My baby

Land Sailing at Black Rock City

Okay, so it's been too many months since I've put anything up here! This past weekend was what I needed to get me back on blog-track! Actually, it really was just what I needed - quality time with my fam!! 

We drove to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Northeast of Reno and Pyramid Lake - one of Andrews's fave windsurfing spots. We met up with a bunch of fellow windsurfers at Latitude: 40° 47' 55.272" N Longitude: 119° 8' 54.21" W. Or a couple ticks south of there. And we proceeded to have quite the weekend and experience. Here it is in pictures...I'll come back to add captions soon I hope!

Story time...after limping through the mountains with a truck that kept wanting to overheat, we finally arrived at Black Rock Desert somewhere around 3:45am Saturday.  The kids, having been asleep the majority of the time since we left Pittsburg at 7pm Friday, woke up, noticed we were at the desert, and decided it was time to be awake.  At 4am.  Unfortunately, the sun was on their side, and while it was another hour or so before sunrise, dawn was already beginning.  So we embraced it, and awake we were.  

Even so early in the morning, I managed to get the boys almost posed for a picture.

The moon at sunrise (looking to the east)

As we started to unpack the trailer, Arjen found "his" land sailer and land stick and began "paddling" across the desert.  P.s.  the sun still isn't up yet.  

Andrew found some bubbles and entertained the kiddos with that for a bit.  Remember, the sun still is not fully up, meaning we have to keep 3 young kids relatively quiet so as not to wake our neighboring campers!

Woohoo!  The sun is up!!!  The boys made fast friends with some of the other kids in the group. Our truck managed to become one end for anchoring a slack line.  Arjen got some help from one of the older boys.  

The van parked ahead of us happened to be home to 4 year old Kai.  He and Gus were like 2 peas in a pod.  It was nice to see Gus making friends and getting to be "the social one."

At some point later that morning, a small airplane buzzed right past our camp.  Twice actually.  We surprisingly weren't the only group out there.  You could make out 2 other camps, one to the north and one to the east of us.  Black Rock City, the home of Burning Man, apparently has an "airport".  We drove right through it Friday night.  Did you know, that if you zoom all the way in on google maps, you can actually see where the "roads" for Burning Man are?  It's crazy, 'cause in real life, there is nothing but dirt here people.  

Sometime around 11:30 or so, Aotis finally conked out in the pack n play, amidst all the fun happening around him.  Thank God for portable kid containers!!   And shade tents.  

So of course the motorcycles came along.  With not a whole lot for him to run into, Arjen was given the chance to learn how to ride his "ding ding" without being on a leash like years past.  The kid mastered this one.  It was amazing and frightening at the same time.  But off he went, zooming around (slowly), with his training wheels on, tooling around like he'd done this a million times before.  

Andrew on the left, Arjen on the right. 

Family nap.  1, 2, 3, 4 down, and a dog.  Thanks for your concern - yes, I got some nap time in too.  That anti-gravity chair in the middle...yup, that was mine. 

Enough of a breeze picked up in the afternoon, that the land sailing began.

And the motorcycling continued.  This time, with Aotis at the helm.  You have to zoom in to see how much this kid was enjoying himself. 

Our little Mad Max baby.  

He always wants to see what we're looking at in the phone, so these days, it's almost easier to just take selfies with this kid!

This crazy contraption was a hit.  3 bicycles combined into one, with a single seat rickshaw type thing going on in the back.  Gus and his buddy Kai were out playing in the dirt. 

The dude is self sufficient.  After the older boys took off and left their PB&J behind, this guy scavenged his way through their leftovers.  

When in the desert, you can have a little fun with torching your campfire.  Definitely made for some cool pictures!

Night time fun with the land sailer (Arjen hopped on back - those are his little legs you see).

We had intentions of setting up our tent, but since we ended up not exactly needing it Friday night, and only had one night left to go, we decided it would be just as easy to set up camp for the boys inside the trailer, and Andrew and I slept on our air mattress outside under the stars.  And a really bright waning moon sometime around 3am.  

This gives you a little idea of how many of us were there.  If I had to guess, I'd say 10-15 vehicles, most with at least 3-4 people.  

Then there was this little gem.  Along the edge of the "lakebed" (the dry, cracked earth upon which we were camping), there were some natural hot springs.  I got to go for a solo bike ride over there and disappear for the better part of an hour.  

Looking back at camp from the hot springs

Just me and my shadow.  

We had intentions of taking a family selfie, but...

...this happened.  These poor kids were so wiped out and ready to go, that all three ended up asleep in the truck before we even took off.  

Definitely don't want to be behind another car driving through this place...

Driving out during daylight made it much easier to follow the "road"

First visit to Sherman Island of 2016

The weather was nice, the weekend was free, so off we went.  Actually, come to think of it, this may have been a last hurrah on the semi-retired schedule, before Andrew started his new job! That explains how we had the place to ourselves.  :)

Clearly not afraid of the water - could hardly drag him out despite the drenched clothes!

Arjen in his Kayak, Andrew on the paddle board

Serious look of determination

Our little windsurfer

Love the cooperation and team work going on here!

A rare sight (still water)

Not much in the way of wind, but a fun family day no less at the river...

Happy 4th Birthday Gus!

Hard to believe baby #2 is four years old already!!  Some days it's clear he's still practically a baby...note all the napping pictures below.  But other days, I'm completely in awe of this child, who continues to wow us with his masterful building skills and creativity! Everywhere you turn in the wake of Gus, there is some creation looking back at you, something amazing especially when you consider it is the brainchild of a four year old.  

Some things definitely never change however...the napping...anywhere, everywhere (although tending to at least be in the bedroom these days), and in all positions

"Creations" all over the floor by his head

This was a new one!

 Then there is the imagination.  This guy creates, builds, and imagines worlds I would never have dreamed of.

Here the transformers are at school.  Big Optimus is apparently giving them all an important lesson.

Schooling the transformers

We built this city, da duh, duh, we built this city on fo-oam blah-ocks!  I might've been watching the back of my eyelids one morning while Aotis was taking his nap and Arjen was at school.  Gus busied himself by building this village out of foam blocks.  It is complete with houses with beds for the transformers and "warmers to rest their tails on" (the little ones) and a drive through McDonalds (I take zero credit for that). Incase you're wondering, McD's is the cluster on the right, with the drive-thru in the center.  On the far side, you may notice the "transport vehicle" (made of magformers).  

These guys seem to turn up everywhere...

The Big Day!  Gus lucked out with a weekend birthday this year!  After breakfast, he got to open gifts from his fam, with eager helpers by his side.

Checking out the new power rangers dino morphing something or other (it's so hard to keep them all straight!)

 And for his party this year, he wanted a "green Yoda" theme.  Easy enough!  We had a wonderful afternoon with family and a backyard BBQ.

The little one is getting big way too fast!

Totally happy with his ice cream Yoda cake...in Green!

Arjen kept it pretty close any time Gus was opening presents!