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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
   
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Kids in Baja
Kids in Baja
Back in the U.S.A. I once worked for a large company with many regular clerical workers. One day in the company lunchroom I overheard five young
women discussing how much they missed the opportunity of spending time with their youngsters; they all had to work, their kids were at grandmas’ or
daycare or home with a relative. I was touched by their tales but since they were all young themselves I asked the ages of the children in question
and learned they were all under five years of age.
Just to pass the time, make conversation, I asked the ladies to think back to when they were that age, to try to pin down their exact age when they
had any memory of life, the briefest moment recorded in their young brains. They talked it over and all agreed that their first memories began when
they were in kindergarten. Makes perfect sense – there is good reason to begin schooling at about age five, when teaching is made effective by this
brand new tool; storing data Monday that ties in with new info that comes into their little minds on Tuesday.
To make the girls feel better about their situations I pointed out that would mean they could leave the kids tied up in the front yard until they were
ready for kindergarten – my suggestion about putting a puppy in the fenced area with them, tying a porkchop around their little neck to keep the puppy
close and attentive, was lost on them.
There have been many posts from parents who wonder about taking small children to Baja. Is it safe? What extra precautions should we take? How
about bugs, heat, etc? Many of these posters will feel a little better now that I have reminded them that the young ones will not remember a thing.
I’ll leave them with this caveat: if they are nearing their fifth birthday, see that all their needs are taken care of while on the road, on the
beach. Otherwise you run the risk of later being berated for their real or imagined mistreatment as it might appear one day in a “Mommy Dearest” kind
of memoir.
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Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 1913
Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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Exposing kids to Baja is wonderful. Some of my earliest memories are from camping in Baja! Pre-kindergarten, by a long shot 
Back in Dec I was on a trip with 6 2-4 year olds, all had a blast. Only injury was a scraped back from a slip while climbing rocks.
A well stocked 1st aid kit is a must - you never know if they will try to pick up a cactus or a hot coal in the fire, slip and fall…..anything
Plus bring lots of their favorite outside toys: trucks, balls, buckets, shovels, beach things- even if you are not at the beach, etc...Bring plenty to
share, or there may be fights if there are a bunch of kids.
Bring wipes to try to keep them clean 
Bring proof you are their parents.

Climbing Kids

Playing kids

Kids on last day
Truth generally lies in the coordination of antagonistic opinions
-Herbert Spencer
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marla
Nomad

Posts: 287
Registered: 10-29-2003
Location: Long Beach
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Ohmigosh my kids LOVE Baja! Even though my daughter sliced her foot open at Bahia de Los Angeles (fortunately Doc was at Gecko and could sew it back
up and then refuse to accept any money for it) and last year she sliced her knee open at Bahia Concepcion. Fortunately butterfly bandages staunched
the bleeding! Just bring first aid supplies! I also belong to the Binational Emergency Medical Committee ($30 and your kids under 16 are free) so in
the event of a real medical emergency they could be med-evaced to San Diego immediately. Here are my rugrats in Loreto 2 years ago with the FIRST fish
they ever caught (they were so proud even tho the fish were microscopic!) http://intrepidfisherfamily.com/Album10/kidsfirstfish.html
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a
speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. Henry David
Thoreau
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Cameron
Nomad

Posts: 117
Registered: 10-12-2004
Location: Todos Santos / Seattle WA
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Mood: Thirsty!
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Kids in Baja...
It's true, kids LOVE Baja!
Just remember to bring LOTS of sunblock, and having a few of their favorite snacks around always helps when they get cranky.
Keep 'em well-hydrated (..no, not with Modelo!), watch them closely near the ocean if you're on the Pacific side, and remind them to be cautious
around strange dogs, bugs, and burros!
A trip to Baja is one that they'll remember for the rest of their lives, and with any luck, they'll want to go back again and again!
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zforbes
Nomad

Posts: 334
Registered: 4-11-2005
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: Living the dream
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Great kid pics...
to remind us how to relax and enjoy!
\"You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair.\"
Swedish proverb
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
    
Posts: 8088
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Loved your photoalbum, Marla. Especially that picture of your daughter with the stars and stripes bathing suit. Gotta make a mental note to go back to
San Javier before they pave the road in there.
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dean miller
Nomad

