The second weekend in July, Carolyn, Lisa, Alex, Rey, Nicholas and I all went camping overnight at Coast Camp in Pt Reyes. For those of you not familiar with the area, Pt Reyes National Seashore is an amazing secluded national park just an hour north of SF. There are some totally wilderness parts to it, and some long and demanding hikes, but we went for the easy one. 2 miles over a little ridge made for a pretty easy hike, although carrying gear and food for three, one of whom requires diapers, meant a pretty heavy load for me, and the same for Alex. Lisa and Carolyn, however, had to carry the loads that jump up and down and punch you in the back of the head, so I'm not sure who had it worse.
After we set up camp, we headed down to the beach, about 150 yards away:
Rey looks over the beach and likes what he sees
So we walked down the beach with the breeze at our backs. There were Pelicans and gulls and we saw a seal in the surf.
Rey loves the feel of sand on his feet and kicks it with every step
Alex brought over a crab body and that was just about the coolest thing ever, but it soon began losing legs and was lost in the sea of sand.
Alex found a little crab body, and Rey loved that
Rey asked me to fix the crab, but alas, I could not.
The crab is a winner, but quickly falls into bits from rough handling
So the sand sifting lessons began. Aside from an occasional bit of sand in the eyes, and some crazy sand throwing episodes that Neeko barely escaped from unscathed, Rey learned his lessons quickly and moved on to more advanced sand sifting techniques guided by Lisa, while Alex trained Neeko in the rudimentary elements of the great art.
The sand sifting lessons begin, Lisa is an excellent instructor
Nicholas has another well qualified professor
Advanced sand sifting ensues
Soon Rey and Neeko were sifting like champs, and it looked like a collaboration might be in the works, until Rey decided that Neeko was less a collaborator than an installation all his own.
Soon Nicholas and Rey are both sifting together
Until Rey decided that burying Nicholas would be more fun
Fortunately it was time for Rey's magazine spread, and he pulled out all the stops, as usual.
The GQ photo shoot broke up the monotony
What a ham!
Another model shot
And then he discovered the joy of burying your own foot.
More advanced sand sifting with a foot burial motif this time
But this was what Rey wanted to do the whole time. Even though the surf was cold cold cold, he just wanted to stand there and let the waves wash over his feet. I got the feeling that if I let him, he would have walked right into the ocean and never looked back. I think maybe he's part fish.
Rey gets ready to dangle in the cold surf again
More fun! This was the best ever.
Rey's favorite pastime
We spent one night at the campsite in tents. Originally we thought that we would be able to put the kids to bed and stay up and have a little adult time. Lisa and Alex succesfully got Nick to bed, but when it came time for Rey, I got his pajamas zipper stuck on his neck skin and the ensuing howls woke Nick back up. Finally after trying to get Rey to settle down for a while, we gave up and everybody went to sleep in their respective tents. Except Rey thought this was about the funnest thing ever, and after getting him to settle down a bit, we started telling him that it was night time and time to go to sleep. He responded to this by putting his own spin on the situation: "Wake up Daddy! It's morning!" he yelled. A few times.
We explained that in fact it was night time, and time to go to sleep, but he was having none of it. C and I got more and more frustrated until finally C leaned over and said in her most serious voice "If you don't settle down and go to sleep right now we are NEVER going camping again!" Rey thought this over for a few moments and responded. "Camping!" he said, overjoyed with the thought of what fun he would have.
Soon, he did settle down and sleep and we all had a good laugh about it the next day.
We hiked back to the cars and drove to Pt Reyes station. We sat down and ordered some lunch. but it never came. After leaving the annoying restaurant, where they apparently don't actually serve food, they just take orders, I had a piece of rich chocolate cake for lunch, two Dr Peppers, and a cappucino at a nearby cafe. Thus fortified, we drove home. Ah, the fun!
(Click to enlarge photos)
We went to the Marin County Fair on the 4th of July and this time, Rey was old enough to really enjoy it!
Raising a fine soldier
First, he shot a machine gun to start training for his stint in Iraq in fifteen and half years. Good shooting Rey!
I feel like a weight has been lifted from me and dropped on Alex
He wanted Alex to carry him, until he saw THE BEARS!
Fear the bears! Fear the bears!
He was very excited. We spun and spun and spun and spun and Rey loved it!
In the belly of the beast!
He laughed and laughed and then, when we were done, he cried. "I wanna in the bear!" he screamed. But soon he calmed himself - many new and exciting things. Like the petting zoo!
Rey kept shoving the goats right in the butt
And finally, the cutest of all. What beats piglets? Nothing, I tell you! Nothing at all.
(For the record, Rey beats piglets)