The Adventures of Familia Bajaboy

 Zac and I both value education, and in particular, the value of public education.  We believe there is so much to learn from teachers, but additionally, from the interaction with other students in a school setting.  We anticpate our children continuing their education here at school in Bahia Asuncion, when the time is right.  However, we also firmly believe there is so much learning that can happen each and every day, wherever you are!  As for now, we've switched our role to homeschool teachers and are super proud of the learning we are seeing. For those of you who know Gabriel well, he's really a self starter.  He's very meticulous, task oriented, and wants to finish his work to move on to the next thing.  Mikayla is a great student as well, but at times, a little less organized.  However, we were so proud of how she took to this week of school.  First, she woke up earlier than normal.  She had a "first day of school outfit" ready to go, and instisted on the fir

 We have been pretty consistent with our daily workouts.  Most days we hike, run, or mountain bike.  And now, most afternoons we boogie board and get in some swimming, too.  Today we drove out to the mostly abandoned fishing village of San Roque for our hike.  The loop starts with a climb of about a mile before the trail heads west to a small house used by the vigilancia.  Our town has two fishing cooperatives.   Each one has people who patrol the coast looking for potential poachers and to keep an eye on their fishing grounds.   There are fishing cooperatives up and down the coast of Baja and Baja Sur.   It’s reassuring knowing someone is around especially when in the middle of nowhere.   If you come across one of the vigilancia, I recommend saying hola and maybe offering up something cold to drink.   I have been rewarded more than once over the years with a bit of kindness. Once at the house, the trail loops back to the village.   The coast here is so beautiful and reminds me a l

In the 14+ years of owning our casa, we have longed to have a thriving garden.  We have had mixed success, though, primarily due to inconsistent watering and harsh, windy weather.  Now that we live here full time, we are up the challenge. Good dirt is really difficult to come by and is definitely one of our biggest challenges here.    In order to get decent dirt, we drive out to the desert and up an arroyo looking for a mesquite tree.   Normally, the dirt underneath has nutrients although the dirt can still be sandy or full of clay.   We bring the dirt back and place it in our “dirt” planter.   We mix in seaweed, pieces of torn up paper, compost, spent grains and hops, and worm tea from our worm composter.   We water and mix up the dirt a few times per week.   Trust me, this is very time consuming but so far is paying off. This morning, I planted some seedlings into one of our new planters.     We have a variety of tomatoes, orange butternut squash, and lemon drop melons.   We also

We recently went to one of our favorite little markets in town, Escondido.   They have a great selection of meat so we decided to pick up some hamburger on a friend’s suggestion.   The young man went back to a freezer and pulled out some cardboard patties.   We were dumbfounded.                 We reached out to our friend to confirm we were at the correct market.   She said yes but the meat we wanted is called carne molido.   We  went back and this time asked for a kilo of carne molido.   The young man pulled out some lean meat and threw it into a meat grinder.   The meat came out very fine and had no fat.   It definitely was not what I was expecting.  It also did not have the expensive price tag of a US meat market.                 After a few days of contemplation, I came up with a game plan for the meat.   I cut up an Italian sausage to add some fat to the meat.   I also added bread crumbs along with my standard seasonings.    The meat now had a consistency a bit closer to wh

Gabriel has reminded me that its a great thing to act like a child....contrary to what others might say or claim. Statements such as "act your age" or "quit being immature" or "you need to act like an adult" are far over-rated. There are certain times and places where age-appropriate behavior is recommended but I have been having more fun acting like a child lately than acting like an adult. I smile more often, laugh without reserve, and tend to be less cynical about the world. I suggest that you give it a try. Find a child and let yourself go....don't worry about what other adults around you might think....have fun and play like a child. One of my favorite places to do so is while grocery shopping with Gabriel. We play all sorts of games together. We have fun with each other and I enjoy the reactions of people around me. I suppose I might have reacted that way prior to Gabriel's arrival but not now. My kid spirit has been released once ag

Wow-2009 is here in full force. Tracy went back to work this week and now I've started my new job as a full-time stay at home dad. We had a great time spending time as a family and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity. Since Gabriel was born about 4.5 months ago, we spent about a month in Baja, over a week in Grass Valley, four days in Arizona, three days in Santa Cruz, and a couple days camping in the mountains east of San Diego. In that time, Gabriel was introduced to so much. From time at the zoo, to experiencing Ironman Arizona, watching Papa finish his first 50K trail run, or Mama coming back from pregnancy to complete her 15K race, Gabriel was constantly exploring. Now it's time to look at the upcoming year. Well we have a full schedule. Tracy is signed up for a number of races already and well I've gone overboard. Tracy and I are running a couple of half marathons together. I really enjoy when we do races together. Words cannot describe how proud I a

Gabriel Goes To Asuncion 10/25/2008 The truck was packed, we loaded up the cats, Tracy fed Gabriel, and off to Baja we went. It was about 5:15am when we finally left the house. My mom decided to follow us down as this would be her maiden voyage. We stopped at the border to pick up our FMT permits and were on the road by 6:08. Our plan was to drive all the way as we had done in the past but if we needed to we’d stay the night in Guerrero Negro. We left the door open as we weren’t certain as to how well Gabriel, Jack, or Cleo would travel. As it turned out, they all did fabulously. Gabriel was a dream and the cats were great, too. That is, after Jack peed all over himself and we let him out of his cage, he was fine. We arrived here about 7:30pm or so taking our time on the drive. It was great to be back. I unpacked the truck while Tracy introduced Gabriel to our neighbors (Angela, Luis). It didn’t take us long to settle in but the cats were full of