here i am, finally breaking another drought of posts. it has been a rather busy time for us lately. i’ve been shooting off my resume to various and sundry companies to see where my next job is going to land us. school finished and all the kids are on holidays so there has been a steady stream of them in and out of our house. the rainy season has started in earnest so we have been making sure our house is keeping us dry (which it is). luckily brenda has been keeping up with her great ipod touch photos, so i’ll post them all here for you to feast your eyes on.

first up are two shots from a store called revolucion del sueno (revolution of dreams). its a super funky boutique run by a french couple whom we befriended the first time we were in sayulita. they bring a hip twist to the vibrant mexican imagery and colour palette, and its always a pleasure to go into their store and check out their wares. definitely worth a visit if you are in these neck of the woods.

these ones were taken by brenda at a beach called carricitos, about a ten minute drive from sayulita. its usually deserted, and very, very picturesque. we like going there because there are lots of beautiful shells as well as hermit crabs. the sun sets right over the ocean. for me its one of those magical places where just being there makes you so grateful to be alive.

but onto more important topics – nayou. our little guy has been doing a lot of eating and growing of late. he’s been bumping his head on countertops and other ledges that he used to walk under without any problem. brenda and i have watched his body grow taller and leaner, and his energy levels are high. which is to be expected from a five-and-a-half year old i suppose!

experiments abound in our house right now. nayou is always taking random dishes, tupperware, cutlery, duct tape etc for one thing or another. this is a great shot of the mad scientist about to embark on some new investigation.

he is still very much into finding insects and other creatures. check out the size of this ant he found in our front yard. we think it must be a queen ant who got displaced with all the rain:

this is our breakfast spot on our front patio. i love sitting here and welcoming the day with a nice strong cup of coffee. we found this local, organic brand of coffee called capulin which is just divine. its turned me into a coffee snob because all other coffees pale in comparison to the taste of these beans. notice also our “watermelon cake” – one of chef nayou’s breakfast inventions.

on most afternoons this family sets up a trampoline in the plaza and you get fifteen minutes for ten pesos (about $1usd). there used to be a bouncy castle as well which was the hot favourite, but the trampoline is pretty good too.

just in case you weren’t convinced that brenda is the best mama ever, here is something to seal the deal – she converted this space we have in our backyard into an outdoor bedroom! there have been about three outside sleepovers to date, and i’m sure many more will come as well. the space is really cosy and every time nayou has slept out there he was out all night like a rock. we’ve watched some movies out there at night and its good for that too!

its also a nice chill space during the day:

some days i have to get my practice in however i can. this was a pretty rainy day and our old foster doggie came in for a visit soaking wet. he really wanted to lay down on our palm frond mat, but i made him stay in the yoga room until he was dry. when i wanted to start my practice he refused to budge so i just began with him on the mat. then nayou saw us both in there and after that any hope of peace and quiet was dashed forever.

we met this great guy from canada called vasant (“was” as in calm for short) who stayed in sayulita for a month. he bought a bunch of indian spices with him and taught me how to make pav bhaji. he was generous enough to leave the pav bhaji masala with me so every now and then i have been satisfying my craving for indiand food by cooking it up. it is delicious!

we need to get this kid and agent and retire.

another cool thing about having a big backyard to play in – waterfights! even better – nekkid waterfights!

after the success of nayou’s bug documentary,  we have started shooting another one. this time its about food and cooking. we haven’t got very far yet, but hopefully we will get around to finishing it soon. watch this space. brenda made nayou the apron he is wearing out of oilcloth!

nayou snacking on the sayulita-famous chocobanana (full disclosure: he didn’t really like it).

this was so cute – nayou and brenda found a hole in the wall of our neighbour’s carport where a snake was hiding. the next day one of nayou’s friends came over so they took a bunch of stuff over to the hole to stake it out. these photos were taken before the mass of extra stuff arrived. i love this shot of them just sitting there in the driveway chatting away waiting for the snake!

nayou is in love with his new yellow frog umbrella. it gets lots of use as a sunbrella and also for playing in the rain.

nayou did his first photobomb with style:

our good friend sondra went back to santa barbara after four months in sayulita. we met her the last time we were here and ended up coming back more or less at the same time! it was sad to see her go, but i’m sure we’ll bump into her again somewhere… probably sayulita. these are some photos from her going away gathering at the beach.

the tiny photobomber (with bonus canine) strikes again!

crazy thing #314 you can do in mexico and get away with: chuck your kids on the roof of your suv and have them hold on for dear life while you drive (moderately slowly).

our friends are running a summer camp for kids at the beach. one of the activities they are working on is to build a surfboard out of plastic bottles. i’m very curious to see how they plan on tying the bottles together. if we end up with something wave-worthy, then i am going to build a stand up paddle board with the bottles! here is the beginning of the layout.

the fruit and veg you get around here is insane. especially the mangoes are just divine. this was the bulk of our haul today. it looks like there is a lot of variety, but its mostly just a huge pile of mangoes!

and to finish off, here is yesterday’s sunset in sayulita: