Its still strikes me very regularly, how lucky we are to be living on a beach.

Although many mornings fall into our usual routine of getting up at dawn, pots of tea, breakfast, the school run, the dentist (more shortly) and all the normal activities of life, we do stop working around 4pm either to snorkel, paddle our kayak around, or jump off our inflatable sunbathing platform (£30. It fits 10 children and you just push it out to sea. Perfect) and we’re starting to feel that we’ve established a firm base here.

With the exception of Jonah, we’ve all been for dental. Milo had his lower from tooth repaired (after losing half of it trying to catch a falling plastic helicopter in his mouth), I’ve had root canal work and Sophie needs a new crown. Obviously we’d rather be doing anything else, but the costs are between 1/4 and 1/3rd of UK prices. Terrific facilities.. and its cheaper!

Hoping for my Temporary Resident Card which should be ready for collection shortly. Its been 2 months in the system, 3 trips to the immigration office in Cancun and a bundle of application forms. I was clutching this lot whilst waiting for my turn;

The house build is going brilliantly. Spiral staircase should be done tomorrow and all the junk is out of the house.

This is the upstairs playroom (photo taken at lunchtime…)

and the balcony roof being put up

Its not always that beautiful. Here’s Sophie overseeing the same balcony construction… in a tropical downpour….and the junk…

Shopping for house bits is massive for us at the moment. Some of it interesting, like how you make polished concrete and which flooring stones/tiles work;

Other parts are less interesting……

Other than that, the children are enjoying life to the full here and being really creative;

and we’re being inspired by some local culture. Last week saw Day of The Dead celebrations which is huge here, where local families gather to celebrate and remember their loved ones who have passed away. We saw families having picnics in the cemetery, literally eating lunch and drinking beer on the gravestones, but we also saw local processions

Milo’s school asked all the children to bring in a photo of someone they wanted to remember. He took photo’s of Mark and Annie his maternal grandparents who took pride of place at the front.

Much Spanish was spoken, and the teachers dressed up rather scarily…

Here’s a close up of his teacher. Great costume for Day of The Dead, and free traditional Pan de Muerte.

Fascinating to see so many people remember their loved ones http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/support/dodhistory.html

It puts everything into perspective…

X