Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

Of course I hoped I wouldn't need to go to the doctor here, but life happens and last month our 2 year old came down with what I thought was "hand, foot and mouth disease", as we so lengthily call it in the United States. Normally I would not take my kids to the doctor for this - they have had it before and the doctors in the United States have only ever prescribed over the counter pain relief to ease the discomfort until it can go away on it's own. (Plus I had brought all my essential oils in hopes of treating things as naturally as possible while we are here.) However, my super sweet and helpful neighbor who has lived here in Mazatlan her whole life and has two little girls of her own, insisted that I take him and even found an English speaking pediatrician for us AND drove me there (she has truly been a Godsend to us!). Also, it only cost 200 pesos, which is the equivalent to about $10 USD so I figured what the heck? It would be a good learning experience and

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I were able to attend another fun cooking class at Kahlo's Kitchen . This time, we learned how to make Rosca de Reyes, a traditional pastry here in Mexico eaten to celebrate Epiphany. Again, I'm getting my information from Wikipedia because sadly I lost the printout that was handed out that described the tradition in more detail.   . Once again, Sofia did an excellent job of explaining to the class in English what we would be doing, as well as the traditions behind the "king's pastry".  Grandma Teri explaining what we will be making The girls got to come up and help stir the pastry dough. They also got to sample the frosting later. This time the class was held at Gustavo's Kitchen in Playa Sur. Oh, we got to have Mexican hot chocolate also. Besides eating frosting, this might have been th

December 23rd, 2016 Let me begin by apologizing if I completely butcher the tradition of the Christmas Posada in Mexico. We were invited by our lovely neighbor Isis who speaks slightly more English than I do Spanish, so communicating more than the basics is "muy dificil" but we've become fast friends and she invited us to accompany her and her two girls to a party last Saturday evening in her brother's neighborhood.  Interesting side note: The brother is not a blood related sibling. From what I can gather, he was adopted into her family's home as a young man when he was attending school here in Mazatlan and would come over to their house for meals. Her translation to English is to call him her "brother of love".  Anyway, since we knew nothing about the Posada tradition, I had to get my information from Wikipedia . Here's what they had to say:  Las Posadas  is a novenario (nine days of religious observance) celebrated chiefly in  Mexico  and b