Limited bandwidth has been really frustrating my efforts to get pictures of the adventures up, but I fought through the pain, munching on some peanuts and sneaking a beer from the fridge in the truck while loitering at a dive shop in Cabo Pulmo and can now present the following annotated gallery of our pre La Paz adventures…

Sunrise, nameless beach… we drove out of the mountains with Ashek and Alex and camped on this completely deserted, completely nameless, completely gorgeous beach for about a week…

The Silverfish, thinking about it all, on the day of her sixth birthday.

The girls got plenty of use from the mask and goggles we set them up with.

Aaah, going native. Val gets out the tortilla press for its inaugural usage while we build a fire to cook on.

The girls help mold the blue corn flour into balls, which we will then press.

If all goes well, the tortillas overseen here by Leonie will be delicious and tasty.

That is, unless a four foot long rattlesnake pops out of the rocks in your fire pit. Yes, the picture is blurry. But to be fair, a rattlesnake is headed right at my face.

Seriously. Look at the print in the sand of my sandal, which is at least a foot long. Now look at that snake. Now remember where Leonie was.

As ever, crabs and their camouflage are NO MATCH for our little huntress.

I actually went running on the beach, and Sylvie snapped a picture “While you are nice and gross, Dad.”

The view from the kitchen as Sylvie puts together some lunch for herself

Who’s having a party? The ladies.

This is what it looks like when you have to bake a chocolate cake for your six year old’s birthday party on a beach in Mexico.

Chef Dad, perilously close to the infamous fire pit that we now believe no longer contains, you know, rattlesnakes.

I’m going to pat myself on the back here, but look at how well this cake came out.

While no snakes came to the cake-baking, a pretty substantial scorpion showed up.

The birthday girl, and her mom.

Ashek and Alex went completely over the top and made a treasure map for the girls to follow on Sylvie’s birthday.

Here, they’re running from clue to clue… what could possibly be waiting for them?

Getting closer, as the map leads them just past Red Beauty.

Could it possibly be a desert piñata, hung with dangerous proximity to a bunch of chollas and dangling from a giant carson?

Ashek seen here making good use of his background in engineering and technology.

She’s killing it, literally… we’re probably two or three big swings away from a monumental candy spill.

Who’s turning six?

Presents, in the middle of nowhere. Val had that Monster High doll hidden in the truck for something like six months.

Who likes to party? Leonie likes to party.

Who likes to party? Ashek likes to party.

This is the backside of the beach, so you’d see this as you walked toward the tent.

Morning, last day at Unnamed Beach. Sad to go.