So to add on to the theme that Mexico loves their colors, why not celebrate with some colored corn starch in the form of the color run. It’s a 5k run, that you can walk, run, or crawl through. It was a blast. Especially good because I didn’t have to walk 5k, and the rest of the family did. I hope you enjoy the pictures half as much as we enjoyed our day getting “colorful” in Merida.
Rio Lagartos is quite an adventure, and well worth a trip if you’re ever in the area. It’s kind of what I envisioned Mexico to be like. More primitive, more down to earth, quiet and slow. Continue reading
Coming here to live vs. coming here on vacation proved to be two
very different things. Packing was harder because I knew we were not just here for the beach or to tour some Mayan ruins, but to actually stay.
This mindset penetrated everything we planned and the first week of our stay was focused around finding a school for the kids and a place to live.
For me the defining moment was that look on my bosses face when I put my notice in. It pretty much took his breath away, and he couldn’t respond. And I heard from co-workers that all he could talk about was the fact that I’d be in Mexico. I offered to provide transition and support remotely from Mexico, and he couldn’t get around the fact that I wouldn’t be working from Florida but instead I’d be in Cancun(even though I explained 3 times it was 3 hours away. Continue reading
When we leave on this journey, all of our possessions have a fate. They are either
1) going with us
2) going into storage or
3) being sold.
We’ve reached the point where we are ready to start selling some of the things that will not be going with us or into storage. Continue reading
We had a house showing in the morning on Sunday. The showing came after what seems like the longest day of the 
year in our house – dance recital day. 3 dancing girls + a really enthusiastic dance studio owner = 7 different dance numbers and 11 costumes (and luckily only 8 hair changes). Dance recital day starts at 7 in the morning with a protein-packed breakfast and the unnatural act of putting makeup on children. After that it’s down to the performing arts center for a dress rehearsal that lasts from 8:30am – until you finish all your dances. For us, that meant 2pm. Then it’s back home to “rest” until we have to re-do all the hair and make-up and be back downtown for the performance at 6:30. The curtain goes up at 7 and at 10pm we are still taking photos and packing the rolling wardrobes up. Longest.Day.of.the.Year. But the kids love it, so we do it.
Traveling necessitates a minimalist approach to packing. The unfortunate 
truth is that we are all going to have to carry whatever we plan to bring. The more we pack, the more we have to personally haul around. The idea of minimalist packing brought me to discover the capsule wardrobe.
I have been attempting to embrace a minimalist lifestyle at home with the KonMari method of decluttering. I have tried to lessen the amount of kidstuff at home by emphasizing experiences > stuff for them. And I have come across articles like this, shared by other minimalist moms.
I attended the FPEA (Florida Parent Educators Association) Homeschool conference
over Memorial Day weekend. It was great to be around other homeschooling families and hear some sessions on hot homeschool topics. But the most important part of the conference is the exhibitor’s hall. That’s the place where I get to touch all the manipulatives, flip through all the workbooks and get my hands on the materials. The interesting things about this
year are: Continue reading
Here’s a thought…
What if we don’t choose ONE place?
The more we discuss possible options of where to go, the more we want to go everywhere. So it occurs to us: what if we don’t choose a single location and take more of a nomadic approach?
We definitely want to travel around. We had considered choosing a base-location that would allow some budget-friendly travel to see the rest. We could also also forget the base location and just move. Fast travel has the advantage of seeing more places. Slow travel would allow for more time in each location. But either option has a nomadic approach instead of a settle-in-a-new-place approach. Continue reading
