Alex Turns 15!

 

Alex turned 15 this week and stepped up to make her usual crazy awesome birthday cake.  It never matters who's birthday it is.  She always produces something made to order and always delicious.  This year it was 6 layers of rainbow cake with frosting in-between then topped with brownies and cookies with brownie/cookie sprinkles all over.  This monster must have weighed 6 or 7 pounds.  It truly was beautiful when she cut the first pieces and the rainbow colors were able to show themselves.  

Some extra paddle time will be needed this week for sure.  Pretty much anyone who comes over is asked to eat cake so we don't have to handle it ourselves.  Sayulita has it's famous "Cake Lady" but we have our Alex.  Feliz Cumpleaños!

Our Alex is 14!!!

Our artist, activist, athlete turns 14 today.  She put together this video on her own to look back on how much she has grown the last 14 years.  Keep doing what you are doing sweet Alex.  We love you!!

Enlarge to full screen.

Our Girl Is A Teenager!!

She is a student, an artist, an equestrian, a dancer, an athlete, a big sister and so much more.  Today she turns 13 and we love her.  Feliz Cumpleaños Alex!

Trace Turns 9.

Trace turned 9 this week so we thought we would hit El Itacate for some tacos and a few Pacificos.  We won't introduce him to Don Julio until he's at least 12.  Trace has spent more time on Mexican soil than in the USA and he tends to roll a bit more like a local than Alex does.  His buddies are mostly Spanish speaking nationals where Alex' best friends are predominately English speaking.  Because of this he is a just a bit more comfortable with using Spanish generally than his sister but both still rock the second language.  He is starting to develop an interest in surfing not that surfing is necessarily "Mexican"...finally!!!!  No soccer yet.  Still loves his Circus and Capoeira and next year he will be joining Alex upstairs with the big kids in Taller 2 at Escuela de Mundo.  He is a Gemini, his favorite color is red, his lucky number is eleven and he likes quiet nights at home playing Clash of Clans and Minecraft.

Trace Turns 8!

Trace turned 8 years old this week.  This year he wanted a low profile gig with only a few good buddies over to swim, eat, watch movies, sleep over and have a water balloon fight.  We really don't think he likes a big birthday event with all the attention on him so a smaller party was a good choice.

Pizza time!

All these boys are school amigos and are locals from Sayulita, San Pancho and Lo de Marcos.  They all come over from time to time and are good guests so we were happy to have them over for the better part of two days.  We fed them full of homemade pizza, cake and pancakes.  Lots of legos, water fights and Iron Man 3.

Water balloon fight anyone?

Alex disappeared quickly when an offer from a friend came in for a sleep over so she was not around long.  Pretty good move on her part since there was really no where to hide from this crew.  Ashley and I did not have that option so we kept pretty much to our room until the boys ended up going to bed...but then half of them wanted to stay up and played with legos until close to 3am.  Lots of trips to the refrigerator and the bathroom all night and more than a few bites from of the leftover cake with lots crumbs and frosting on the floor to prove it.

Shaka bro, cake!

What we like about this year's birthday for Trace is that it was simple.  The boys provided their own entertainment and energy.  They are friends.  Remove the parents(mostly), add water, food and movie and these kids are going to find a way to have a pretty good time.  The chemistry is there for a fun time so let it happen.  That's what they will remember.  Many birthdays we attend here are similar.  Simple, fun, social and energized by those in attendance...and no little specially decorated, packed bag full of crap candy and plastic toys from China to take home at the end of the party.  

The Amigos

Alex' 7th Birthday

Alex recently had her 7th birthday and it was pretty much all she could talk about for a month. We had some kiddos and parents over for burgers, dogs, cake and some good old fashion piñata smashing.

It was great to finally play host to some of the folks we have made friends with over the past year. We tried to keep things rather small but the amount of work involved is still crazy. It amazes me that for the most part kids can always find a way to entertain themselves. We don't have a pool or even room to run and kids were playing, laughing and having a good time during the evening.

I pretty much just took orders from Ashley since she had the plan and knew exactly what she and Alex wanted to do for the evening's festivities. She busted her butt organizing, shopping and planning. All in all, smiles all around for the special evening. Next up, Ashley's birthday next month.

Trace turns five!

Last Friday Trace turned five. It was our first Mexican Birthday so we wanted to celebrate with a little Mexican tradition and have Trace's and our friends for a fiesta and celebration. Trace insisted on only three friends and no piñata. Whatever! We all spent a day in Vallarta shopping for food to feed about 30, as well as a Cars cake and cookies so Trace could take them to school. Thursday night our wonderful landlords, Vadja and Slava,
brought Trace an amazing red velvet cake made by a local here in Sayulita. This was a serious cake and oh so delicious. We are still eating it. On Friday Trace took the cookies to school and Maestra had him hand one out to each child and every child gave Trace a hug for his birthday. After school he came home and opened his gifts. He got his own paddle for paddle boarding,
one that is light enough for him, and a skateboard, which he has been wanting since he saw his friend Enrique riding one a while ago.
He was psyched and immediately took it out back to learn to ride and has since gotten pretty good. Alex loves it too and now wants one.
We laid low Friday night to get ready for the big celebration on Saturday and of course dug into that red velvet cake. At about 3 am Trace came and got in bed with me mumbling something that I could understand and then promptly threw up all over himself, the bed and me. And guess what color it was? Ozzy cleaned the mess while I cleaned Trace and myself and put Trace back in his bed. We changed our sheets, put in a load of laundry and went back to sleep. About 30 minutes later Trace comes back into our room crying with red throw up all over his front and back. Awesome. So another shower, etc etc.
He ended up with a stomach bug, it was not the cake, so we had to cancel the party. Bummer!! I really don't think he was too upset but we sure were.
Luckily we have plans this weekend with most of the same people that were invited to the party, so I froze all of the food and will be able to use it this weekend.



Anyway, Happy Birthday Trace Man! We love you!

Luckily he got well enough so we could live our Pacifico commercial on Sunday for Father's Day.