii.......giggling could be heard from the open shutters this afternoon.  

I found much satisfaction in putting this simple household in order today.  There is, what must be, an instinctual need to make a cozy and secure nest, where familiar routines can be reestablished.  This morning, I even snuck out, to the restaurant on the corner, for a latte to go, which cost 35 pesos (roughly $3).   I made turkey soup for dinner from the turkey we had for Thanksgiving.   Ron and Reilly went to the fruit man in town and found potatoes, carrots, and a loaf of fresh baked bread.   Dinner around our table, which is in the palapa. was great and my little Sayulita nest felt full and happy.

Beach!

We spent the day at the most lovely beach I think I have ever been on.  It is called La Lancha (I think) and the sand was beautiful, the waves were gentle, the sun was warn and the breeze was perfect.  We were introduced to this wonderful place by our confident and wonderful tour guides of Sayulita.  

Kids surfed and and explored, even I gave surfing a try.  It was actually really fun.  We all had a great day and returned tired and hungry.  I would love to post beautiful pictures from today but we had a memory card foul up and don't have any photos.  Which only means we will have to go back.  

Very Thankful!

Today did not feel like any Thanksgiving I can recently remember. There was no fat ad stuffed newpaper to shuffle through, no Macy's day parade or Dog show to watch. The day started with a bit of overcast and a trip to meet our Spanish teacher.  She was engaging and we are looking forward to beginning class with her on Monday.

I returned to the casa to try to figure out how I was going to cook a 7.64 kg turkey.  I had a brand new stove and had no idea if it worked or even how to light it.  Thank goodness Regio, the jack of all trades, was in the yard painting pots (a story for another time).  Once the turkey was settled in the oven on my jimmy rigged foil roasting pan balanced a top a broiler pan, I was all good.  The kitchen gods must have been watching because the bird cooked without a hitch and was done just on time. Despite having no running water in the casa, the mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey all turned out great.  However, a shower before the party wasn't looking good and neither was I.

Dinner was absolutely amazing.  We gathered at the Barefoot Casa with 16 other adults and a whole gaggle of kids.  The meal was complete with turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, bread, a number of salads, tons of appetizers, a pecan pie, flan, a chocolate cake and 2 pumpkin pies.

Before dinner was served, we stood around the pool hand in hand and said together what we were each thankful for.  (Thank you Courtney for reminding us to stop and be grateful!)  The food was really good and but it was the camaraderie and sharing of traditions that made it feel like Thanksgiving.

I wish I had some profound way to end this tonight, but I don't seem to have the words.  I'm blessed with an amazing husband who picked me to travel all his journeys with.  I have very open minded and flexible kids who have embraced this journey with all their hearts and souls and I am so proud of their maturity.  I have family and friends who held me together as we put this move together and whose consistent encouragement and support helped me get out of the driveway in Everett.  We are indeed LuckyFam!

Thanksgiving In Sayulita

It is Thanksgiving in Sayulita. I have a turkey waiting to be cooked in the sink, and I'm trying to come up with a creative way to make a roasting pan out of foil. We have been invited to a potluck Thanksgiving at Barefoot Casa the home of our friends, the Stewart Family, (Dave, Heather, Coleman, Emerson, Eve and Soliel).

We met Dave in Isla Mujeres, Mexico 16 ish years ago. He and his buddy Scott had just navigated Morgan Stern from the Dry Tortugas to Isla Mujeres on their way to Tulum, (I think.)  Apparently, during their crossing they kept hearing the Coast Guard hailing Bad Habit over and over again. When they arrived at the marina we, the Bad Habit were tied up safely in a slip. We had left Corpus Cristi, Texas and misjudged the amount of time it would take us to cross the gulf of Mexico. Instead of 7 days, it took us 10 and we had told my Mom and Dad that we would check in as soon as we reached dry land. Not hearing from us, they called the Coast Guard, who began looking for us.

Both Morgan Stern and the Bad Habit ended up on the Rio Dolce in Guatemala. Dave met Heather (his future wife) there. The four of us sailed together later in the Bahamas on Morgan Stern before we had kids. Ron and I went to their wedding in Montana and we both started families. We all got busy raising our kids and years went by.

Now here we are, with 8 children between us, thousands of miles from our homes about to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  It's amazing how a brief chance meeting can begin an unexpected lifelong connection.

The Adventure Has Begun!

We have landed in Sayulita Mexico. After months of planning, organizing, and pulling my hair out, We are finally here. I am starting this blog to share our time here and to help me remember this journey. I am a little anxious about writing, knowing that I have readers. Please know that I am anything but eloquent, so bear with me. 


In some ways we began this journey while we were sailing in 1996.  We immediately fell in love with the wandering bug while sailing Texas, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.  Both Ron and I loved the adventure and unexpected experience of exploring new places, meeting new people and generally getting out there.


While sailing, we met and sailed with some amazing people who had made what seemed like exciting choices in their successful and busy lives.  Tom and Mary on Carpe Diem and Terry and Ursula on Integrale took us under their wing (or sails) and taught us much about cruising, marriage, hammocking, friendship and how they had made it all work.  We were also fortunate enough to meet Dave  on Morgan Stern who was young and fun and made it all look easy.  Dave and Heather's (his sweet wife) influence has helped us find our way to Sayulita, in particular. 


When we returned from sailing and began our life in Everett, we talked about taking a year off.  We would talk about taking our (then nonexistent) family sailing, and getting lost for a year.  We wondered aloud about what kind of experiences we wanted to give our kids.  We were full of future plans.  


Of course, 16 years, four kids, and a crazy busy surgical practice later, we got distracted and almost forgot to find a way to get it done.  When we visited Sayulita in the spring of 2008, with a good portion of the my family, we began to think about it again.  I'm not sure I  thought we could really make it happen at that point, but it was fun to consider it again.  Now, Rory is an 8th grader, Reilly 7th and Regan 6th it became apparent that our window of time before high school was closing quickly.   


Thank God for Ron who continued to chip away at working out the details.  In July, we came to Sayulita while the kids were at summer camp and began to look for a place to live for 6 months.  Little did we know how hard it would be to find a long term rental, but we kept at it for 6 days and eventually met Angie (the property manager of Casa Conchita).  It took another month once we returned to Everett to figure out most of the details, but the wheels were set in motion..................


The past few months have been difficult as Ron and I began to ready the troops for departure.  We each worked on things we found important, and often we were not on the same page.  But somehow we got through it, and on Friday evening, November 12, 2010 with four kids, two dogs, and a 16 foot trailer behind us, we drove out of our driveway at 6:42pm and headed South.  


This is how it begins..............