"Life's a Beach"

Tonight marks the Winter Solstice for those of us living in the northern hemisphere. With a little help from Wikipedia we know that "The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is ...

Monday morning, my kids jumped feet first into their summer vacation, arriving bright and early at the barn for the first day of Pony Camp. Trainer and club owner Paco Magellon has been running this camp during the school vacations and it is something all the young riders in Playa del Carmen look forward to. Paco is so terrific with the kids and ...

May Day is celebrated in countries all over the world in festivals that draw their origins in the ancient pre-Christian fertility rites practiced by the Romans honoring the Spring Goddess, Flora. The elements of the modern May Day festival take their root in Medieval times and include music, games, parades, dancing and of course, the ubiquitous ...

Easter is WHEN this year? If you are like me you may be surprised to learn that Easter falls on April 24 in 2011. That is considerably later in the month than we have grown accustomed to. Those of you with school age children in Mexico who generally plan a major family vacation around this holiday will want to take that into consideration. ...

As a non-profit school, Ak Lu'um International School is always in need of donations. We asked the school to compile a Wish List in case any of us would like to give a little something. Attached is the list we received. Some of these items may already be in your house, gently used, and those items are more than welcome! Thank you and Happy ...

One of the advantages of having our children in both of the Waldorf Schools in Playa del Carmen is that we get to participate in two different festival schedules. El Papalote held their Posada for the preschool earlier this week and, last night, Ak Lu'um celebrated the Winter Solstice with a spiral garden and candle lighting ceremony. ...

Christmas for Mexicans, in traditional homes and rural areas, is a religious holiday. For better or worse, families in Playa del Carmen, Mexican or otherwise, seem to have adopted a decidedly “Americanized” version of this holiday. This year, more than ever, the stores are jam packed full of fake Christmas trees, ornaments, tiny ...

I'm not big on Halloween. There. I've said it. I wish I was like all my pals in Playa who plan and prepare their costumes 364 days a year in anticipation of October 31st. I love looking at all the pictures from the parties and marvel at the creativity of the costumes and make-up effects. I am envious of the imagination necessary to concoct ...

Life in a tropical climate comes with a host of challenges. The scorching sun, the heat, the unrelenting humidity all take some getting used to. (We’re not even going to begin the BUG discussion) After four years, our blood has certainly thinned sufficiently and we have acclimated to the weather of our region. There are certain ...