About us

An afternoon in Playa del Carmen

Contact Us:

casitaparaiso@gmail.com

Born and raised by my parents in Seattle, then later in my teens moving to southern California, I spent most of my school years in a Catholic school. My father worked in beverage sales, my mother was a stay-at-home mom most of the years we were growing  up. She did a stint at Boeing, like most Seattle-lites did in those days but I mainly remember her always being there for me. Two brothers and a sister, our family was lively and rambunctious.  My Creole grandparents, Earl and Estelle were from Central Louisiana. They worked hard for their family after moving to Bremerton, Washington during World War II. Jobs in the shipyards were plentiful. I always grew up living close to my grandparents – within walking distance, actually. I have fond memories of lots of family gatherings over the years, weekly and sometimes even on a weeknight. We all live more spread out these days, but continue to try and keep in touch and have gatherings a few times a year.

Mark was born in Colorado, raised in California (which is where we met the year my family lived there) and came to Washington in 1977. His parents are both from Kansas. Mark’s dad was a career military man and his mom stayed home to raise a family of 7 children, cooking and sewing for her large family. Now there are 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren! You should see when we get together for a family dinner! Unfortunately that doesn’t happen enough as we live in Washington, Arizona and California. But we’re grateful for the times we do get together. We do hope to make it happen more.

We met in 1973 and were married in Seattle in 1979 where we’ve lived ever since. We have two grown children, a granddaughter and a tortoise shell cat named Joy, and a rat terrier grand-dog named Gator. He’s a loving and delightful rescue dog from Florida and the two of them best friends!

As the years have gone by, we are having the time of our life on a journey of being Mexican homeowners. We’ve always dreamed of having a piece of paradise somewhere – we’re thrilled to have found it in Quintana Roo, Mexico near the Caribbean shore in a small place called Chemuyil. Sometimes life is challenging and it is a blessing to have this place to getaway to. A place of adventure and fun, relaxation and sun!

We continue to work hard – Mark in construction as a laborer and I work for a labor organization that represents classified public school employees. Retirement is still a ways off, but we’re having an awful lot of fun practicing in the meantime when we can. We’re blessed to spend four or more weeks a year for now and look forward to retiring part time here. We absolutely love the culture, the people, the food and the weather. We think you will too!

Come on in and have a visit!

Warmly,

Kathy

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”  — Mark Twain