Posts: 456
Registered: 1-28-2004
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I took my eldest daughter, now 41, to Baja when she was just sitting up. Some how in the rush of packing and the excitment of the trip we forgot her
toys...
We discovered that a loaf of bread is just as exciting and entertaining as any toy. For a week she was fasinated by a loaf of bread. I have a number
of pictures of her on this trip. Each day the loaf of bread is being reduced in size...
When she entered college she purchased a trailer on the beach at Kings and was a frequent visitor to Baja. After grad school she sold the trailer and
became a world traveler, lived in several different countries. She went to Brisbane for her second masters and has never returned--It probably
started with that loaf of bread in Baja.....
SDM
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David K
Honored Nomad
       
Posts: 65304
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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My kids got their start in Baja when they were toddlers!
Nuevo Mazatlan, about 1992...



Matomi Group Trip, 2001... (Chris was 12 and Sarah was 10)

(Christopher getting on wet suite, Shell island, with Amigos)

(Sarah with elgatoloco and El Camote)

Central Baja Tour with Amo Pescar, 2001...

(Chris and his first boojum encounter)
BBBB-1, Viva Baja 4WD Van trip, 2001...

(Sarah and her first boojum encounter, Las Pintas)

(Desert Rat, Debra, Coco, Sarah, David Eidell)

(Sarah and Debra)
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(Sarah and her friend Davila on Desert Bull's Polaris, Punta Cabras, 2001)
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April, 2002

(Sarah at Montevideo)

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November, 2002

(Chris and new dirt bike, La Turquesa Canyon)

(Molino de Lacy, near Punta Final)

(Thanksgiving dinner at Alfonsina's as guests of Doug Bowles)

(Chris is almost 14 here, at the Gonzaga Bay Onyx springs)
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New Years weekend, 2002/2003...
Chris, Sarah and I are camping near Punta Candelero, way north of L.A. Bay. The kids (14 and 12) take turns riding the bike all the way back to the
dry lake by the L.A. Bay highway.
The following nights we camp with the Humfreville's and Debra who rented the house at Raquel & Larry's (Gecko was booked full). We put up our
tents in front.

Tent camping out of my Toyota with my kids was great ... rather it be in Baja or Anza-Borrego... It was a way we spent quality time together before
the 'dark times' of their teenage years!
Sarah (at the top) and her Camp Gecko girlfriends at Montevideo over New Years weekend 2003/2004... I remember that was when Marla's daughter got the
bad foot cut and Doc fixed it up real nice!

[Edited on 3-2-2007 by David K]
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The Sculpin
Nomad

Posts: 401
Registered: 9-3-2002
Location: Back in the Saddle
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Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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Nothing beats the look on a wading three year old's face when he suddenly discovers that a baby octopus swam into his bucket!!
The look on his face when we excitedly called the octopus "BAIT" was pretty hilarious as well!!
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David K
Honored Nomad
       
Posts: 65304
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Bob H took this photo (it was under a shell, on Shell Island)
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Sallysouth
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 1835
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Capo Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: missing Baja...
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Oh my gosh, what a great thread! Wonderful pics Marla and all others as well! "My Mexican" is here for a few days before going back to Baja, maybe she
can help me post some of our pics from "way back then". Her first days of her life were in Baja in 1968 and spent half of her years growing up, with
her sisters, camping around Baja.We got pics, now to get em up here......Juanita, where are you?????? Ya gotta love Tacos' group pic of the future
Nomads! what a bunch of cute kids!!
Happiness is just a Baja memory away...
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
   
Posts: 3812
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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Osprey,
My first memory of baja is from a trip I made with my mother, uncle and grandparents. I was three years old, so don't remember the entire trip, only a
few points.
We stayed at Papagallo's, in the two story house. The restaurant was fun, I danced with my grandfather, standing on the tops of his shiny black shoes.
The bait tank on the boat was filled with sardines which I spent most of my time catching by scooping into the long sleeve of my shirt. The sardines
would fall out of my shirt and get stuck in between the wooden slats of the decking. I couldn't pick them out, so I had to catch more.
My grandmother kept trying to convince me to take a nap with my uncle below deck (who really wasn't napping, but hung over) Note to grandmas: kids
hate naps.
I bought a cool sombero with little pompoms around the edge at La Bufadora, which was a big long dirt road that I hated walking down until they let me
buy the donkey pinata to make the walk more bearable. I still have the hat.
I remember the pinata and hat sitting up in the rear window as I turned around to look at the two story house as we drove away, heading for home.
Both of my children have grown up in Baja and I hope that the experiences I've given them will sustain them and give them smiles in their adult years
as my grandparents and parents did for me.
P<*)))><
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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Bedman
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 523
Registered: 9-4-2002
Location: Orange County, CA.
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Marla's Baja Babies
New Years eve 2003. Marla, I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to share these with you. Hope you like them. If you want me to send you copies
just email me. Bedman at aol.com
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Bedman
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 523
Registered: 9-4-2002
Location: Orange County, CA.
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That was a cold and blustery night
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joel
Nomad

