We’re having an amazing time living here in the jungle by the sea.  We’ve been busier than we thought we would be but we’re enjoying every moment…or at least ALMOST every moment.

I neglected to mention this in our previous blog so here it is along with a little bit of background:  In our search to create and encourage gratitude and awe for all the things we’ve been blessed with, we began a tradition of holding hands before our meals and taking turns saying what we’re grateful for.  We’ve been doing it for almost a year now and Mia likes it so much that she will remind us (by saying “Let’s hold hands!”) if we forget.  And she most often says “I am grateful for Grasshopper”, who is an adorable wooden, pull-along toy that was a hand-me-down gift from dear friends.  So…the first night that we ate dinner here in our new home, we did this little ritual with everyone here and Mia says “I am grateful for Grasshopper and I am grateful for our new house.”  And we all melted.  Then enjoyed a delicious meal.

We have continued to swim almost every day and have even busted out our snorkeling gear, so have done that two days in a row.  It is almost a mental hurdle for me to get over the idea that it is “work” to get out all the gear and put it on because once you start doing it, it takes no time at all and is such a treat to get to peer into the underwater world.  Now looking forward to the day that Mia gets to join us for snorkeling.

We’ve also had lots of friends visiting and staying here, which has been great.  After the yoga retreat left, we had an old friend come visit with her one-year old daughter and her sister (here is small-world side note:  I haven’t seen this friend since high school — 20 years ago! — and we met her Godparents here in Yelapa last year!).  That was followed by an on-going visit from one of our best friends, her husband and their two kids (3.5 years and 5 months old).  The kids are having a ball in this environment and we’re all enjoying each others company.  And we had El Jardin’s posada (christmas party) earlier this week, which was also a blast.

Here are a few photos of our past few days…

Playtime on our sand patio

Yoga with her French Canadian friends

She was so serious about it

Mia and some of her friends

Playing with her friends

Breakfast time

Quite a hat

Loncho trimming our palm trees and harvesting coconuts

Susan, chef and owner of our favorite restaurant

This was a 3-hour visit to our favorite restaurant

Eating marmalade/pancake tacos!

Captivated by those pretty dresses!

Local kids ready for their performances

Early (and messy) dinners are the only way to go with little ones

Day trip to nearby village

Beach time in neighboring town

Mia and Papa on lovely beach

Our beach hang out as seen from our friends’ house

Mia at friends’ home (under construction)

Old friends with new babies in new places

Did you notice the trash can?

Totally chill

Beach time

Happy girl at the beach in Pizota

Everyone was excited to be sitting on the dock of the bay

I went to the big city to greet this happy crew

High school girl friends and our daughters!

Good friends getting to know each other

Mia with her sweet little friend

Party at El Jardin

Aaron sharing his hula-hoop moves at the party

Hula Hooping!

Mia is really into flip flops

Hammock fun

Lovely ladies

Happy couple (and yeah for sleeping children!)

Morning patio play

Now that we are approaching the holidays, we’re gearing up for a completely full house for pretty much the next two weeks.  And I will be doing quite a bit less of my remote job and a lot more work helping out around here to keep things running smoothly.  And, if you haven’t heard, Christmas is kind of a big deal here in Mexico.  So stay tuned for fun postings and pictures of that.