Posts: 361
Registered: 2-2-2007
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My wife and I love bringing our kids to Baja. We started with a two week trip in 2005 that was a round-trip to Abreojos when our boys were 2.5 and 4.
That trip was so successful that we decided to get more adventurous. We bought a used Suburban with a lot of miles on it and spent three weeks
camping/surfing/fishing/exploring. We left the car at a storage place at the airport in San Jose del Cabo, flew home for a month and then returned to
spend another month working our way north. In all, we spent 7 weeks down there (mostly in San Juanico and Abre) in the summer and fall of 2006 and
looking forward to as much as we can next year.
Our kids love Mexico. It's the time together as a family, the wonderful friendly gringos and Mexicans, the explorations, the warm ocean, surfing,
boogie boarding and the awesome sticks that all seem to look like guns!
Just on a side note, we bring pens and paper and many books but virtually no toys. The kids each bring a small zip lock of toys. We've found the fewer
toys they have, the more fun and the less fighting.
[Edited on 3-2-2007 by joel]
[Edited on 3-2-2007 by joel]
[Edited on 3-2-2007 by joel]
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joel
Nomad

Posts: 361
Registered: 2-2-2007
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Here's one of my favorites....
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
   
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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dean miller
Loved the way you tied it all up with a loaf of bread.
"All" kids should be allowed Baja................Took our three kids down when they were about 5.............way back then the camera had just been
invented.
Took our grandkids at an even younger age and they still love Baja. With them I could post some pic's but still don't have any luck with doing that.
Looking at some of those pictures as I type this.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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dean miller
Nomad

Posts: 456
Registered: 1-28-2004
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Bernie,
After reading these posts I am feeling old.
I believe at 41 my daugher is older than most of the respondents to this thread--41 years ago was only 1966! Just yesterday to certain people and
beyond comprehension or certainly age of awareness to many on this thread.
1966 was Baja was a different place..
SDM
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Heather
Nomad

Posts: 370
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: National City, CA
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My parents didn't take us to Baja as kids. As a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton in the 60's my dad had a fear of crossing the border. Don't know
quite what happened to his friends that went to TJ, but he sure never wanted to go there. He flew down to my wedding in Cabo in '98 and survived
that, but hasn't been back since!
My sister and I have been bringing our kids down since their births. I've got a great photo of Brisa, my 14 year old niece, at 6 weeks, on the beach
in CSL.
We try and get down there for a month every summer. My girls have the added advantage of having grandparents and cousins in CSL and La Paz, so they
are always so busy when they are there. We bring toys, but ones that we can all use at the beach. I picked up some boogie boards and masks and
snorkels at a yard sale before we went last year. My six year old was pretty good using both of those. My 3 year old is still a little young for
those toys, but daddy gets to play with her in the sand. Mommy wants to do her own playing while we're there!!
I will say though, that both of my girls as babies, have been sick while in Mexico. No hospitilizations, but have had upset stomachs. The
pharmacists usually recommend something that will get rid of it, though!
Bring the kids, they'll love it. Under 13 is the age when they'll most easily pick up the language, too. You should hear my 6 year old roll her
"rr's"!! Saludos, Heather
Loved those pictures, guys!
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
   
Posts: 3812
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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SDM,
You are old. Nothing wrong with that. We all get there. To get there with knowledge to share without being condescending to others is a good thing.
Most women don't like to share their age, so with that being said, I was there when I was three, my grandfather is/was older than you are now. Rejoice
in the moment and don't try to be the first one to the party.
P<*)))><
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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